Shaping the Dialogue: Delivering Meaningful Well-Being Support

BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi | March 05, 2025

In a 2022 survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, results showed that more than 60% of people cited shame and stigma as the main obstacle to accessing mental health care.

At Freddie Mac, the company utilizes storytelling to help destigmatize the need for benefits and reminding employees of the plethora of resources available to them, says Jennifer White, head of learning and leadership development.

While people across the nation are struggling to care for their mental and physical health, it can be even more difficult to do so with the additional stressors within the workforce. During a panel discussion at From Day One’s Washington, D.C. conference moderated by LA Times reporter Faith Pinho, executives spoke on how leaders can foster cultures that support meaningful missions toward employee well-being.

Vulnerability in the Workplace

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to communication around mental well-being is the stigma, says Nicole Wolfe, vice president of B2B partnerships at Rula. In order to combat this struggle, it’s important for company leaders to create a culture around transparency, honesty and vulnerability. Nicole Wolfe added that some of the discomfort around seeking help often stems from a lack of awareness of what resources and benefits are available as well.

Owner and founder of Westcomm, Guy Westermeyer, says that using storytelling techniques in company campaigns can also help make information more memorable. Featuring the stories and voices of real employees and company leaders sheds the stigma around seeking help and lets them know it’s okay to use these benefits.

“When you have stories coming from leaders it helps to show that vulnerability as well, and lets people know that it’s okay to use this benefit and to seek out support,” agreed White.

“You have to be open and you have to talk about it regularly. It can’t be a once and done,” said Westermeyer. He also emphasized that companies need to “bust the myths” around mental health and use more relatable terms and scenarios that employees can see themselves in.

Developing a Strong Company Culture of Wellness

Creating a culture of well-being can be beneficial to employees who see direct actions and outcomes of promises that the company makes. This culture can be formed by holding conversations on how managers are demonstrating behaviors that are being asked for, whether leaders are celebrating employee milestones and more, said Carlee Wolfe, associate vice president of leader development and organizational effectiveness at Hyatt.

For larger companies such as Hyatt, with offices and hotels across continents, it's important to evaluate what’s being offered to employees locally. From restaurant staff to housekeeping, the hotel corporation acknowledges the efforts from all levels of the company.

Hyatt also celebrates Global Day of Gratitude, where employees across the world engage in spreading appreciation to others in the company and at home. “Not only is that something that reaches our entire organization, but you can really feel that walking through the halls or typing into chat or sitting in the back of the house and how people are working,” said Carlee Wolfe.

Panelists discussed how they integrate well-being into their companies

A diverse range of options is valued whenever possible. Freddie Mac offers well-being support by having physicians, counselors and chiropractors on site for corporate offices, says White. It also provides caregiving leave, bereavement leave and well-being leave for employees. The company has developed a coaching program where employees can receive resources on improving their wellness habits such as sleep, time management, exercise and more.

Measuring Employee Well-being

In the hospitality business, like Hyatt, the company focuses on the idea of happy colleagues, happy guests. By evaluating the level of engagement through company activities and surveys, leaders can measure whether their employees are aligning with the well-being culture that is set up by the corporation.

Carlee Wolfe said Hyatt sends out a colleague experience survey, which is built on company core values, leadership competencies and wellbeing. The data tells the team what the company can do to support employees and allows them to take action on what they see and hear is needed.

“The thing that we really emphasize is the data becoming available at the manager's fingertips. We have data that goes to any leader that has five or more direct reports, so they’re able to look at how [they are] moving the needle on well-being,” said Carlee Wolfe.

White also previously worked in the hospitality business at Hilton. During her time there, she said the company started a campaign that aimed to ensure employee well-being through comfortability. This meant looking at the uniforms and making sure they were comfortable and allowing staff to feel confident, so they could be “ready to be at work and do their best job.”

In recent years, well-being has evolved beyond physical health, embracing a holistic approach to wellness–a shift that continues to gain momentum. Just five years ago, this broader perspective was far less common. Westermeyer highlights the strong connection between mental and financial wellness, an increasingly recognized priority for companies.

Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

(Photos by Justin Feltman for From Day One)

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Learning Defiance When Compliance Is What We Know

In Sanskrit, Sunita means “good.”“As a child, I was known for being an obedient daughter and student,” said Sunita Sah, a physician, a professor at Cornell’s SC Johnson School of Business, and now, an author. “I did what I was told. I did all my homework as expected. And these were the messages I received, not just from parents, but also from teachers and the community: Be good, obey. Don’t question authority. Don’t make a scene. Be polite.”Being a good child, Sah was fascinated by defiance, and often wondered why others could do it much more readily than she could. Over time, she came to realize that compliance was equated with good, and defiance with bad. But she questioned whether that was actually true.At From Day One’s Washington, D.C.conference on a new era of investing in humans, Dr. Sah spoke in a fireside chat about her new book Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes. In it she lays out her decades of research on when people defy, when they comply, and how they decide.“Is it sometimes bad to be so good?”Sah took issue with the idea that compliance is good and defiance is bad. Take some of the examples she used in her book. In one study, “nine out of 10 healthcare workers, most of them nurses, did not feel comfortable speaking up when they saw a colleague or a physician making a mistake.” And “in another survey of over 1,700 crew members of commercial airlines, half of them didn’t want to speak up when they saw an error being made.”Journalist and From Day One contributing editor Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza interviewed Dr. SahThese are life and death situations. If we don’t defy then, when can we? “I just started to think, is it sometimes bad to be so good? What do we sacrifice by disregarding our values?”To defy is simply to act in accordance with your true values when there is pressure to do otherwise. “It is a positive, pro-social force in society, because every act that we do, every act of compliance, consent, dissent, defiance, every single act builds and creates the society that we live in. It affects our lives, our communities, our workplaces,” she said.Compliance and DefianceCompliance and defiance are not binary, but rather exist on a spectrum, Sah writes in Defy. On one end is a “True Yes.” Let’s say you’re asked to perform a task at work. You understand it clearly and it aligns with your values, so you do it. That is compliance that we knowingly and positively consent to. On the other end is a “True No.” That is, when you’re asked to do something at work and it doesn’t align with your values, so you don’t. That’s defiance that we positively consent to.The True Yes and the True NoThere are five elements of a True Yes: capacity, knowledge, understanding, freedom, and consent.Capacity refers to one’s mental capacity to make a decision. “You’re not ill under sickness or under drugs or alcohol, so you have the mental capacity.” Knowledge is the cold, hard facts of the situation. Next is understanding, or “a thorough grasp of the facts, the risks, the benefits and the alternatives. Freedom is the freedom to choose your response. “If you don't have the freedom to say no, you can’t have consent, it’s merely compliance.” Authorization is a conscious choice to say yes (consent) or no (defiance).In fact, a True No comprises the same five elements. A True Yes and a True No are just two sides of the same coin. “It does not matter whether you say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” Sah writes. “What matters is that your decision helps you live in alignment with your values.”To be clear, “some people get to defy with far less consequences than others,” she said. The further you are from a dominant status or identity, the greater the consequences for defiance. When that’s the case, many people must make the calculation of whether it’s safe to defy. If it’s not, you can defer your defiance to another day.Learning to DefyDr. Sah signed copies of Defy for conference attendeesSah believes that anyone can learn to be defiant, and it’s not an inborn personality trait. But in order to get there, the way we think about ourselves must change. “If you think of defiance as being loud, bold, aggressive, violent, heroic, or superhuman, and therefore not for me–both of those things are wrong. Defiance can be quiet, value-based, and it can be unique to what’s comfortable for you.”From our earliest days, we’re wired to comply, so we need to retain those neural pathways, she said. We can learn to defy. Practice role-playing or scripting out moments where you’d like to be defiant. “We need to get our ears used to hearing those words, our mouths used to saying them.”“We can be compliant one day and we can be defiant the next day,” Sah said. “It’s not about not having the personality or being larger than life. It’s a skill set that we can all learn. So even if compliance is your default, it's not your destiny.”Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is an independent journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about business and the world of work. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Inc., and Business Insider, among others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Press Association award for business and financial journalism.(Photos by Justin Feltman for From Day One)

