How Today’s Leading Organizations Approach Employee Wellness - Lydia Di Francesco

In today’s episode, I chat with Lydia Di Francesco, CEO & Workplace Wellness Specialist at Fit + Healthy 365.  With over a decade of experience in the wellness industry, Lydia's insights into creating a harmonious, productive work environment are invaluable for organizations adjusting to new realities in a post-pandemic world. 

We discussed the significant shift in employee wellness programs since 2020. How organizations are now recognizing the critical need for holistic wellness strategies that go beyond physical health, encompassing mental and emotional wellbeing. This shift is not just a trend but a response to a growing understanding of the multifaceted nature of employee wellness.

The positive impacts of effective wellness programs are clear. Lydia shared how organizations with robust wellness initiatives see notable improvements in employee productivity, engagement, and retention. This not only benefits the employees on a personal level but also enhances the overall performance and success of the organization.

And as the recent recipient of the Businesswoman of the Year award in Ottawa, Lydia expressed how this recognition fuels her mission to advocate for workplace wellness. It's a testament to her impactful work and also serves as a platform to further promote the importance of wellness in the corporate world.

It was another in a line of memorable discussions. And I hope you enjoy this as much as we did recording it.

Lydia Di Francesco

Lydia Di Francesco is a passionate advocate who has made it her mission to empower individuals to lead more fulfilling, harmonious lives. She is the CEO and Workplace Wellness Specialist at Fit + Healthy 365. Her business provides wellness workshops, leadership training for teams and organizations on how to build a culture of well-being, and the creation of strategic wellness plans and programs. 

Lydia has worked in the wellness industry for over 11 years. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences and an MBA from uOttawa and is a Certified Workplace Health and Performance Practitioner. Lydia is a regular TV guest expert and has been published in national and local newspapers and magazines. She was recently named Businesswoman of the Year.

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Matt Burns

Matt Burns is an award-winning executive, social entrepreneur and speaker. He believes in the power of community, simplicity & technology.

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Transcript

Lydia D.: I actually personally believe that wellness doesn't lie with HR. I think it lies actually, really within the whole entire organization. Or if I was to have to put it somewhere, I would actually put it in operations because um, like as you alluded to, there is a significant impact on performance when you have healthier staff. So for me, that's where put it. If I had to put it somewhere.

Matt Burns: In strength, drive, innovation hey everyone, it's Matt here for another episode of Thinking Inside the Box, a show where we.

Matt Burns: Discuss the innovative ways organizations and their leaders overcome complex issues at work.

Matt Burns: If you're interested in checking out our.

Matt Burns: Other content, you can find us at our shiny new website, insideTheboxpodcast.com and on all of your favorite podcast platforms by searching thinking inside the box.

Matt Burns: And if you enjoyed the work we're.

Matt Burns: Doing here, consider leaving us a, ah, five star rating, a comment and subscribing.

Matt Burns: It ensures you get updated whenever we.

Matt Burns: Release new content and really helps amplify our message. In today's episode, I chat with Lydia DeFrancesco, CEO and workplace wellness specialist at Fit Plus Healthy 365.

Matt Burns: With over a decade of experience in.

Matt Burns: The wellness industry, Lydia's insights into creating harmonious, productive work environments are invaluable for organizations adjusting to new realities in a post pandemic world.

Matt Burns: We discussed the significant shift in employee.

Matt Burns: Wellness programs since 2020, how organizations are.

Matt Burns: Now recognizing the critical need for holistic.

Matt Burns: Wellness strategies that go beyond physical health.

Matt Burns: And that also encompass mental and emotional well being. This shift is not just a trend, but a response to, uh, a growing.

Matt Burns: Understanding of the multifaceted nature of employee wellness and the positive impacts of employee wellness programs are clear.

Matt Burns: Leah shared how organizations with robust wellness.

Matt Burns: Initiatives see notable improvements in productivity, engagement.

Matt Burns: And retention, which not only benefits the.

Matt Burns: Employees on a personal level, but also.

Matt Burns: Enhances the overall organizational performance. And as the recent recipient of the.

Matt Burns: Businesswoman of the Year award in Ottawa.

Matt Burns: Lydia expressed how recognition fuels her mission.

