wellness Archives – Unretirement Project

Let’s Do Lunch with Meals on Wheels #SaveLunch

July 19, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

If you’re not aware, average life expectancy is 78.7 years.

While modern medicine has made great strides, getting older can often still involve some challenges. One of those challenges is being able to live independently, and everything that goes along with it. Like food shopping and cooking meals.

Did you know that 1 in 6 seniors struggles with hunger?

Most of us have heard of Meals on Wheels. It’s the oldest and largest national organizational supporting the more than 5,000 community-based nutrition programs addressing senior hunger and isolation. They work in virtually every community in America and, with the help of more than 2 million volunteers, deliver nutritious meals, friendly visits, and safety checks so America’s seniors can live with independence and dignity.

Did you know that, for the cost of one day in the hospital, Meals on Wheels is able to provide 1 YEAR of senior meals?

Currently, a significant portion of the Meals on Wheels budget is funded by The Older Americans Act (OAA). This piece of federal legislation has been in effect for 50 years. 8 out of 10 Meals on Wheels programs rely on this Federal funding to serve seniors. The rest comes from private donations.

Under the current administration, the Meals on Wheels budget is insecure. Which means that providing nourishment to seniors is in jeopardy. To help focus attention on their situation, they’ve started the Let’s Do Lunch campaign.

I’m not here today to tell you to give money to Meals on Wheels. But I believe this organization does deserve our attention. If you can give, please do and many thanks. Maybe you can spare an hour or two to become a volunteer. Write your legislators and let them know what you think about this. Blog or Facebook or Tweet your two-cents.

I ran across this quote from former U.S. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey that seems so fitting for the situation we’re facing right now.

“It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

If we all do just a little, we can give Meals on Wheels a lot. Let’s do lunch with Meals on Wheels.

Retirement Plans Are an Essential Part of Employee Well-being

April 19, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 1 Comment

(Editor’s Note: We’re happy to share with you a post originally published on HR Bartender and brought to you by our friends at Conduent HR Services. They provide advisory, technology, and administration solutions to help companies manage and engage employees. Enjoy the post!)

One of the things that I like about being in the human resources profession is the variety. Not just from the standpoint of the many different HR functions: recruiting and onboarding, training and development, compensation, etc. but from the variety of professional backgrounds that transition into HR careers. Organizations have an opportunity to harness a variety of knowledge and skills for the benefit of the workforce.

For example, I know marketing and operations professionals that have transitioned into HR. Another area is actuarial science. Now you might be saying – actuarial science?! Yes, it’s true. I recently had the chance to chat with Dean Aloise, global consulting leader for Conduent HR Services. He’s responsible for leading the retirement, investment counseling, and risk management teams in the U.S. But before becoming an HR professional, he was the operations leader for a major actuarial firm.

I was so intrigued with Dean’s professional journey that I asked if he would share his story and insights about human resources with us. Luckily, he said yes.

Dean, I was immediately intrigued by your background, particularly your actuarial firm experience. How did that translate into working in HR?

[Aloise] Actuarial science, particularly as it relates to valuing the liabilities of a pension plan, is a critical need in managing the retirement benefit programs for many organizations that sponsor a defined benefit pension plan. For some organizations, this is a key component of their benefits package, thus it’s an important part of the overall employee value proposition. So, while being a pension actuary is how I got into HR, as I gained exposure to other areas of HR, my interests and activities expanded into all other aspects of HR, which led to my career advancement.

You mentioned defined benefits plans. I know one of your areas of expertise is in the area of retirement planning. There are lots of articles these days on the topic of retirement – ranging from whether people are retiring (versus transitioning to an encore career) to the financial considerations of retirement. How do you see the retirement conversation having an impact on HR?

[Aloise] This is indeed a critical area for employees these days, and HR must lead the way in helping their employees achieve the best possible outcome for themselves and for their organization. HR needs to approach this strategically, understanding that the changing dynamics of retirement (employees are working longer, living longer, and seeking various ways to phase into retirement) should be embraced. By supporting their employees in this changing dynamic, HR will be in the best position to properly succession plan, but also do right by their people in helping them to achieve a successful retirement outcome.

