Thrive Summit Day 3 Recap
Thrive Summit 2022 closed on an uplifting note. Much like the previous two days, Day 3 was full of engaging and insightful keynotes, workshops, and educational sessions that offered learning opportunities from academics, industry innovators, employers, healthcare organizations, and athletes about how to support total health and wellbeing of employees and members.
We also hosted the inaugural Thrive Awards today, which celebrated the achievements of four exceptional organizations that are delivering innovative wellbeing programs to their employees and members. (Stay tuned for more details coming soon about these amazing companies.)
As we reflect on our time at Thrive, several themes have emerged:
- The Power of Connectivity
Human connections have never been more important. The past two years have imposed huge barriers to connecting with others. Several speakers stressed the importance of rebuilding those connections in both the workplace and in our daily lives to improve our health and wellbeing. They also shared tangible advice for connecting with our employees, members, communities – and even ourselves – in meaningful ways.
Today, Peloton instructor Adrian Williams had an emotional and inspiring conversation about how he embraces wellbeing and encourages people to be the best versions of themselves. He said, “I think wellbeing is one of the ultimate forms of self-care. I use fitness as a means to process my emotions, to challenge myself.”
Quick Read – 3 Surprising Benefits of Workplace Challenges
- Supporting the Whole Person
Equally important to human connections is mind/body connectivity. As Michelle Courtney Berry, Adrian Williams, and many other presenters discussed, our wellbeing is influenced by all aspects of our lives. To truly improve outcomes, it is essential to support a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and social wellbeing. That includes understanding their personal circumstances, needs, challenges, and aspirations and offering timely, personalized resources for support.
In a fun, interactive keynote, the Founder and CEO of Whil, a Rethink Division, Joe Burton shared best practices for supporting the three pillars of holistic wellbeing – and attracting and retaining talented employees. He cautioned, “If we can’t develop the skills to go with the flow and let things go, it will have a tremendous effect on our mental health.”
On-Demand Replay – Expert Q&A: Mental health, stress, and resilience in the workplace with Joe Burton and Dr. David Batman, from the Virgin Pulse Science Advisory Board
- Building Human-centric Organizations
Diversity, equity, and inclusion have permeated all of the sessions at Thrive. As Paria Rajai of ModelExpand said, “Diversity is representation, age, gender, race, ethnicity, educational background, geographic region. Equity is fair access. It is making sure all voices are valued. When you have all that, you have belonging.”
To alleviate and prevent burnout, and attract and retain talented people, employers must build a community of inclusion, understanding, acceptance, and belonging. The most successful organizations coming out of the Great Resignation will be those that put people first and meet employees and members where they are.
As CEO Chris Michalak predicted in his opening talk, Thrive has been an opportunity for attendees to reconnect, re-energize, revel and reset. Over 1,200 people representing 600+ organizations have participated in the event, attending 50+ sessions, logging 10,305 coaching minutes, engaging 252 million times with the Thrive app, and walking the equivalent of 17,305 times around the world. More importantly, they’ve forged meaningful connections with others and shared ideas for truly amplifying wellbeing.
We’d like to offer a sincere thank you to our speakers, partners, and sponsors who have all helped make Thrive such a success. Event sponsors include twenty of Virgin Pulse’s ecosystem partners with premium level including Whil (Diamond); Gympass and Yes Health (Gold); Kaia Health and meQuilibrium (Silver).
Award-winning researcher, health coach, and author Michelle Segar spoke about how to cultivate in-the-moment decisions that support self-care, health, and wellbeing. This resonates deeply with our focus at Virgin Pulse: changing lives for good by helping people take small steps every day that can lead to healthier habits and behaviors – and, ultimately, support lifelong wellbeing.
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