Matt Burns: To advocate for workplace wellness.

Matt Burns: It's a testament to her impactful work and also serves as a platform to further promote the wellness of organizations and their employees. And it was another in a line of memorable discussions that I hope you.

Matt Burns: Enjoy as much as we did recording it. And now I bring you Lydia DeFrancesco. Hello Lydia, how are you doing today?

Lydia D.: Hey Matt, I'm, um, super happy to be here with you.

Matt Burns: I feel like this conversation has been in the plans for a while. We met last year at a conference in Ottawa, talked about doing this and just never came to pass. And then we talked recently, reconnected this year at the same conference, but in 2023. And here we are. I was like, I have to meet with Lydia and have this conversation. Thanks so much for joining me today.

Lydia D.: Yeah, no, I think the timing is right. I believe that things work out the way they're meant to be, so this is the right timing for us.

Matt Burns: I agree. Well, for those who don't know Lydia, a bit about your background, your experiences, and what's led you to today.

Lydia D.: Yeah, so, great question. I actually have a super interesting background. Um, I have a degree in international studies. I worked in politics, I've worked in marketing. I essentially fell into the wellness space kind of by accident. So I started out in group fitness, teaching group classes. I became a personal trainer. Uh, I've been in the wellness business now for twelve years. And, uh, I've had a lot of twists and turns along the way and done a lot of interesting things within the wellness space. And I would say since two, uh, thousand and 17, I've really been moving towards and focusing on the more corporate wellness side of things as a way to really increase my impact. Impact is extremely important to me and there's a lot of people that work in companies and it's a way to reach a lot of people at the same time and really help improve hundreds of people's lives almost in one shot, so to speak. Not exactly, but kind of easier than a one on one situation. Um, and so, yeah, that's kind of where I've landed today. Uh, the pandemic certainly accelerated the interest and action on wellness and well being in the workplace, which has been great. And I'm kind of being like, okay, finally good. Yes. Let's all get on the same page here, but I'm super happy to see that there's been a lot more interest and tangible action as well. So it's been good so far. Yeah.

Matt Burns: In a world before the pandemic, I think we would agree that wellness programs in large part were lip service. Organizations certainly put resources and dollars behind them, but I wouldn't say they were terribly strategic. Um, and they were often focused on, if we put a dollar in, can we get $5 out? That was kind of the thinking around wellness programs. How can we reduce absenteeism? How can we reduce time loss injuries? Um, there was very little discussion around how do we increase programs to improve employee wellness? How do we improve the upside around performance, around engagement, around inclusion? So I completely agree with you. 2020 was a real watershed moment. I'm curious, as you think about in a world pre 2020, in a world today, how are the conversations with organizations and leaders different than they were three, four years ago?

Lydia D.: Yeah, that's a great question, Matt. Uh, I think, like you said prior to 2020, you can say lip service. That is true. I don't think organizations saw it that way. I think they just weren't as informed or they weren't aware of what else was out there in terms of how to be better, in terms of offering wellness or well being, or how to create a culture of well being, um, in their organizations. Right. I did a lot of lunch and learns, and literally at lunchtime, which after a few years, I was like, this is actually against my values. So when companies would say, can you come in for a lunch and learn? Most of the time, I would counsel them to not do it at lunch, because we know that most people are not going to take their lunch break after the fact. They're just going to continue working. And the whole part of it's not the solution, but part of wellness is being able to take breaks. And so here we are, having a lunch and learn during someone's what's supposed to be their personal break time, talking about issues that are related to their workplace. And I have to say, um, for the most part, like, 95% of organizations were, once I mentioned this idea, they were like, oh, right, of course. That makes sense. And so then we didn't do it at lunch. Um, but that was kind of the trend, right? For a good, at least ten years, was the lunch and learn, the one off workshops, the yoga class, the whatever. I've explained it as there was a lot of focus on the individual, and what can you, Matt, as an individual, do to have better wellness, which is not bad, and it's still absolutely needed, but a missing piece of the conversation. And to come back to the question about what's changed post 2020, I think what has changed is now the conversation is shifting towards leaders and towards organizations, and how can they be part of the solution? So I have been sharing to everybody who will listen, um, this idea that there's a three pronged approach to wellness, and there's three entities that have the responsibility, right? So there's the individual, the leaders, and the organization. And so that's what I'm seeing, is that shift towards companies and leaders realizing, okay, I have a role to play in this. And there are things that, as a leader, I can do. And from a large, big picture organizational perspective, there are things that the organization can do, because a lot of times, the stress and all the things that are leading to or contributing to poor wellness among employees is things that are systemic issues because of the work environment or the work culture.

