May 2023 | 35th EDITION NEWSLETTER |
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6 Ways to Support Mental Health Wellness at Work
Sage | Jessica Fuhl | April 15, 2023
How can People Companies ensure they’re supporting employees’ mental wellbeing? Here are six tips on supporting mental health within your organization. Mental health is a workplace concern. In fact, four in ten adult Americans reported feeling symptoms of anxiety or depression during the pandemic, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Stress and mental health issues are having a significant impact on people and, in turn, on the economy. The impact is huge – both on the individual, but also for organizations, who may already be struggling with low productivity in the workplace (our research found employees admitted to being productive for less than 30 hours a week).
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How HR Can Support Mental Health in Remote Work
HR Digest | Anna Verasai |April 22, 2023
In recent years, the prevalence of remote work has skyrocketed, with many organizations adopting remote work policies as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this shift has brought about numerous benefits, including more flexible work schedules and reduced commute times, it has also posed significant challenges to the mental health of employees. As remote work blurs the lines between work and personal life, many employees struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance and face additional stressors such as isolation and a lack of social support.
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What Is Company Culture If You Don’t Have an Office?
Workhuman | Editorial Team | April 14, 2023
Before 2020, under 6% of the American workforce worked primarily remotely (and three-quarters didn’t work remotely any of the time). By May 2020, that figure rose to almost 20%.
As a result of hybrid becoming mainstream, and staying mainstream even years later, many businesses and companies find themselves asking a pressing question: What is company culture if you don’t have an office? The office has always been an integral part of company culture, at least it was before the pandemic. It was where employees formed bonds and helped businesses thrive. Now, companies have to find ways to replicate that je ne sais quoi of the office remotely. So, read on to learn more about remote work culture, as well as how to build and maintain a work culture in a hybrid work environment.
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All The Best Employee Recognition Ideas
Select Hub | Ritika Dixit | April 26, 2023
From an HR perspective, what keeps employees going? Do employees stay committed to an organization just for the compensation and benefits? Or is there more to the story? An often-overlooked key factor in the mix is employee recognition. But what exactly is it? What are the different types? Why is it important to your workforce management strategy? We’ll walk you through everything, including some employee recognition ideas you can implement in your company.
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3 Ways Employers Can Help Employees Navigate the Largest Healthcare Transition Since The ACA
Forbes | Rhett Buttle | April 25, 2023
The end of the Medicaid continuous enrollment policy marks a massive health coverage shift, rivaling the first open enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act—and there is a lot that employers can do to help their impacted employees through it.
This transition is happening because states paused Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility reviews during the pandemic, as required in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
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Is Your Return-To-Office Policy Flexible Enough? It’s Not Just About Location
Human Resources Today | Jen Colletta |April 3, 2023
Three years into the pandemic, the concept of workplace flexibility is nothing new for HR. After all, the number of hybrid jobs available in North America increased 350% between 2020-22. But as companies move to formalize their long-term hybrid policies—and some increase the number of in-office days—HR needs to expand how it thinks about flexibility: Location is just one piece of the puzzle, according to Christina Janzer, senior vice president of research at Slack.
At Wednesday’s Wharton People Analytics Conference in Philadelphia, Janzer urged attendees to take a broader view of flexibility—and reap the rewards when it comes to productivity, inclusion and building cultures centered on connection.
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Reverse Mentoring: A Key to HR Innovation?
HR Executive | Jen Colletta | April 5, 2023
When Tawanna Myers goes grocery shopping, it’s inevitable: She says she always gets talking to employees or fellow shoppers and ends up learning their stories and sharing her own - creating informal mentorship opportunities. “I recently found at least three phone numbers of young people I met who said something like, ‘I was having a bad day and didn’t know what to do but you inspired me,’ ” says Myers, chief people and culture officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, an organization whose mentorship mission she says “has inspired me to take that extra moment to say hello, to talk to someone and let them open up. I want to be that model of a mentor.”
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How to Encourage Engagement Between Employees and HR
HR Brew | Massella Dukuly | March 3, 2023
People pros need to show employees that they care about their well-being.
How can I encourage my company’s employees to want to engage with HR?
I love this question. It speaks to a shift in the world of HR and, most importantly, how many HR leaders are currently looking to build, or rebuild, their relationships with employees. HR has historically gotten a bad rap.
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Are HR Brew Readers Giving Employees Days Off to Address Mental Health?
HR Brew | Sam Blum | April 27, 2023
Burnout became a mainstay in the workplace lexicon during the pandemic, and has been entrenched ever since. Comapnies have offered various remedies to combat the malady—defined by the World Health Organization as a “syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”—including granting workers organization-wide mental health days during times of high stress.
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Friday Water Cooler: Productivity Theater
HR Brew | Sam Blum | April 27, 2023
A new survey shows that 83% of employees are striving to appear more busy than they actually are. When it comes to the state of productivity right now, leaders and rank-and-file employees suffer from opposing afflictions. Top brass might struggle with productivity paranoia—a term coined by Microsoft in 2022 to characterize a manager’s gnawing suspicion that remote employees are working less, even though meetings, calls, and emails haven’t lagged. Meanwhile, employees are meeting that paranoia by staging a bit of “productivity theater.”
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Is it possible to be successful AND happy? Or do we have to trade one for the other?