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza March 05, 2025

Employee Recognition and Rewards: How Managers Can Be Empowered

Recognizing employees for their hard work isn’t just about making them feel good, it’s a strategic tool that drives engagement, retention, and workplace culture. But what makes recognition truly meaningful?At From Day One’s Washington, D.C., five panelists explored how managers can be empowered to make recognition personal, timely, and effective. Steve Koepp, co-founder and editor in chief of From Day One, moderated the discussion.When we think about recognition, we often focus on the recipient—how great it will feel for them to be acknowledged. “What we need to remember, and what our data show very clearly, is there’s [also] a benefit to the giver,” said panelist Naomi Dishington, director of consulting and Workhuman. This is why peer-to-peer recognition is so powerful. It creates a ripple effect across an organization, strengthening engagement and shaping culture.“Every time I show up and give a moment or I nominate a fellow worker, I see a benefit,” said Dishington. “I see a boost to my engagement. I want to see what’s going right and call it out,” she said. However, meaningful recognition assumes that managers truly know their people. It requires consistent check-ins, whether weekly, biweekly, or at a set cadence, to understand employees’ preferences, values, and achievements. In a series of reports co-published with Gallup, WorkHuman found that one of the key elements that makes recognition meaningful and impactful is that it’s personalized.Generic awards can miss the mark—or even backfire. “If we don't know our people,” she added, “and we give out a team award and it’s all the same for each one of them, it can almost backfire.” When recognition is tailored, it sends a clear message: You are valued as an individual.‘RICE’ Framework for RecognitionRecognition isn’t just about rewards, it’s about reinforcing behaviors, celebrating achievements, and fostering engagement. That’s where the RICE framework comes in: Rewards, Incentives, Celebrations, and Engagement, according to Julie Gu, vice president of revenue in North America for Prezzee.“If you can make sure that you are rewarding action, then you’re incentivizing behavior. You’re celebrating the moments,” said Gu.The executive panelists spoke about "Employee Recognition and Rewards: How Managers Can Be Empowered"At its core, meaningful recognition has a personal touch. Whether it’s peer-to-peer, manager-to-employee, or colleague-to-colleague, personalization makes recognition more impactful. “The appreciation is what makes you feel good in the moment,” she added. “The personal message is what makes it memorable.”A well-thought-out reward isn’t just about the dollar amount, it’s about the connection behind it. Is it that the company gave an employee $5 towards something they really wanted? Actually, it’s less about the money and more about remembering that your colleagues paid attention to your interests outside of work, says Gu.By integrating the RICE framework and focusing on personal, meaningful recognition, organizations can build stronger, more engaged teams, where people don’t just feel appreciated, but truly seen.Mechanisms for Employee RecognitionLeaders and managers play a crucial role in shaping the workplace. A simple moment of recognition can make a lasting impact. “You are literally shaping someone’s day,” said panelist Boma Anyaogu, vice president of DEI at Compass Group.To make recognition effortless and meaningful, Compass Group has implemented multiple mechanisms, including its Voice of the Customer (VOC) program. “When