As we recorded this episode, the coronavirus pandemic was impacting nearly all industries — and employees. To find out how learning and development (L&D) can support employee wellness and well-being, we spoke with Celeste Headlee, award-winning journalist, speaker, and bestselling author of “We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter” and “Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving.”

Listen now to learn:

• What employee wellness and well-being look like in today’s corporate environment.
• The challenges organizations face when they don’t prioritize employee well-being.
• How L&D can create a culture that values employee well-being.
• Stress management and self-care tips learning leaders can incorporate into training initiatives.
• Common burnout symptoms and how to respond.
• How employee wellness initiatives can help companies succeed during turbulent times.

Listen Now:

Complete the form below to view an animated video about this episode:

Related Content:

• 3 Self-care Tips for Learning Leaders During COVID-19
• Front of Mind: The Importance of Workplace Well-being During Times of Crisis
• Thriving Learners: Employee Well-Being and the Third Metric
• 3 Characteristics of Successful Employee Wellness Programs

 

The transcript for this episode follows:

Speaker:

Welcome to The Business of Learning, the learning leader’s podcast from Training Industry.

Sarah Gallo:

Hello, and welcome to The Business of Learning. I’m Sarah Gallo, an associate editor here at Training Industry. My co-host, Taryn Oesch, is unfortunately unable to join us for this episode, but I’m excited to dive into an always-relevant topic: employee wellness. But first I’d like to say that this episode of The Business of Learning is sponsored by the Certified Professional in Training Management Program.

Speaker:

The Certified Professional and Training Management credential, or CPTM, was designed to convey the essential competencies you need to manage your training organization. When you become a CPTM you gain access to alumni resources like monthly peer roundtables, and a full registration to the Training Industry Conference and Expo (TICE). If you start today, you can earn the CPTM credential in as little as two months. To learn more, visit trainingindustry.com/cptm.

Sarah Gallo:

As we record this episode, the coronavirus pandemic is impacting nearly all industries in some way, shape or form. Many people are suddenly working remotely while also balancing additional responsibilities like caregiving or supervising their children’s education. Many are also dealing with health or economic worries. To find out how L&D can support employee wellness and well-being during times like these, and more normal times, I’m speaking with Celeste Headlee, award-winning journalist, speaker and bestselling author of “We Need to Talk: How to have Conversations That Matter,” and “Do Nothing: How to Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, and Under Living.” Celeste, welcome to the podcast!

Celeste Headlee:

It’s great to be here.

Sarah Gallo:

To kick things off, why don’t you tell us how you define wellness and well-being?

Celeste Headlee:

That’s a great question, because a lot of people think well-being is the same thing as happiness and that is absolutely not the case. You can have well-being and be sad. Well-being means, basically, health and capability. It means being healthy enough to be capable to do the things that you want to do and that you need to do, and it implies a measure of balance … that you have a balance between work and rest, and your priorities, so that nothing is sort of into the red line areas.

Sarah Gallo:

Definitely. And in today’s corporate environment, which again, right now is more uncertain than ever, what does employee wellness and well-being actually look like?

Celeste Headlee:

Again, it takes me back to capability. And I think that’s the case at any time, but especially now, when well-being is so incredibly impacted not just for those who perhaps have symptoms [of burnout] or who are struggling with COVID-19 itself, but also [for everyone], because stress and anxiety levels are so high because remote work is so taxing and can really impact your productivity. Employee wellness at this time, as always, means that you are capable of doing your job and solving problems in a smart and creative way. And I have a feeling that’s not really happening right now. Frankly, I mean, my whole book “Do Nothing” is about why [prioritizing well-being] wasn’t happening before the pandemic — but it’s especially true right now.

Sarah Gallo:

For sure, for sure. And you mentioned something interesting about staying productive, but also making sure that we’re making space for wellness. How can we find that balance when we’re working from home, and making sure that we’re still getting done what needs to be done, but also being able to turn the switch off?