Matt Burns: Yeah, you're right. It's very much taken on the shape of a shared responsibility. And I think my comments around lip service before were in that vein, where organizations really just said, it's kind of your problem, and we're going to give you, here's an EAP card, but don't bring it to work kind of thing. And now we're seeing much more of a shared responsibility, which I think is appropriate. When you consider the impact of the workplace on people's mental health, on their physical health, it is certainly a stressor in some cases. And m whether you're operating in an environment that is highly competitive or if you're operating in a pre recessionary environment, there's lots of pressure for employees, um, and work becomes a significant stressor in their lives. So I think it's reasonable that organizations would take on some responsibility. But to your point, there's some responsibility also still lies with the individual to support their own wellness.

Lydia D.: Absolutely.

Matt Burns: So how do you counsel organizations to.

Matt Burns: Find the balance in those two things at this point?

Lydia D.: For most organizations, I would say it's not even yet about balance, but it's literally about the starting to take on some of the responsibility. Um, so for leaders and for the organizations to really be honest with themselves and have a serious look at, what are some of the systemic issues that are within the organization that are causing employees to not be well, I often use the example of the concept of where employees are told, take your break, take your lunch, don't work after hours. But then they just have too many meetings. Their meetings are back to back to back. Or the workload is so significant that they just feel like they can't take a break. Or even the leaders themselves are not taking their own advice and leading by example, which I know everyone has their own responsibility. Yes, but it's really hard as a, uh, direct report to somebody to take your break when you don't see your leaders around you doing it, even though everyone's saying to do it. Right. So that's just one example of how oftentimes there's these internal unspoken rules and unspoken pressures that can make it so that even though I'm telling you, make sure you, or even just like, the eating side of things. Right, the nutrition piece. Well, how can you eat well even if you know how to eat well, but you don't actually have the time to do it, and you're eating just now off the side of your desk at lunch, while you're in a meeting, or while you're catching up on 25 different things. Right. So I think the starting point is the acknowledgment and the starting to take action. And then I think from there, it really just becomes about making sure that all three of the entities, let's say, are involved. And the pendulum stays balanced in that sense. And it doesn't just get pushed one way or the next. I think having conversations and having someone like me come in and do workshops on the individual side of here's how you can manage your stress. Here's some tips for avoiding burnout. Here's ways to sleep better. These types of things, those are always going to be important. The issue before was just. That was the only thing. So I think now, um, I'm starting a leadership training program for leaders to learn how to create a culture of well being. So even doing things like that, like looking for people like me, it doesn't have to be me who are offering this kind of training or even just read a book. There's so many great books out there on this topic for leaders and for senior management to figure out what they can do to be making some changes. And I think I would say to those listening, if you haven't started this journey, it doesn't always have to even be expensive. There's a lot of free things that you can be doing that can help and have a significant impact that don't actually have to cost any money at all.

Matt Burns: I think that's well said. I think when people think about wellness programs, there's this perception of it's costly or it takes too much time. And I think you've articulated a couple of examples of where it doesn't cost time or money. Now, certainly you can spend money and spend time and get better results, but, um, whether it's a simple program around employee wellness or other activities, I think that you're spot on. I'm curious, what does good look like for organizations that are down this path? What does good look like in terms of some of the programs that you're seeing and some of the impacts you're seeing from those programs?

Lydia D.: Yeah, I mean, I think good looks like wellness and well being, being thought out through the whole entire organization and involved in all aspects of how the work is being done and even from an operational standpoint. For example, I think wellness has been housed in HR for. Well, since it's sort of been talked about from a work perspective, I actually personally believe that wellness doesn't lie with HR. I think it lies, actually, really, within the whole entire organization. Or if I was to have to put it somewhere, I would actually put it in operations, um, because, like, as you alluded to, there is a significant impact on performance when you have healthier staff. So for me, that's where I'd put it if I had to put it somewhere.

