U.S. Chief Health Equity Officer, Deloitte
What business leaders struggle with is: ‘What can I do?’ Through efforts like the new collaboration among the American Heart Association, Deloitte and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation, we are developing guidance and tools to help employers meet the needs of their individual workforce."
How Deloitte Advances Health Equity
E
quity has been a focus at Deloitte* for
decades, says Kulleni Gebreyes, Deloitte’s
U.S. chief health equity officer. When the Covid-19 pandemic further underscored structural inequities inside and outside the U.S. health system, Deloitte operationalized its vision to address these disparities, creating the Deloitte Health Equity Institute in 2021.
The Institute’s primary goal is to build cross-industry collaboration and data-driven tools (like this Health Equity Dashboard) to catalyze transformative change that advances health equity in society. Deloitte also helps clients activate health equity within their own business ecosystems, but Gebreyes says the work applies to how Deloitte shows up for its own workforce, too.
Deloitte’s staff mental health program, for example, provides access to professionals who speak 16 languages and represent eight races and ethnicities, one step toward ensuring employees feel represented in the care they receive.
“We examine how our internal policies, benefits and health coverage impact staff. Instead of assuming a default persona, are we serving all archetypes and designing who we are in a way that reflects our similarities and differences as individuals and population groups?”
Deloitte asks these self-examining questions to hold itself accountable to employees and root out bias across various aspects of the business—from how it designs solutions, delivers services and spends money to its prioritization of corporate values, community causes and collaborations.
Kulleni Gebreyes, MD
Her Advice
Look Inward
Assess your policies, benefits and culture with a critical eye. “Do you have diversity and representation of different groups across race, gender … language, nationality, education level?”
Weaving health equity into business strategy isn’t just the right thing to do—it drives business and motivates talent: “When you show your workforce you’ll take care of them, they’re more likely to stay.”
Align Purpose & Profit
Too many leaders get stuck on analysis. “While I fully agree it’s important to measure the outcomes of what we do, the time to act is now. There’s some action you can take based on information already available.”
Don’t Wait On DatA
Chief People Officer, Texas Health Resources
Carla Dawson
Her Advice
The American Heart Association’s new scorecard gave us insight on holistic benchmarks being studied, and let us know that we are keeping up with current trending health and well-being initiatives and programs.”
How Texas Health Resources Beats Burnout
"T
he challenges of the last three years
have taken their toll, especially on
frontline caregivers who feel exhausted and emotionally drained,” says Carla Dawson, chief people officer at Texas Health Resources, a 28,000-employee nonprofit health system serving over seven million Texans. “If we’re not taking care of ourselves, we won’t be able to take care of others.”
To support staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, Texas Health refined “Be Healthy,” its nationally recognized employee wellness program. Upgrades included robust stress management tools in addition to expanding an existing wellness credit benefit, designed to incentivize healthy choices and self-care. Employees are eligible for up to $130 in credits for completing a biometric screening, for instance, and can earn more for meeting certain health metrics.
Texas Health also expanded its employee assistance program (EAP) to include two additional, in-person counselor visits at no cost (for a total of eight visits per year). Through the enhanced EAP, staff can also sharpen stress relief and coping strategies during virtual “self-care check-ins” led by clinicians. Texas Health reports that over 6,000 employees have attended self-care check-in sessions since 2020.
“Preventing burnout in this environment is difficult,” says Dawson. “A caring culture and supportive relationships between staff and leaders make it possible.”
Provide varied benefits so staff can tailor support to their life circumstances. “Our experiences are unique, so offer a spectrum of resources and solutions. One person might want in-person counseling while another is more comfortable talking virtually.”
One Size Never Fits All
Send out surveys, hold focus groups and take staff perspectives to heart. “If your employees aren’t coping well and dealing with burnout, they’re not going to be productive. Ask about their needs to determine what’s meaningful.”
Listen & Learn
Consistently nudging staff to prioritize their well-being can keep burnout at bay. “An employer’s messaging about being active and eating well—things that fall to the wayside when you’re working remotely—is really important.”
Provide Reminders
Global Head, Compensation, Benefits & Executive Development, Bank of America
Chris Fabro
His Advice
We’ve been fortunate to not only learn from the experts and medical professionals supporting the American Heart Association, but to also contribute to their efforts to drive awareness around the importance of addressing mental health and creating equitable health opportunities for all.”
How Bank of America Promotes Mental Health
I
n 2018, Bank of America saw that about 20% of
its workforce struggled with stress. “After years of
focusing on physical and financial wellness, data from our workforce highlighted the need for more emotional wellness support,” says Chris Fabro, global head of compensation, benefits and executive development at Bank of America.
“We wanted to be intentional, so we engaged experts like those available through the American Heart Association,” he says. “Their message was loud and clear: We needed to start by reducing the stigma.”
In response, the company launched an awareness campaign to foster dialogue about mental health and started Courageous Conversations, a series of expert-led talks with internal senior leaders on tough-to-discuss, complex topics like mental health and substance use disorders.
In the five years since, Bank of America has added on-site counselors in 30 locations, launched free virtual access to therapists and psychiatrists, developed content on topics like mindfulness and resilience and expanded its “Life Event Services”—a unique internal team that provides personalized support for employees navigating significant life transitions, such as domestic violence, the death of a dependent, family member or colleague, crisis due to natural or man-made disasters and terminal illness.
“We deliver this all through a culture of caring,” says Fabro. “How we support employees at every stage of life is a differentiator for us. Today, over 85% of teammates say they feel their colleagues create an open environment to talk about individual emotional health.”
“Get buy-in from the top. Being able to share data with our executive management team about what we saw in our employee population was a powerful first step.”
Get Leaders On Board
Create a safe space for employees to share their struggles. “Begin by having the conversation. We started talking about mental health more often and more publicly.”
Be Open
"Make your resources easy to find and promote them often. The more we talk about our resiliency trainings, our counseling benefits, our on-site EAP counselors, the more likely it is that people will engage with these resources when needed.”
Tout Your Benefits
Browse More Workforce Well-Being Champions
Below, the American Heart Association is recognizing companies that completed its Workforce Well-being Scorecard for 2022. You can learn more about that effort here.