In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Dr. Richard Kim, Vice President, Chief Medical Officer at American Express, about the changes they have made during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep employees healthy. Since the pandemic, Amex has really shown their employees that they have their backs and have pivoted to offer resources and services virtual. Amex has hosted a variety of webinars around topics such as coping with COVID-19, building resilience, providing insight and tips on how to speak to children about the pandemic and much more. 

For over 100 years, Cox Enterprises has been obsessed with innovating their businesses, creating a great workplace for their people and making the planet a better place to live. They are a global, $21 billion, family-owned organization with two major divisions — Cox Communications and Cox Automotive. From daily yoga and fitness classes to guided meditations and mental health resources, Cox Enterprises is helping its employees strengthen their physical and mental well-being. In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Jon Gamble VP of Benefits for Cox about how COVID-19 has changed its employee wellness program.

In this episode, Alan talks with Marissa Andrada, chief people officer at Chipotle about how the fast-casual brand is delivering new benefits to ensure employee health and wellness. Back in January, Chipotle partnered with 98point6 to provide text-based primary care, a service that has become even more valuable during a pandemic. 

Many employers had to restructure their workforces in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and mandatory stay-at-home orders. What happens when the orders are lifted and employees return to work? In this episode, Alan Kohll explores how companies are preparing to get back to work with Dr. Joann Schaefer, who served as the Chief Medical Officer for Nebraska, Ryan Wolf from Gallup and Kenton Hicks with TotalWellness. The eclectic group talks about antibody testing, social distancing rules, mental health concerns, and other COIVID-19 impacts to the workforce. 

In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Michael Susi from LinkedIn. Michael joined LinkedIn in 2011 to start the company’s wellness program. He is currently the Director of Wellness and has scaled the employee wellness program to serve the company’s 16,000+ employees through the Six Tenets of Wellness. The six tenets include Thoughts; Breathing; Hydration; Nutrition; Movement; and Rest. Michael also talks about how LinkedIn is addressing coronavirus with its workforce. 

Along with proper nutrition and exercise, getting quality sleep is an important pillar of health. dayzz has created a personalized sleep training app that evaluates a number of sleep issues and offers a complete, holistic sleep improvement solution. It is a unique new service in the sleep app landscape, relying on evidence-based protocols and backed by leading physicians and therapists. Alan Kohll talks with Amir Inditzky, CEO and Dr. Mairav Cohen-Zion, Chief Science Officer to learn more about this sleep solution, which New Balance recently rolled out. 

In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Jen Fisher from Deloitte about their comprehensive well-being program, which provides support across three tiers – Mind, Body & Purpose. As the chief well-being officer in the US, Jen drives the strategy and innovation around work-life, health, and wellness to empower Deloitte’s people to be well so they can perform at their best in both their professional and personal lives.

In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Backbone Media founder Penn Newhard. Founded in 1997, with offices in Denver and Carbondale, Backbone is one of Colorado’s fastest growing agencies, providing public relations, media planning and buying, social media and content marketing services to a wide variety of brands targeting active lifestyle audiences. Clients include Yeti, Eddie Bauer, New Belgium Brewing, SmartWool, Polartec, and Patagonia. The office empties out every day at midday so employees can recharge on group rides, trail runs, and Nordic ski sessions or at the gym and in the yoga studio. In summer, they have Dirty Thursday group mountain bike rides. In winter, Backbone has a powder-day clause that encourages employees to ski if there’s fresh snow.

In this episode, Alan Kohll interviews Bhawna Provenzano from Zappos. Bhawna, the director of employee benefits and diversity at Zappos, has helped grow the wellness program at the company over the last nine years. A new wellness initiative called 'Strum for the Sole' offers access to the Fender Play app that gives employees access to online lessons for acoustic and electric guitars, bass and the ukulele. Zappos has even dedicated a jam room on its corporate campus in Las Vegas where employees can go to relax during the workday. The company says it creates social connections, reduces stress and encourages people to slow down and express creativity.

In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with John Wilson, co-founder and president of Stance and Director of Wellness and Trainer, Naomi Talbo. Stance is a sock and underwear brand with 300+ employees in San Clemente, California. Since its inception, Stance has not only invested in great employees, but has also worked toward offering them the benefits they need to lead diverse and cultured lives. STANCE carefully crafted it’s core values which focus on entrepreneurship, creativity, performance, personal responsibility and gratitude - and using these as the foundation for everything the company does. These values have fostered a healthy work culture that’s fueled by passion.

In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Munjal Shah. He is the CEO & founder of Health IQ. Health IQ is an insurance company rewarding those with healthy lifestyles like runners, cyclists, weightlifters, yogis, vegetarians, and well-managed diabetics. Health IQ pioneered the science in insurance to prove that a High Health IQ correlated with a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes. Munjal talks about the science behind the Health IQ quiz which includes over 30,000 questions covering integrative health concepts. 

Is no secret that volunteering is good for the soul. Giving to others can have a positive impact on employees' well-being including relieving stress, depression and loneliness. In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Lori Manning, HR Director at State Farm about their extensive employee volunteering program, including a new challenge that started this year - 100 for Good.  

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of State Farm, employees and agents have been challenged to give back to their community with 100 for Good. The goal is for them to find, to perform, and to record 100 Acts of Good by 2022. 