Matt Burns: Hey, everyone, it's Matt here. I hope you're enjoying today's conversation. And before we continue, I want to update you on my latest creative project this week at work. Every Friday at 07:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. That's 10:00 a.m.. Eastern. And 03:00 p.m.. GMT, my good friend Chris Rainey of HR leaders and I discuss the latest trending topics on the minds of executives globally, from organizational culture to technology and the future of work. We cover it all, and we invite some of our favorite colleagues to join us, from Dave Ulrich to Whitney Johnson, um, and executives from iconic brands such as NASA, Krispy Kreme, and WebMD. What can I say? We like to keep things interesting. And if you've been following us for a while, you'll no doubt recognize the fun partnership Chris and I have developed over years. Podcasting together, we're not afraid to be real, share our own challenges, and ask the tough questions. Joining? Well, that part's easy. Follow me on LinkedIn, click the Bell icon on the top right of my profile, and you'll get notified when we m go live. And now back, um, to our discussion.

Lydia D.: One example of one of the ways you can embed wellness into the organization is to actually build it in the performance management system that you have. So there's companies out there that have their leaders. One of their metrics for their performance, uh, appraisal, is, did your staff take their vacation days? Or a variation could be, what percentage of vacation days did your employees take? Uh, your reports? And again, it's not so much about massively micromanaging and making sure exactly to the letter, everyone's taking their vacation days. Sometimes people like to save them. There's like a whole strategy for people around vacation days, but it's the idea that it's a metric that's being asked of the leaders, and it also means that it's going to be on their radar to bring it up as a conversation point, to say, hey, Matt, I've been looking, uh, at, uh, your vacation day off thing, and I see you haven't taken anything in, like, six months. Was that intentional? Do you need something? Maybe you should think about taking a week off soon, that sort of thing. It can make it so that you just even have that conversation, uh, which I really like. So that's, again, just one example of how it can be embedded, uh, within the organization. Uh, workload is a huge one, and it's such a tough one for companies, especially these days. I've been hearing a lot of many organizations are having to do more with less. Right. They have less stuff, but they still have the same amount or more work. And so workload is definitely something that is tricky and there may not be an immediate solution to it. But I think, again, having those conversations, I'm a big proponent of boundaries and expectations and being clear on these types of things. So even if the workload is high, how can we still make sure to have a conversation around how much somebody is working when they're working into the late hours of the day, on the weekends? Right. How can we make sure that we have internal systems in place so that people aren't feeling obligated to be working on the weekends? So that could be conversations around who, like, if somebody really needs to be working on a weekend because maybe they took the Friday afternoon off for whatever personal reason, what do we know about that? Well, we know that maybe we don't have an expectation to be replying or maybe it's very clear in the emails themselves, or maybe the person uses the send later feature. Right. Like there's so many solutions, but part of it is having the conversation and really just discussing what are some of the expectations. So I think for me, really the companies that are doing it well, that, um, have been following some of the counsel that I've been giving is really opening the doors and opening the conversations around a bunch of different areas. Talking to your staff about what are some of the things within the workplace that are making them overly stressed and what are some of the challenges and how can we work on that together? That's really going to go a long way. One of the other pieces that I like to talk about as well, it's one of the factors for burnout is employees feeling unappreciated or undervalued. And so another great piece is for leaders to make a more conscious effort to present, uh, or to show that they value their employees and that they appreciate them and to do it in a way that's meaningful to that person. So again, same refrain. I encourage the leaders to have conversations with their staff about how do you like to receive feedback. I'm a person that if you in a meeting were to be like, hey, Lydia, great job on this report. I'd be like, great, awesome, thanks. Um, whereas some people, if you point them out in a meeting like that, they might want to curl up and crawl under the table and it might be more meaningful to them if you approach them privately or even just send a little email to say, hey, I noticed, I read the report. It was really well done. Great, thanks so much. Right. It doesn't always have to be super over the top. Nobody's getting like the plastic little medals or whatever, but learning how your team appreciates feedback or, yeah, appreciates feedback can really go a long way. Um, especially when times are busy, there's a heavy workload, and people are putting in a lot of effort. They do want that to be acknowledged.