a customer highlights an employee by name, we make sure that employee sees it,” she said. “We have recognition months so when something goes right, we allow the customer to highlight them. We do kudos, newsletters, and other simple ways to make recognition quick and easy,” Anyaogu said.One of the biggest challenges with traditional recognition programs is timing. Many managers have expressed frustration that recognition can take too long to process, often being saved for the end of a month or quarter. To counter this, Compass Group is shifting toward real-time recognition. “We’re trying to do things where we can capture it in the moment.”Effective Recognition StrategiesPanelist Sunita Braynard, acting head of total rewards at Under Armour, emphasized that recognition doesn’t always have to be monetary. Peer-to-peer recognition, in particular, is a powerful tool because it drives recognition and engagement, making people feel valued for what they do. Whether it’s a small acknowledgment of effort or celebrating moments that matter, recognition should be embedded in daily interactions. Timeliness and specificity are key.“When we say peer-to-peer recognition, we know that it’s more impactful when it’s timely, it’s instant, and it’s specific,” Braynard said. Recognition doesn’t have to be elaborate. Sometimes, a simple message can make all the difference.Companies can structure recognition in various ways, from instant peer-to-peer acknowledgments to more formalized programs. “If the company has a formal recognition program, then you can think about how to assign points to that particular achievement,” Braynard said. While instant appreciation can be as simple as a quick email or a shoutout within a team, larger contributions over time can lead to structured rewards, such as a project-based bonus. “There are multiple ways to do it, but the easiest is to recognize instantly, make it specific, make it meaningful—a heart-to-heart connection that really goes a long way.”Recognition shouldn’t be limited to work-related achievements, she added. Whether celebrating a birthday, a wedding, or the birth of a child, or offering support during a difficult time, recognition fosters a culture of belonging. “It’s about engaging with them so they start feeling that they’re not in it alone—that they’ve got people who have their back.”Diversity in RecognitionAccording to panelist Shabrina Davis, head of diversity learning for AADA talent acquisition at Amazon, flexibility in recognition is essential. “Employees want their leaders to know them and who they are. 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A recognition program needs to be localized—we need to reward people where they are succeeding, and that may look different for every person,” said Davis.Beyond performance-based recognition, companies should also support employees in times of crisis. “At the enterprise level, companies can have mechanisms in place to support employees and their families during disasters, whether it’s war, wildfires, or hurricanes,” Davis said. “Giving managers the ability to make those decisions without question shows that you value employees not just for their work or output, but as human beings. That kind of recognition goes a long way in fostering inclusion and belonging.”Employees thrive when they feel valued—not just for their output, but for who they are. Whether it’s a simple “thank you,” a personalized reward, or a leadership-driven initiative, appreciation fosters stronger connections, higher engagement, and a workplace where people want to stay and grow.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Justin Feltman for From Day One)