Celeste Headlee:

So, the first thing you have to do is let go of this idea that the more hours you work, the more you produce. That is a myth. It [has] been debunked, frankly, for decades. Not all managers and executives understand that there’s not really a connection between productivity and long work hours, but it is something that we need to let go of right away, especially while you’re working from home, because you need that boundary between work and home life to be even more underlined when your office is in your house. There’s a few very tangible things that you can do to reestablish those boundaries between work and home. The first thing is you have to choose a start time and an end time. What are your work hours? Are they the standard work hours of 8:00 to 4:00, or 9:00 to 5:00, or whatever [that] may be? If so, you need to choose when your lunch hour is; you need to take breaks; you need to create a work schedule for yourself and then you need to stick to it. So if your quitting time is 4:00 p.m., you need to get up from wherever your workspace is, and you need to walk away and get back to your home life. And do not give into the temptation to then check your work emails [or] check in on Slack. You need to create that firm time boundary. But you also need a physical boundary, which means even [that] though it’s tempting to pick up your laptop and walk anywhere in your house [or] sit out on your front steps [or] your porch with your laptop and work from wherever, there’s real cognitive benefit to creating one space for working. When you’re having trouble sleeping, a sleep doctor will tell you to only sleep in your bed, right? I’m sure you’ve heard this before. “Don’t do anything that bed except sleep.” And the reason for that is because you’re trying to train your brain [so] that when you get into bed, it’s time to go to sleep. It’s basically the same concept with choosing a workspace. You need your brain to understand that when you’re in this particular space you’re working, and when you leave that space your brain can relax, let go and refresh because you are not working anymore. And I don’t care how small your living space is. Even if all you do is get some masking tape and create a little square on your kitchen table, if that’s what you have to do, but create a space [where you keep your laptop and where you work]. If you have to take a work call at 5:00 p.m. at night, go into that workspace. When the work call is done, you [should] step away from the space, which means you’re stepping away from work and are back to living.

Sarah Gallo:

That’s some great advice. It’s easy to put our well-being on the back burner as our workloads increase and we have looming deadlines, but what challenges might businesses face if they don’t prioritize employee well-being?

Celeste Headlee:

Well, they’re massive, right? I mean, we do have records on pre-pandemic statistics and data related to how much you lose when employees suffer from burnout. In fact, at this point globally, we’re seeing a burnout epidemic, [with] higher rates of burnout than ever before. And the WHO just recently recognized burnout as an actual health problem. Burnout is not a temporary thing. Burnout doesn’t occur because you’ve had a bad day or a bad week. Burnout occurs because it’s chronic. It means that you are working too much; that you are depleting your energy over a long period of time. And if that doesn’t describe what’s happening right now, I don’t know what does. Burnout causes high levels of turnover; it decreases productivity; it decreases creativity; it leads to a rise in errors. There are all kinds of ways in which burnout and lowered wellness can incredibly impact your bottom line. Not to mention, just ethically, your employees … they’re your co-workers. Obviously there’s the ethics of making sure that everyone is working in a healthy way and that you have created an environment in which your employees and co-workers can function in a healthy way. So the benefits of taking care of your employees’ well-being, especially at a time like this when it’s so threatened, I mean … there’s just levels and levels and levels to them. It’s not just about your bottom line, although it is about your bottom line.

Sarah Gallo:

For sure. Are there any signs of burnout that we should be keeping an eye out for? How can we really tell if we’re getting burned out ourselves?

Celeste Headlee:

The symptoms of burnout … there’s a few of them, and they’re very distinct. For example, cynicism is a typical symptom of burnout. When you become cynical not just about your job, but especially about your job [it can be a sign of burnout]. Reduced creativity is another one, [along with] exhaustion, headaches and stomach aches, again on a chronic level, and then poor performance. So all of those can be signs that someone is going through burnout. The three main symptoms of burnout are exhaustion, cynicism — which means somebody is less and less identifying with their work or becoming cynical about their leadership — and also feelings of reduced ability, [feeling like] they can’t get stuff done or get to the bottom of their to-do list [and] accomplish things at work. Those are your three big red flags [of burnout to look out for].

Sarah Gallo:

Yeah. So we talked about the challenges that can arise when we don’t prioritize wellness. So how would you say we can create a culture that does value employee well-being and wellness?

Celeste Headlee:

It’s so funny because one of the most common responses I get from people who’ve read the book “Do Nothing” is, “I wish my manager read this,” because one of the most important things that needs to happen is [for] managers to give up on this idea that you can measure performance and reward performance based on hours worked. That’s [the] number one [priority]. I can’t even begin to list the number of studies that have not only decoupled productivity from hours worked, but also have shown that [the] emphasis on long work hours reduces productivity, creativity [and] accuracy … all of those things that [you] want when you’re leading a business. There’s a few other things that you can do. You can, number one, stop sending and responding to emails after work hours. Even if your stated company policy is that, “We don’t expect our employees to go home and work during their off-hours,” if you as a manager are answering emails at 9:00 p.m. at night, you are silently creating a culture where people feel that they need to respond to you [outside business hours]. So, if you’re sending out emails at 7:00 a.m. in the morning, you’re sending this message to your employees, “Hey, my manager’s at work. I’m expected to be at work as well.” Also, it’s really important that you encourage your employees to take all of their vacation time. All of it. I mean, number one, it’s better for them. There’s really good evidence that people who take at least 11 days of their vacation time each year, if you have paid vacation [time], are more likely to get promoted [and] they’re more likely to have increased earnings … it’s better for them [professionally]. But also they need that break for their well-being and their mental and physical health. And while they’re on vacation, don’t contact them. Make sure that you have their work covered so that they do not have to check in or cover emergencies while they are away. Make sure they get a real break.

