Vicky Blogs: COVID-19 (& beyond)

The third pillar in the theory I've been discussing is community health.  This section dove into why companies should want to invest in communities where they have offices.  There are numerous reasons mentioned, including: investing in health of current/future employees who live in the community, controlling company costs (healthcare), helping to recruit and retain workers, increasing consumer buying power, strenghtening company brand recognition, generating civic pride and a sense of responsibility, building community relations and good will and developing leaders who will promote collaboration and community-based problem solving.  Many of these make sense.  Companies are hiring and working in a specific community - they should want this community to be healthy so that it can provide a worker base that can be productive for them.  Similarly, if a community is healthy, the individuals within that community will have greater buying power and are more likely to...

The second pillar in The Four Pillars Framework  is employee health.  Years ago, this used to refer mostly to workplace safety issues, as many jobs were found in the manufacturing industry.  Nowadays, employee health is starting to encorporate employee benefit programs, dealing with physical fitness, psychological well-being and workspace orientation. The business case for companies to care about employee health can be described in three parts - (1) reduced costs, (2) greater revenue, and (3) greater promotion of brand.  The reduced costs are associated with a reduction in employee medical needs and/or disability costs.  There is also a reduction in the cost of recruitment and training.  This is expected because employees that feel taken care of are less likely to leave the company, meaning less turnover.  Less turnover, in turn, means less recruitment and training of new employees is necessary.  Greater revenue will be seen due to the improv...

The first pillar discussed in class was that of consumer health.  This referes to the health and safety of products and services that a company may be offering.  This section started off by listing five of the key drivers that might lead businesses to pay attention to consumer health.  They are: Public Sector Regulation -  Some companies may feel pressure from agencies that monitor the health and safety risks of products.  A few examples of these agencies are - Consumer Products Safety Commission, National Highway Safety Administration, Food and Drug Administration and Federal Aviation Administration. Consumer Advocacy - Some consumers, specifically those savvy with social media, may make enough noise online to cause companies to take notice.  These advocates are often trying to establish and enforce product safety standards, as well as educate other consumers on product risks. Trust - It is relatively well known that a brand's trust influences it'...

I started a new online course this week through Harvard University online.  This course, entitled "Improving Your Business Through a Culture of Health", immediately grabbed my attention when I was deciding what I wanted to learn next.  This class promises to help me speak more intelligently on the business case for a culture of health.  It also promises to walk me through how exactly I might successfully enact sustainable changes in culture wherever I end up for work. The first section introduced the framework on which much of the learning was based.  This framework, called The Four Pillars of Health  was developed by Dr. John Quelch.  Dr. Quelch is the Dean of Business Administration at the University of Miami and also joint faculty memeber at Harvard. The four pillars of health are as follows: Consumer Health Employee Health Community Health Environmental Health The top triangle of the above image is meant to represent you, as a par...

I finished up my class last week and have already started a new one!  Stay tuned for some insights from that.  But first, the topic of this final week was character strengths and how to use them.  To start the week out, we were asked to take the VIA (values in action) survey, which can be found  here .  This tool ranks you on 24 strengths based on how you answer how much certain statements describe you.  The top 5 strengths are said to be your signature strengths.  These tend to just flow out of you, like writing with your dominant hand.  The bottom 5 are doable, but require effort, like writing with your non-dominant hand. According to VIA, my signature strengths are: Kindness and Generosity - You are never too busy to do a favor.  You enjoy doing good deeds for others, even if you don't know them well. Social Intelligence - You are aware of the motives and feelings of others.  You fit into different social situations, and kn...

Cartoon by Artist KC Green An article published today by Harvard Business Review inspired me to share a piece of my own personal work regarding the current state of work culture. The article, entitled "What Will Work-Life Balance Look Like After the Pandemic?" can be found here . The following is a report that I wrote as part of a graduate class at the Fletcher School at Tufts. The class was regarding Work and Employment in the 21st Century. I focused on the psychological well-being of employees in the workplace and wanted to share this work with readers who may find it interesting. If you enjoy this piece of writing, feel free to check out more that I have written on my personal website  here . Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------         I became interested in the topic of psychological well-being in the workplace after a negative work experience that...