Carrie Snider March 05, 2025

Career Growth as a Competitive Edge: How Employers Can Attract and Retain Top Talent

Monica Green, global head of early careers and talent pipelines at State Street, encourages her new employees to take their development into their own hands. “I tell every new person that joins the organization, you’re going to have to meet at least 50 people within your first six months. I’m not going to prescribe it. It could be a coffee chat. It could be an elevator conversation, but I want to see that you’ve met 50 people, because as you build your network within your organization [it] will enable you to identify folks who can be your sponsor,” she said. She never wants workers to be shy about their goals. “Make sure people know what you want to do. You know it is your job to make sure that you are driving your career.” By establishing a culture of individual growth, Green says leaders can build a self-driven workforce eager to acquire talent from within. Today’s workforce puts a high value on career growth when evaluating both prospective and current employers. How can companies design equitable career development strategies that attract top talent, retain their best employees, and foster an inclusive workplace? Green and other leaders discussed these strategies during a panel at From Day One’s Atlanta conference.Making Career Growth a Competitive AdvantageModern candidates are looking for more than just the basics like wages, benefits, and pensions. An attractive total compensation package, says Eldridge Banks, VP, HR, at Kaiser Permanente, includes opportunities for career development. This can include anything from tuition reimbursement, skills training, or courses in emotional intelligence or cultural dependence. “Those things really make us understand how you can take your career to the next level,” Banks said.But you are not necessarily just offering skills training so that employees can switch to a new company–instead, development can lead to retention as workers find new ways to follow their passions within the same organization. “Retention is the new talent acquisition,” said Jason Burgamy, managing director, Americas, SHL.Development programs also need to keep in mind the unique challenges faced by today’s professionals, including increased pressure on middle managers. “How do we equip this critical segment of our population to deal with the pressures that we put on those folks, equipping them with the leadership skills, the technology skills, and finding ways to develop those people within their role quickly?” Burgamy said.Keeping such development at top of mind can keep its association with the current workplace stronger, encouraging retention. Melanie Moore, head of global talent acquisition at Honeywell shares that her organization has workers revise their individual development plan (IDP) every six months. “Once you have something written down, it makes it visual, it makes it attainable. And when you’re updating it twice a year, it just really keeps it fresh in your mind,” she said.Pathways For DevelopmentMany companies now offer a wealth of courses that employees can pick and choose from to build their own unique learning path. “At Honeywell, we have a system that we call Accelerator, and there are literally thousands of classes that are self-driven,” Moore said, citing courses in everything from communications to public speaking to business. Of course, during the day-to-day, learning might be the farthest thing from people’s minds. “When everyone at work is just trying to execute and do their jobs, it can be hard for some people in your workplace to think longer term,” said moderator Kelly Yamanouchi, reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That’s why organizations should actively encourage employees to take advantage of internal learning opportunities. Honeywell, Moore says, has one development day per month, during which everyone clears their calendars to participate in webinars and focus on their personal improvement.The panelists shared their ideas on "Career Growth as a Competitive Edge: How Employers Can Attract and Retain Top Talent"Green says her organization encourages employees to take their career growth into their own hands, “managing themselves up” through the company’s skills program, rather than relying solely on their supervisor for support. “Don’t wait for someone else to tell you, ‘Hey, you need to work on this.’ You should be taking that for yourself,” Green said. Volunteering for stretch assignments can help leaders recognize your potential too. In the same vein, Burgamy says, while mentorship and leadership are key, more and more organizations are recognizing that not all managers are cut out for helping their team members grow. “We all would like managers to do a better job of sharing feedback and articulating what an individual needs to do to develop their own skills. A lot of organizations are asking employees to take short assessments to better understand themselves, highlight what skills they need to develop, what kind of assignments might be leveraging their strengths, and which might be a stretch. [Then they can] seek input from a mentor or a peer or a manager to help them in that journey,” he said. To do this, Burgamy says, SHL offers a 15-minute global skills assessment that measures 96 skills across the working world. This allows workers to get a handle on their strengths and areas for improvement, and can help them decide what stretch assignments or new roles to pursue. “Then you start to aggregate that across an organization, and you have a view of your talent and all the skills, and how those line up against the strategic and operational priorities of the organization,” he said.Encouraging Organic NetworkingAll of this lead’s back to Green’s task for the early career professionals: share what you are interested in and meet as many people as you can. In other words, always be networking. And, Green said, “make sure you’re showing up as your best self.” She also encourages young employees to identify people within the organization who have the skills and pathway that they want, and to pursue them for support. “People love to talk about themselves! You can learn from them and most of the time they’re very willing to help you.” Organizations can nurture networking opportunities by setting up employee resource groups (ERGs). Moore encourages workers to join all employee networks, even if they don’t meet the criteria if it’s based on gender, ability, veteran status, or cultural background. “That’s a great way to meet new people [including] senior leaders,” she said. “Don’t sit at your desk and do your job. That’s never going to help you advance to the next level. Approach people and have your elevator speech ready.” Being your authentic self is key, Banks says. Letting colleagues and leaders get to know you as a full and unique human being will encourage deeper connection and investment in your growth and wellbeing. Ultimately, career growth is not a choice–it’s a necessity in today’s workplace. “The job that you’re in today will not likely exist, certainly not in the same form, in five years,” Burgamy said. “If you’re not developing, if you’re not expanding your views and your horizons on what your career can be, and building up those skills on a regular, consistent basis, there is a good chance that AI will take your job or there will be some other reason you’re looking for something different. You can prepare for it. You can own it. But it’s a good idea to start today.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photos by Dustin Chambers for From Day One)

Katie Chambers March 04, 2025
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