Sarah Gallo:

Yeah, definitely. Do you have any stress management or self-care tips that learning leaders can incorporate into training initiatives right now?

Celeste Headlee:

Well, we always try to think of life changes as being large and dramatic and big commitments, but in fact, some of the most powerful changes you can make are tiny. So, for example, if we were all still in the workplace, one of the first things that I recommend is [to not] allow cell phones in the break room or the cafeteria. Because when people take a break, if they are staring at a screen, their mind is not taking a break … their mind thinks they’re still working. So if they’re not getting a real break, meaning they’re not getting refreshed, the exhaustion is going to increase and continue. So this would be part of my recommendation for people at home as well, [I would] really encourage them to create a schedule that has breaks built in. So every hour they get up and walk away for 10 to 15 minutes, and during that time, you can suggest things that they can do that are screen-free. That’s most important. They don’t have to throw their cell phones away. They just need to have time built in when they get a break, that’s all. That’s going to make the difference between a brain that’s in burnout and [one that’s not]. A brain that’s in burnout is a brain that is ruled by the amygdala, which is evolutionarily the oldest part of your brain. It’s your fight or flight brain. Your fight or flight brain is awesome if you’re being chased by a tiger, [but] it’s not great if you’re trying to make rational, smart [and] accurate decisions. So, as a manager, the number one thing you want to do is get [your employees] out of fight or flight mode, which means you need to get them real breaks [and] rest. So build those [screen-free breaks] into their schedules. Keep the Zoom calls well-structured and short, and just try to create a schedule in which they really have time for deep thought. It’s interesting …  they’ve done different surveys of employees at work, and a tiny proportion of workers say they do any deep thought at all while they’re on the job. And I can’t imagine there’s a manager [who] wants that, right? We want [our employees] to be doing deep thought, but in order to do that, you have to set up the kind of environment and the kind of schedule in which their brains will engage in deep thought which means, again,[that] you have to get them out of fight or flight mode.

Sarah Gallo:

Definitely. We talked about carving out that space for self-care when working from home. How would you say that this can actually improve performance among remote teams?

Celeste Headlee:

Carving out the time for self care?

Sarah Gallo:

[Yes.]

Celeste Headlee:

I mean, there’s so much evidence showing that somebody who is not stressed out simply does better work [than someone who is stressed out]. And I don’t just mean the quantity of work they get done, although there’s plenty of evidence for that. I mean creative problem-solving and innovation. Innovation really requires rest. And I say that because there’s two different kinds of thoughts you can engage in. If I were to tell you, “Solve this problem of 7+12-18,” your analytical brain kicks in. Your analytical brain just is sort of the one that goes down checklists. It’s exactly what it sounds like. But if I were to give you a more difficult or nuanced problem, like, “How do we make this product appeal to a different demographic of people?” That kind of thinking doesn’t need your analytical brain. It needs your insightful brain. And in order for you to engage your insightful brain, you have to let the mind wander. We might think that someone just sitting there at their desk thinking about their work is a huge waste of time, and yet, that is the environment that an employee needs in order to think about a problem like that. An “aha moment” happens when your brain is just wondering, not when it’s focused on a task. So you, again, have to build the kind of schedule and work environment in which you’re allowing employees to not just accomplish focused tasks that occur that require the analytical brain, but also that leaves space for just imagining, considering and pondering, because that’s when you’ll get innovation, new solutions and new ideas.

Sarah Gallo:

Definitely. You’re in a pretty creative role, Celeste, as a writer and as a speaker. Have you found any tips that help you unleash your creativity like you were just saying, and really help you innovate?

Celeste Headlee:

Most of the tips that I’ve found …. It’s interesting. The book “Do Nothing” didn’t start [out] as a book project. I was not intending to write a book. I was working on a 100% different book project at the time, but where that book came out of was [from] trying to solve my own problem, which was that I was overworked, over-scheduled, unhappy and burnt out, and just sick. I was also literally getting ill.