To learn more about the 100 Acts of Good program and to check out the funny "On the Board" commercial that is referenced by Lori, click here.

In this episode, Alan Kohll talks Donna Kimmel, the Chief People Officer at Citrix about their Global Mindful Movement initiative. Citrix delivers people-centric solutions that power a better way to work by offering secure apps and data on any device, network, or digital workspace. The company has roughly 9,5000 employees across the globe, with about half of its workforce in America. The mindfulness movement has been a grassroots effort which allows each location to customize the employee experience. For example, some teams engage in meditation, others listen to music, and another team has 10-minute mindful moments before each meeting.

Marriott International recently launched TakeCare Level30, a custom app-based wellbeing challenge available for guests and associates around the world. Available for free download on the Apple App store and Google Play, players partner up and compete, using the gamified app to help build positive, rewarding behaviors into a daily routine. In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Leah Evert, Global Director of Associate Wellbeing at Marriott International. Leah has over 15 years’ experience in employee health, wellness, and engagement. She currently works as the Global Director of Associate Wellbeing at Marriott International, overseeing programming and promotions for more than 730,000 people worldwide. In her role, Leah has rolled out preventive health programs, engagement campaigns, and a unique environmental assessment tool to help guide more than 7,000 properties to create healthy environments for their employees. 

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and RTI International recently published “Results of the Workplace Health in America Survey,” a nationally representative study from 2017 that details the state of workplace health and wellness programs in the United States. In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Laurie Cluff, a Ph.D. Research Psychologist at RTI who was a co-author of the study about some of the findings. The survey assessed the current status of employer-based health promotion programs (addressing nutrition, stress, physical activity, alcohol and substance abuse, sleep and a variety of other health topics), as well as health screenings, disease management, the use of incentives to encourage participation and health changes, work-life policies, implementation barriers and occupational safety and health. While workplace health promotion programs are increasing in the United States, there is still room for improvement. 

The majority of the companies in the United States are small businesses and almost half of all U.S. workers work in small businesses. For smaller companies, employee wellness may seem like an unaffordable luxury. Yet wellness is achievable for all companies. In this episode, Alan interviews Travis Grillo, the CEO and founder of Grillo's Pickles, an all-natural pickle company based in Cambridge, MA. He believes that healthy lifestyle changes can start in the office. 

In this episode, Alan interviews Dr. Tom Safranek, the state epidemiologist for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services about the recent measles outbreaks. As an infectious disease specialist, it's no surpirse that Dr. Safranek believes that immunizations are one of the most powerful tools in modern medicine. 

In this episode, Alan talks with Blue Zone Founder and National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner about how environments — our roads, building, and towns — are designed so that the easiest choice is to be sedentary (to drive instead of bike or walk). Moving naturally throughout the day — walking, gardening, doing housework — is a core part of the Blue Zones lifestyle. Degree Deodorant and Blue Zones recently launched a #MadeToMove grant program that will provide half a million dollars in funding for city projects that promote increased physical movement. Community organizations and city officials can visit BlueZones.com to apply and access Degree and Blue Zones' #MadeToMove grant criteria and supporting documentation. 

In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Tony Frick about why employers should start small when it comes to building a new wellness program. Tony Frick is the president and CEO of GlobalFit, a health and wellness technology company based in Philadelphia, PA. Since 1992, GlobalFit has worked with fitness companies and insurers to promote healthy, happy, and productive workforces. 

More companies are integrating genetics into their preventive health strategy. Offering employees confidential access to genetic services can help them learn their risk earlier and manage it better. However, critics say that as more companies embrace DNA tests, controlling the privacy of personal data gets complicated. In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Lance Bennet co-founder of Advanced Genomics Solutions about how employees can benefit from DNA testing.

The power of mindfulness has been on the rise for many employers that are looking to help improve productivity, boost mental-wellbeing, and reduce stress in the workplace. In this episode, Alan Kohll talks to Christopher Plowman, Insight Timer's CEO. Insight Timer is a free app and online community with more than seven million mediators and might be a perfect addition to your employee wellness program. 

In this episode, TotalWellness National Account Executive Kenton Hicks joins Alan Kohll. Together they talk with Physical Wellbeing Leader Ryan Wolf from Gallup. Gallup has a robust well-being program that includes five core wellness elements: purpose, social, financial, community and physical. The program helps employees set goals, establish healthy habits and improve their quality of life.

A new report by the American Heart Association, and a coalition of over 40 CEOs from large companies — called the AHA CEO Roundtable — illustrates how mental health impacts employees’ physical health, and their employer’s bottom line. The report, “Mental Health: A Workforce in Crisis,” found around 8,000 employees around the world die every year from medical conditions — like strokes and heart attacks — caused by high job demands. In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association about how employers can support employees' mental health with seven actionable strategies. 

In this episode, Alan Kohll talks with Claudio Erba, Founder and CEO at Docebo, a company that’s working with global businesses to improve workplace culture. Docebo is changing the way people learn with artificial intelligence and a powerful learner-centric platform to train, engage, and retain employees.

In this episode, we talk with Sara Torres, Global Wellbeing Strategist at Adobe. Adobe is one company who is doing wellness right. Adobe supports employees physical, emotional and financial wellbeing—so they can be the best at work and at home.