Heigh Ho — Work and Wellbeing

Is employee engagement a sinking ship?According to Gallup, engagement is taking on water, with the firm’s frequently repeated survey findings showing an engagement rate of 31% — a 10-year low. But a closer look surfaces insights that lead us to believe employee engagement may be very much afloat.We break it down in this AI-assisted conversation, based on the original Heigh Ho article Employee Engagement SOS? (See the article for links and references.)Subscribe to Heigh Ho — Work and Working Life: https://heighho.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

 “How do we do an evidence-based wellness program when there is no evidence?”This was a question asked of me by a distinguished wellness director. She also happened to be a physician who understood better than most the meaning of evidence-based practice. You may agree or disagree that there is no evidence supporting specific employee wellness interventions, but for now, the more important questions are: How do you decide? And what is evidence anyway? I've come to realize that most wellness leaders, as well as HR directors and CEOs, don't care about evidence and aren't even persuaded by it when it's presented to them. So be it. But as today's episode makes clear, you'll be better equipped for wellness success if you understand what scientific evidence is; what its hallmarks are; and why — and this piece often gets lost — wellness programs should not be directed exclusively by evidence. Wellness program leaders are especially likely to benefit from today's AI-assisted deep dive into evidence, as the conversation is shaped with your needs in mind. To keep it tight, I had to omit some things I would have liked to include. But only the nerdiest listeners will object to their absence: The difference between prospective and retrospective studies; the definition and value of cluster randomized controlled studies, which are an important part of the scientific literature on wellness; more details about bias, systematic review, and meta-analysis; and the role of gray literature, like those white papers produced by commercial enterprises and nonprofit agencies.Be that as it may, in an era when we all get drawn into conversations, especially around science, regarding what's true and what isn't, anyone willing to spend a few minutes with some attention on this lively, practical dialog will learn something relevant to your everyday life. Off we go![Subscribe to Bob Merberg’s Heigh Ho newsletter at https://heighho.substack.com] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

A conversation (AI-assisted) about an employee wellbeing topic a lot of people never think about: Delaying bathroom use because of lack of scheduling flexibility, lack of access, or excessive job demands. This has serious physical and mental health consequences, and you’ll be shocked at the range of workers affected, including — in addition to warehouse and poultry processing workers, who’ve been in the news — nurses, teachers, women working in predominantly male jobs, professional drivers and transit operators, bankers, call center reps, and even work-from-home employees.This conversation counters the prevailing commodification of employee wellbeing, emphasizing instead the importance of meeting workers’ basic needs. It also summarizes OSHA regulation regarding bathroom breaks, while outlining solutions.Today’s “deep dive” is based on Bob Merberg’s Heigh Ho article, “Let Your People Go: As leaders evangelize wellbeing, workers are deprived of decent bathroom breaks.”Subscribe to Bob Merberg’s newsletter, Heigh Ho — Work and Working Life. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

A quick, AI-assisted conversation describing the heroic actions of Joseph Zito, hero of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.This episode is based on Bob Merberg’s web page, The Story of Joseph Zito.Learn more about the fire, and how it became an inflection point in the arc of employee wellbeing, in the previous podcast episode — or read about it in Bob Merberg’s free Heigh Ho newsletter article, A Nation that Catches Workers Before They Fall. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

Today’s AI-assisted conversation is based on my post, "A Nation that Catches Workers Before They Fall," about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which was an inflection point in the arc of American worker wellbeing. In this episode, the AI took some liberties, expanding the scope of the original article. I agreed with 99% of what was being said, and it was generally accurate and added to the story and its application in modern life, so I left it in. See what you think.In an upcoming short episode, we’ll explain how my company, Jozito, was named after a hero of the Triangle Factory Fire.— Bob Merberg This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

"Organizational solutions" are gaining traction in conversations about employee wellbeing. Organizational solutions entail changing how work is done. Enjoy this AI-assisted conversation about one example of an organizational solution, health circles, which includes a lively discussion of a specific case study.The conversation is based on my article, Is It Time to Revisit Health Circles to Redesign Jobs for Better Work and Health? (and the resources I cite in that article). My thanks to subscriber Marnie Dobson Zimmerman, PhD, Director of the Healthy Work Campaign, who reminds me that the case for organizational solutions was recently laid out, in no uncertain terms, by a team of researchers and leaders associated with the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH). In An Urgent Call to Address Work-Related Psychosocial Hazards and Improve Worker Well-Being, they write:...the extensive and cumulative impacts of these exposures represent an alarming public health problem that merits immediate and increased attention.Dr. Dobson and a sizeable group of co-authors published a response to the NIOSH article, with 3 specific recommendations (read them here), including a public education campaign:This is especially important in light of occupational health inequities. Low-wage jobs and those disproportionately occupied by racialized minority groups have greater psychosocial stressors on average. These factors — including job instability/insecurity, work-life imbalance and work-related discrimination and harassment — could contribute to disparities in physical as well as mental health outcomes. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

This AI-assisted conversation takes a deep dive into Bob Merberg’s excerpted presentation, given to a group of employees around the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, about mental health stigma.Unfortunately, for all the preoccupation with mental health stigma the last few years, many people presenting as mental health advocates haven’t studied the topic at all. As a result, they may do more to perpetuate stigma than to raise awareness of it.Especially valuable in this discussion is the relationship between public stigma and self-stigmaThe video (an audio recording with slides) the podcast presenters refer to is available on YouTube: Mental Health Stigma — Explained by Bob Merberg.If you’re struggling, call or text 988 for immediate help from a caring, skilled counselor. Visit 988lifeline.org for information and online chat. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

Change the work, not the worker.This lively AI-assisted conversation takes a deep dive into the basics of job characteristics, motivating job potential, job design, and job crafting. It’s based on a recorded practice session for one of Bob Merberg’s presentations — the rough cut is available on YouTube.The AI makes a few minor flawed connections and inferences — no more than a live interviewee might make — but the content still offers an ideal primer for HR, wellness, and management professionals who understand that progress with worker wellbeing depends on, among other things, understanding what makes work… work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

This experimental AI-assisted two-person conversation is based on the Heigh Ho article, Teenage Workland: Taking stock of teenage worker wellbeing (in words, numbers, and music), which includes the chart the podcast speakers refer to. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com

Something different: This episode is a conversation that dives deep into a mash-up of two Heigh Ho articles...When Civility Policies Run Amok-accinoandAmbiguous Civility Policy Burns WorkersThe episode is AI-assisted, but don’t let that put you off. It’s a polished dialogue that sounds like a conversation between two curious speakers who share enthusiasm for labor and employee wellbeing. Give it a listen!Of course, for complete details, read the articles linked above. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit heighho.substack.com