Matt Burns: I want to double click on a couple of things that you said. I think it's really valuable in the thread that wellness doesn't need to be complicated or expensive. I love your concept around emails. We're living in a world now where people are working nontraditional hours. Maybe they're working remotely, maybe they're working hybrid. Most teams I see are working across multiple time zones, if, uh, not multiple countries. So the fact of the matter is the work air quotes is happening through all hours of the day and all days of the week. And a conversation that should be had as a leader with your employees is if you're going to perform work outside of hours that are either traditional to you or traditional to your team members to give them confidence in knowing that you don't expect responses on Sundays if you send an email. I used to have a coach that she loved to do emails on Sunday evenings. She'd get all ready for the Monday morning, so she'd go through emails and I could expect Sunday night to have five or six emails in my inbox. But it took me about six months to realize that she didn't actually expect me to respond to those emails on Sunday. She was just clearing her inbox so that Monday morning she felt on top of her schedule. We had that conversation. I stopped responding to emails on Sundays. That kind of stuff is free, but it's that implicit expectation that leaders can sometimes create. Whether it's emails being sent or, to your point, time off being taken, the value of having conversations with your team members cannot be overstated. It's completely free. And in a world where we're trying to retain talent more than ever before, it's frankly, um, a smart decision to just to connect with your staff and have those conversations. Lydia, as I was doing research for our conversation. I learned that you recently were recognized as the Ottawa businesswoman of the year for 2023. 1st off. Congratulations.

Lydia D.: Thank you.

Matt Burns: I'd love to hear a bit about that process and a bit about the award itself.

Lydia D.: Thanks so much. It's been really such an honor to receive it. Uh, basically, it's a juried award, which for me is extremely valuable because a lot of these awards, as you know, are often pay to play. And, um, that's a little bit unspoken and sometimes people don't know about it. But this one was juried. I don't know who the jurors were, um, thanks to them for picking me, but, uh, basically I had to do an application and then I had to do a little video and, uh, I didn't know until literally the moment when they announced it whether I had won or not. So it was very exciting. I had two tables of, uh, supporters and friends who, uh, came out, uh, which was really nice. And I think for me, I've been talking about this because obviously a lot of people that I see in town are like, congratulations, this is so great. Are you still on the high? And so on. I think for me, it's funny because I haven't changed at all. I'm obviously still the same person that I was before I won the award. But it's nice to be recognized for the work that I do and for the impact that I've had on all my clients and individuals. Um, and so that's really meaningful to me. And it kind of actually goes, ties back in what I was just talking about in terms of that recognition piece. It's extremely valuable. And I can see that, uh, there's a shift in how people react to me now or when they know that I've won this award. Um, it kind of elevates my status a little bit, which again, I think is funny because I'm literally the same. But, uh, again, it's just this recognition piece, um, which helps to boost my credibility, I guess you could say. So it's really nice. I'm really thankful. And to be honest, I would encourage anyone, um, if they see an award that they might be qualified for to think about applying, because just the application process alone was so valuable. Like, the questions that they ask are things that you don't often think about on a regular basis, and it can really help create that self reflection, which, again, even for me, even if I didn't win, I would have benefited from just going through this process, um, which is interesting, and it makes sense because in a lot of the work that I do, especially on the individual side, I'm often encouraging more self awareness, and I think that's sometimes a missing piece, uh, within people these days, especially from a wellness front, we're very good at ignoring the signs and things that our body is telling us. And so being more self aware can be really helpful, not only for yourself, but also for then, if we bring it back to the workplace, for you to be communicating to your boss about being aware of something and then talking to them to see if there's a solution that can be made. So, yeah, it's been really fun times over the past couple of months, for sure.

Matt Burns: It's funny you say that. Your profile has been raised. I know that you're quite visible. Anyway, in the city, you have a weekly radio show. You appear regularly on television. I'm curious, as you've gone through those experiences, how do they differ from the award? Um, and do you have any memorable stories from the many chats that you've had in those mediums?