Thinking about and planning for retirement can have a huge impact on employee well-being. Should HR consider retirement planning a part of their well-being programs? And if so, what would help employees better prepare for retirement?

[Aloise] Well-being must be thought of as TOTAL well-being, which includes the health, wealth (retirement), and career development of employees, as well as community and social engagement, and even spiritual elements. Traditional wellness or well-being programs initially were primarily focused on only one aspect of well-being—physical health—and this likely explains why many employers haven’t achieved the results they seek. The well-being programs of the future will achieve greater results by focusing on all five of the elements I mentioned.

Looking more closely at my area of initial focus—wealth—up until now we have focused exclusively, or nearly exclusively on accumulating wealth to fund a traditional retirement. But today, given the dramatic economic and social changes that have impacted the workplace, HR should be expanding beyond assisting employees with retirement planning and instead help them achieve greater levels financial well-being.

HR has the opportunity to educate senior management on trends in retirement and planning during the annual operational planning and budgeting process. What trends are you seeing that HR needs to keep on their radar?

[Aloise] Adding a meaningful financial well-being program into employees’ benefit offerings is a key trend. HR should be looking for what vendors are offering in this area, issuing requests for proposal (RFPs) and taking different programs for a test drive. Another trend that has been with us for a while now, but that continues to gain momentum thanks to continuing advances in technology, is supporting employees—and their families—in making more informed decisions about their benefits, not just when it’s time to choose their benefits but year-round, when they are using those benefits to meet their physical and financial well-being needs.

Out of curiosity, are the conversations and trends we see in the U.S. about retirement and well-being the same conversations that are happening globally?

[Aloise] The nuances around retirement readiness and financial well-being vary by country, as social security programs, employer and individual practices vary significantly. Some countries like France have robust programs that lessen the severity of the retirement readiness issue, while other countries like the U.K. share fully in the ‘grey tsunami’ risks and concerns such that the U.S. is seeing in the very near future. The dynamics of individual, company-provided and social security retirement programs overlaps come into play in a big way when looking at retirement issues globally.

Employee well-being must include health, career, and retirement - @DeanAloiseClick To Tweet

At this time, we are finalizing the results of the seventh edition of our global wellness survey, Working Well—only this year we have dubbed it the Global Survey of Workplace Well-Being Strategies, reflecting the trends I discussed earlier. Among our survey’s findings is that implementing a global well-being strategy is challenging, due to the variability in culture, laws, and practices across regions. This holds true not just for retirement plans, as I mentioned above, but also for physical wellness and financial well-being programs.

What is consistent around the world are the reasons for supporting employees’ well-being: improving worker performance and productivity and attracting and retaining employees. Clearly, employers believe that the well-being of their employees is critical to the organization’s success.

I want to thank Dean for sharing his expertise with us. I believe organizations must start viewing retirement as more than just a program they offer employees. And, as an increasing number of organizations adopt a global business strategy, it will be important to understand well-being in a global context.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Key West, FL

6 Lessons Learned As a Caregiver

March 22, 2017 by Keith Lauby 2 Comments

Not long ago, Sharlyn wrote a post on lessons learned while she was recuperating from her ankle surgery. A reader commented on the post, mentioning the role of caregivers during recovery. I thought it would be a great idea to extend that conversation here.

Being a caregiver wasn’t new to me. While my classmates attended after-school sports and educational events, I rushed home to help care for my mom. She contracted what is now called COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) when I was seven and medicine at the time could only make her as comfortable as possible as she slowly declined over the next ten years.

I learned many caregiver lessons then. But times change and so do some of the needs and responsibilities of today’s caregiver.

The patient doesn’t want to be a patient. Yes, Sharlyn wanted a way to fix the growing pain in her ankle. But, she didn’t want to be limited in her exercise and activities and hobble around on crutches. That was just a necessary part of the recovery.

Get creative in finding ways for the patient to contribute. They might not be able to do much but this isn’t a vacation. It frustrated Sharlyn that she couldn’t contribute to helping with household needs. But she could read me recipes while I cooked, spend time doing internet searches for recovery solutions, and deal with phone calls to doctors and insurance providers.

Think about mental needs in addition to physical. Communication is never more important than during recovery. The physical repair to whatever was injured is just part of what the patient is dealing with. Think about and discuss the ramifications of limited activity over an extended period. And don’t forget about no access to hair and nail salons or maybe even daily showers.