I was raised Catholic.  My brother and I both went to a very small Catholic school in New Jersey for pre-K to 8th grade.  Today, neither of us are incredibly religious, but I do believe that we gained many of our values through this avenue of schooling.  I still maintain the belief that people are generally good and I give everyone the benefit of the doubt.  I've been hurt many times and still feel that there are people in my life who take advantage of me because of this, but I refuse to change.  Much of this comes back to my optimistic nature, which I am clinging to during these tumultuous times. Yesterday, my neighborhood was hit by a crazy all day storm.  We had pouring rain for most of the day and winds upwards of 35 mph.  Being stuck inside all day, I found myself worrying about this scavenger hunt (final clue pictured above) that a neighbor of mine had put out for everyone to enjoy. My roommates and I all completed the scavenger hunt last ...

I've been continuing on with my first online course and we covered the topic of anxiety and positive emotion in week 3.  For those who didn't read my optimism post, I'm taking an online course through UPenn regarding Positive Psychology and Resilience Skills.  Anxiety feels incredibly relevant to me today, as I have been feeling loads of it with the pause in job hiring and the confusing nature of being in quarantine. Anxiety has specific effects on our physical bodies that can be detrimental in higher levels.  It increases levels of adrenaline, which channels blood to your muscles to be ready for fight or flight.  However, this means that less blood flow is getting to your digestive system, so if you are very anxious and aren't trying to fight or fly, your body may experience gut issues.  Anxiety also increases cortisol in the body which in the long term impairs healing and your immune system.  The last thing that we need during this outbreak is a supp...

As we continue along in this uncertainty, I have found myself longing for times in the past. Not only because of my back problems (& recovery from surgery), but because I feel that nothing is really stable, even in the outside world. Through talking with friends and colleagues, I have found that I am not alone in this feeling. As a matter of fact, the majority of individuals that I've spoken with or read about are all feeling a bit off. I urge you all to read this article from Harvard Business Review entitled "That Discomfort You're Feeling is Grief."  In this article, David Kessler, an author and expert on grief is interviewed. What I've mentioned above, the uncertainty, is called anticipatory grief. This is the idea that there is a storm brewing or something bad going on. It struck me when Kessler said 'with a virus, this kind of grief is so confusing for people. Our primitive mind knows something bad is happening, but you can’t see it. This br...

This post is following up on the grocery and warehouse worker strikes post that I shared last week on April 1st. Since then, the stances of both sides have remained mostly the same. Employees want to receive a real hazard pay, not just a $2 increase. They also want buildings to be closed and sanitized when a positive case of coronavirus occurs, and pay for the employees while the closure goes on. Lastly, they have expressed the need for additional personal protection equipment (PPE) as they want to take as many precautions as possible if they must continue to work. Amazon, on the other hand, stands firm in the ruling that they do not plan to close the JFK8 building. They say that they are working within the World Health Organization (WHO) requirements and have implemented a more rigorous cleaning schedule as well as staggering shift start times to help aid in social distancing. Employees at warehouse will now go through a temperature check point when they come into work and a...

Yesterday I went on an 11.5 mile bike ride during the day.  The weather was beautiful (near 60 degrees!) and I wanted to get up and move.  I didn't start out with a planned route.  I decided that I would just go out and explore the neighborhoods around me and go for around an hour.  I almost forgot to put my Garmin activity tracker on, but grabbed it last minute and headed out. I had honestly forgotten what the sun felt like when it hit my skin.  Hello, serotonin!  I've missed you!  I ended up finding a community bike path two towns over that I didn't know existed, right around the time that I was beginning to feel like I wouldn't be able to go much further.  The discovery gave me an extra boost of energy and I actually ended up staying out on my bike longer than I had originally planned. When I got back to my house, I was feeling pretty accomplished.  This was only the second bike ride that I have taken outdoors since my surgery in No...