MEC Keynote Speaker Steve Fredlund
This video and others are designed to provide new insights and open new conversations about team building, leadership and getting out of the "Good Life Trap"?
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Are You a Toxic Aware Leader?
The People Equation | Jennifer V. Miller | April 17, 2023
We humans love a good label and right now, the word “toxic” is having a moment. Ever since it was highlighted as Oxford Dictionary’s international word of the year, quite a few of us have been noticing – and rightly so – that certain behaviors, policies and organizational systems in the workplace aren’t healthy. Love the word, or hate it, leaders need to be aware of what’s going on with themselves, their teams and the organization as a whole so they can eradicate the creep of virulence before employees “quiet quit” – or walk away entirely.
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Creating A Culture of Inclusion: Proven Tactics for Recruiting a Diverse Talent Pool
HR Digest | Jane Harper |April 12, 2023
Diversity recruitment and hiring practices have become a critical aspect of building a successful and inclusive workplace culture. By embracing diversity and inclusivity, organizations can leverage the unique perspectives and talents of employees from different backgrounds, leading to increased innovation, creativity, and improved business outcomes.
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OSHA's online newsletter provides the latest news about enforcement actions, rulemaking, outreach activities, compliance assistance, and training and educational resources.
Join more than 380,000 subscribers who rely on QuickTakes for information about workplace safety and health. QT is free and distributed twice monthly. Starting in 2018, QuickTakes subscribers began receiving occasional "Did You Know?" messages informing them of OSHA safety resources.
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Forms
These are the most frequently requested U.S. Department of Labor forms. You can complete some forms online, while you can download and print all others.
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Temporary Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) Status Documentation
USCIS field offices recently started delivering Forms I-94 with ADIT (temporary I-551) stamps as temporary evidence of LPR status without requiring an in-person appearance at the field office. With this new operational process, USCIS has added more ways for applicants to obtain proof of status. This alternate Form I-94 with an ADIT stamp is an acceptable List A receipt for Form I-9 and E-Verify.
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THANK YOU to all 2023 SPRING Conference Sponsors!
Sponsor support is integral in continuing the growth, quality & integrity of the continuing education unique to this conference year after year. You are appreciated!
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The MEC article library is growing monthly with valuable information relevant to the ever-changing work environment. Check the website frequently for updates. If you have something important for our readers to benefit from, reach out to us to be included in the next newsletter or article library!
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Earn Continuing Education Credits!
Sharpen Your Knowledge!
Network With Professionals!
Motivate Your Team!
Meet Vendors!
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No need to be certified to attend the conference.
If you have a desire to learn, improve, network or motivate yourself or your team, you will find great value in attending the conference!
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STRONG MINDS | STRONG HEARTS |
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Lake of the Ozarks
Stop Human Trafficking Coalition
The number of reported human trafficking cases grows year by year.
Missouri is no exception.
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We are ready to hear from you. Whether you are reaching out for help, requesting us for a speaking event, or would like more information on joining this fight, please include in your message what you are inquiring about or email us directly with any questions. |
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If you or someone you know is struggling, you are not alone. There are many supports, services and treatment options that may help. A change in behavior or mood may be the early warning signs of a mental health condition and should never be ignored. |
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Eating Well for Mental Health
Sutter Health
Consuming fewer processed foods can lead to better brain and emotional health. From a young age, we’re taught that eating well helps us look and feel our physical best. What we’re not always told is that good nutrition significantly affects our mental health, too. A healthy, well-balanced diet can help us think clearly and feel more alert. It can also improve concentration and attention span. Conversely, an inadequate diet can lead to fatigue, impaired decision-making, and can slow down reaction time. In fact, a poor diet can actually aggravate, and may even lead to, stress and depression.
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Do you know someone in your HR department (or company-wide) who deserves to be recognized for making a positive impact in your company from day to day??
Whether personal or professional, in a big or a small way, we all know those people who go above & beyond for the greater good.
We want to help these everyday (H)eroes be (R)ecognized! Send your nominations to us & one deserving person each month leading up to the current conference will be selected to receive a $50 VISA gift card! We will announce the winner in the following month's newsletters.
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Along with advocating for mental health in the month of May, GBM is another cause very close to our hearts...
Cancer is brutal. Period. End of sentence. Brain cancer is a heartbreaking reminder that forces you to come to terms with the fact that life is so short.
Nan's husband's only sibling, Jerry, died two years ago in July of 2021 of Glioblastoma Multiforme, brain cancer. There is no cure for this type of brain cancer.
Jerry's family read everything they could find on GBM. They had many concerns that Jerry's brain could do horrible things and could dramatically affect his feelings, emotions and change him at his core. The picture in the middle below shows Jerry's personality shined through despite cancer doing its thing. Jerry was a glowing example of GRACE BEYOND MEASURE. What a gift he was in those last moments.
So whether we are supporting causes close to our hearts or advocating the tough but necessary topics like mental health & wellness in the workplace, the conference has it covered. We are very excited to welcome all of the attendees, speakers & sponsors to the conference this month! The presenters are fantastic and eager to tackle the difficult topics facing the workforce today. See you there!
We appreciate you and ask that you show grace every day, all day.
Nan, Sue and the team at the Missouri Employment Conference
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Jerry proving
Grace Beyond Measure
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Jerry & Brian
(Nan's husband)
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