Remember to give yourself a break too. Okay, the patient is depending on you. That might mean cutting back on trips to the gym, the morning run, or even some downtime playing games. Depending on the length of recovery, you might get a little out of shape too. It won’t last forever, then you can get back to it. And don’t forget #1 above.

The doctor is calling the shots now. As much as Sharlyn’s frustration grew, she knew how important it was to follow doctor’s orders. Carefully letting the body heal will pay huge benefits in fewer problems in the future. I had to remember that too whenever added responsibilities started to annoy me.

They would gladly do the same for you. And you know it.

If you’re like me, you develop routines and habits that make up your daily life. Caregiving is a major disruption to that. Remember to communicate more and pay close attention to everything that’s happening. You might just learn a few things that will make that daily life better.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby along the streets of Washington, DC

9 Lessons Learned While Recuperating from Surgery

March 1, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 6 Comments

I ran across a blog post recently about lessons learned from wearing a leg cast. Since I recently had surgery on my ankle, and wore a cast for several weeks, I thought I would come up with a list of my own.

So, here are my 9 lessons learned while recovering from surgery:

Learn how to talk about your health. Keith and I were forced to deal with this early in our relationship. You can read about it on this post about health care. But even for us, as we are getting older, we’re reminded that we have to let go of some of the mystery and start openly talking about all aspects of our health.

Listen to your doctor. What you do during your recovery impacts the rest of your life. I broke my back when I was 23 years old. And now, thirty years later, I’m happy to say that I do not have any back pain. I attribute that to listening to my doctor. When he told me not to lift anything heavier than a glass of water, I did it. It’s tough, especially when you mentally feel fine.

Plan ways to make your recovery easier. We don’t always get the benefit of planning surgeries in advance. But when you can, make sure you do. We made meals in advance so Keith didn’t have to initially worry about doing those things. As I progressed in my recovery, I was able to help more.

Think about how to you will do the necessities of life such as bathing, driving, etc. With my knee scooter, there were rooms in our house I couldn’t get into – like the water closet in our master bath. It’s too small. Or the laundry room. Luckily, I was able to get my knee scooter a couple of days prior to surgery, so I could figure out how I was going to bathe and get around the house.

Get comfortable asking for help. I consider myself a pretty independent person. So, it’s hard for me to ask for assistance to do things around the house. But I have to. I will say that spending $20 on a basket for my knee scooter was money well spent. I was able to carry my iPad around the house. I also used the water bottles from conferences for drinking so I didn’t have to worry about it spilling as I scoot around.

Be grateful for little things. And let little things slide. You will be amazed at the little things you can and cannot do when you’re recovering. I was non-weight bearing for several weeks so I couldn’t put my foot on the floor. Trust me when I say, doing everything on one foot isn’t easy. It also means that I needed to let Keith do things that I would normally do, his own way. I will admit (and I’m sure Keith would agree), that’s not as easy as it might seem.

When you look different, people treat you different. And unfortunately, I don’t always mean that in a good way. I found this to be the case when I was 23 and it’s sad to say that it still holds true today. Don’t’ get me wrong, some people are wonderful and helpful when you interact with them. Others assume that, because you have a physical disability, whether it’s temporary or permanent, that you also have an intellectual disability.

Thank your caregiver. AND, plan a thank you for your caregiver. Keith jokingly told me that he was “paying it forward” for the time that I will be his caregiver. And I’m sure that’s true. But he still deserves to hear the words “thank you.” AND, I’ve promised that I will take him out for dinner or a little staycation once I’m able to do so.

Don’t expect to be back to “normal” as soon as the problem area heals. At some point, the doctor will give me the go-ahead to start resuming normal activities. When that moment comes, I need to remember that I will not be ready for Pilates or walking on the treadmill or probably a whole bunch of stuff. Pacing myself will be important. Remember #1 – listen to your doctor and your body.

There’s nothing more important than your health. When you have an illness, surgery or injury, take time to properly rest and heal. In the big picture, a few days/weeks/months of recovery, can make a big difference in the way you feel.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby at the Liberty Hotel in Boston, MA