Sarah Gallo:

Wow.

Celeste Headlee:

Yeah. And so I was trying to figure out my problem. And honestly, I expected to find out that it was the fault of technology. I thought that I was going to find out that I have to throw away my smartphone or whatever. It ended up being way more complicated than that. Tech is not the bad guy here. We do overuse tech. We don’t use it in a healthy way, but it’s not the cause of the problem. And so I sort of kept peeling the onion back until I got back to where this all started, and then moved it all forward to trace how we got to where we are. So in this book are the solutions to what I found, because literally the book is about how I solved the problem [of burnout] for myself, and these things I’ve been talking about in terms of creating space in your schedule, getting up and taking regular breaks … I tested it for myself. I read the studies first and found that the average person can only work in a focused way for maybe 45 or 50 minutes at a time, and then I tested it to see if that was true for me and I found out it was. I’ve got less than an hour’s worth of focus in me at any one time. And on a daily basis, if we’re talking real focused activity, I’ve only got about four hours of it. And that turns out to be average for most people as well. So I’ve created a schedule in which I do one thing at a time. I really focus on one task after another, [until] I get them done. I get up once an hour and take a break and walk away from my smartphone immediately. If I’m walking the dog I ask myself, “Do I need to take my phone with me?” Probably not. And so I can actually quite easily find that time away from my screens, because there are plenty of times that you can leave the house or go into another room, and you don’t need your electronics right there with you. So these are the sort of healthy habits I started building in, and frankly, my productivity didn’t fall at all. In fact, it’s gone up since then, and I have way more free time than I thought I did. That was the big revelation to me, is that I thought I didn’t have time to do all the stuff I wanted to do — gardening or studying Spanish, or whatever — and it turns out I totally had the time.

Sarah Gallo:

That’s really great. And to bring things full circle, how can these types of wellness and well-being initiatives help companies succeed during turbulent times like the ones we’re currently in?

Celeste Headlee:

There’s no right way to do a pandemic. Let me start by saying that. There’s no “The Expert’s Guide to Doing a Pandemic the Right Way.” That doesn’t exist, which means all of us to a certain extent are in crisis right now. Some more so, maybe they’re ill or a family member or a loved one is ill, and some slightly less so, maybe you’re among the very lucky ones that has a job that allows you to work from home and you keep getting paid. But we’re still all in crisis, and that means how you cope with that is going to be as unique as you are. The most important thing is to start asking yourself questions about your well-being. Get up in the morning and ask yourself, “How am I feeling today?” It’s interesting. I try to train people how to feel what presence feels like. So in other words, we know that if I were to ask you, “Think of a time when you really were joyful, [or] think of a time in your life when you were super happy,” most people can remember that time, and then their body remembers [what] that felt like. And you will actually be able to see, cognitively, and even in changes in their body, someone begin to embody joy just by remembering it. And yet, if I were to say to you, “Remember a time when you were fully present, what did that feel like?” That’s really difficult for people. And it’s partly difficult for people because the majority of people are never fully present. We’re living in an age in which psychologists say we are always half present. We are constantly distracted. So I suggest in the morning do a quick exercise. Stand there, or sit there, or however you want to be and close your eyes and say, “Okay, what am I hearing? What am I feeling on my skin?” Maybe it’s your pajamas [or] maybe it’s your phone in your pocket, [just feel] whatever it is that you’re feeling. Maybe there’s a breeze. Then, [ask yourself], “What do I taste? What does my mouth taste like?” Go through all five of your senses and then ask yourself, “How is my body feeling? What emotions am I feeling today?” And really get that sense [of presence] in that moment [and] how you’re doing right then. And frankly, this exercise takes maybe a minute and a half, but start each day this way, so that you can feel what it’s like to be present. And the next time I ask you, “When was the last time you were fully present and what would that feel like?”, you will have a memory. It will become something you can tap into.

Sarah Gallo:

That sounds like a great idea. I’m going to have to try that for myself. Alright, well that wraps this episode of the Business of Learning. Celeste, thank you again for contributing to such an important conversation.

Celeste Headlee:

Oh, it’s my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Sarah Gallo:

For more insights on employee wellness and wellbeing, check out the show notes for this episode at trainingindustry.com/trainingindustrypodcast. And if you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate and review us to help other learning leaders find us. Until next time.

Speaker:

If you have feedback about this episode or would like to suggest a topic for a future program, email us at info@trainingindustry.com, or use the Contact Us page at trainingindustry.com. Thanks for listening to the Training Industry Podcast.