Wellness/Well-Being Encapsulates the Future of Work

Brandon Hall Group just launched its 2018 Wellness & Well-Being Study. So first, if you are involved in benefits, wellness or well-being in your organization – directly or indirectly – please take our survey.

Since we are starting this new research, I thought this might be a good time to revisit some of the predictions based on our 2017 research to see how well I did in anticipating workforce needs for this year. Here is what I wrote:

In terms of technology, there are well-being solutions that are already offered as stand-alone products, and well-being modules and add-ons exist for most of the major HCM suites. Those offerings will continue to expand, and the data and analytics garnered from those technologies will begin to be integrated with other HCM data to both measure effectiveness of programs, but also to provide insights into driving forces behind retention, internal movement, and diversity and inclusion. There are some legal barriers to using some of this data now, but state-level cases have already begun to clear the way for more ethical use of personal data for business-level decision making, which will continue into the next two years.

The legal question is still being sorted out, in both the U.S. and courts abroad, and certainly GDPR, which takes effect in May, will have an impact on the data gathered using this technology. So that is still an undiscovered area.

What is becoming revealed is the space where well-being and diversity and inclusion meet. Listening to Arlene Cash from Carolinas HealthCare during Brandon Hall Group’s recent HCM Excellence 2018, I was fascinated by their efforts to give real experiences to their employees to help them understand the impact that low income and low-income areas have on employees. Carolinas HealthCare set up activities like poverty simulations, bus trips to grocery stores in low-income areas, and group learning on cultural biases. It struck me that much of what was happening as part of their cultural competency outreach also involves a lot of key areas in well-being: social adaptation, financial well-being, and community involvement.

That’s part of what makes well-being so much more than the transactional activities associated with traditional benefits and wellness – well-being crosses over into what is commonly described as the “employee experience,” a concept that is all-important for today’s younger, more tech-native (but also somewhat more isolated) workforce. It is no surprise that well-being is becoming one the hottest topics in HCM at the moment. Nothing encapsulates the future of work quite like it.

–Cliff Stevenson, Principal Analyst, Talent and Workforce Management, Brandon Hall Group

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Mike Cooke

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Mike Cooke

Chief Executive Officer of Brandon Hall Group Mike Cooke Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Mike Cooke was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AC Growth. Mike held leadership and executive positions for the majority of his career, at which he was responsible for steering sales and marketing teams to drive results and profitability. His background includes more than 15 years of experience in sales, marketing, management, and operations in the research, consulting, software and technology industries. Mike has extensive experience in sales, marketing and management having worked for several early high-growth emerging businesses and has implemented technology systems to support various critical sales, finance, marketing and client service functions. He is especially skilled in organizing the sales and service strategy to fully support a company’s growth strategy. The concept of growth was an absolute to Mike and a motivator in starting AC Growth, in order to help organizations achieve research driven results. Most recently, Mike was the VP and General Manager of Field Operations at Bersin & Associates, a global analyst and consulting services firm focused on all areas of enterprise learning, talent management and talent acquisition. Tasked with leading the company’s global expansion, Mike led all sales operations worldwide. During Mike’s tenure, the company has grown into a multi-national firm, conducting business in over 45 countries with over 4,500 multi-national organizations. Mike started his career at MicroVideo Learning Systems in 1992, eventually holding a senior management position and leading all corporate sales before founding Dynamic Minds. Mike was CEO and Co-Founder of Dynamic Minds, a custom developer of software programs, working with clients like Goldman Sachs, Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill and Merrill Lynch. Also, Mike worked for Oddcast, a leading provider of customer experience and marketing solutions, where he held a senior management position leading the company into new markets across various industries. Mike also serves on the Advisory Board for Carbon Solutions America, an independent sustainability consulting and carbon management firm that specializes in the design and implementation of greenhouse reduction and sustainability plans as well as managing the generation of carbon and renewal energy and energy efficiency credits. Mike attended University of Phoenix, studying Business Administration and Finance. He has also completed executive training at the Chicago Graduate School of Business in Chicago, IL.