Lydia D.: Uh, I have been on radio, on tv, uh, doing conferences, like you said, across the country. For me, I would say the best stories that I get are when people message me later and tell me that they did a thing that I recommended. And it's not that they listen to me, that's fine, but it's that they took action. I'm such an action oriented person, and I truly believe that most people don't need enough information. They need the information to be presented to them in a way that they feel confident in taking the next step on whatever the thing is. And so anytime, whether I'm giving a workshop, whether I'm giving a keynote, whether I'm talking on tv, I'm always trying to present the information in such a way that people go, oh, okay, yeah, this is doable and manageable. I think oftentimes wellness can feel very overwhelming from all different angles. So one of my strengths is breaking it down into simple, practical ways, um, that people can do the things. So again, for me, when somebody messages me to say, hey, I dimmed my lights, like you mentioned, when you're talking about how to get a better night's sleep, and I had a better night's sleep that night. Awesome. Love that, right? Or even I took a break, I moved more in my day. I went outside for a walk. These types of things, again, more a focus on the individual pieces. Um, but that literally makes my day. I love when I hear stories about that. And, uh, again, it just affirms that I'm on the right track, and I'm going in the right direction. And, uh, yeah, I feel like part of my mission in the work that I do is this piece. I got a compliment the other day, uh, from somebody when I was giving a workshop, uh, on burnout, and she was like, wow, you really took such a complex topic and distilled it down into digestible, manageable chunks. And I was like, thank you. Right. That's exactly what I want to be doing. So, yeah, uh, it's always great when people walk away and they have done something. Um, so, yeah, m that makes me the most happiest, I would say.

Matt Burns: Where do you see the future of wellness going? We've seen a lot of change in the last three to four years already. Where do you see the change in.

Matt Burns: The trajectory of the practice as it goes forward?

Lydia D.: That's a great question. I mean, I would like to see it continue on this path of organizations stepping up a little bit more and really kind of taking a bit more of the onus and the responsibility. I think we're definitely going to see a lot more of this integration that I've been talking about, where wellness is really embedded throughout, uh, the whole organization, within, again, the practices. So another super easy, free example that I share with my clients often is the idea of meetings, and, like, please, can we ditch this 30 minutes meeting? This 50 or 60 minutes meeting. Our talk today started on the zero five, which I love. I think that's fantastic. I'm sure that was intentional. And so, again, these are such, like, when I say them, they're so obvious, and you're like, oh, yes, of course. We could make a 25 minutes meeting or a 50 minutes meeting. Um, let's maybe set meeting guidelines of, like, we stick to it. We have an agenda, for starters, and we stick to it, and all that jazz. Right? So, again, I think wellness is going to be embedded throughout more. I'm still seeing a lot of conversations around burnout, so, unfortunately, I don't think that piece has been resolved yet, but I am personally getting requests to come into organizations, talk about it, which, again, is like, one step in the right direction. So the organization is acknowledging that there's an issue and is trying to figure out how to solve it. So I'm doing my piece to help support companies who are trying to do that. But I do think that we're going to have to figure out a lot of the piece around the pace that people work and, uh, what is expected of people and what is reasonable. I think that's going to have to change. And I actually think that it's the younger generation that is going to kind of force a bit of change. I see a little bit of tension right now between in particular, like a Gen X generation and the Gen Z generation. They've grown up very differently, they have very different values. There's a lot of great things that each generation can teach the other. And, um, so I don't think it has to always be one way or the other. I think there can be a little bit of an overlap of some of the types of values and the work ethics and that kind of thing. But I do think there's going to be a significant shift solely because of these newer, younger, even like the younger millennials. And the Gen Z's coming in. There's a lot more emphasis from them on mental health and taking care of their own mental health on work is not everything. Right? Like Gen X was really more. So work is everything. Suck it up. This is just how it is and this is how it has to be. And the younger generation is going, no, sorry, it's not going to be like that. Right. And so again, that's where there's a bit of tension, but also, uh, I think some room, hopefully again, with maybe some conversations and some softening on, let's say, either side, to really see what I think will be more healthier workplaces in the future. Again, with this younger generation that's coming up, I think that helps to create the more nuanced and balanced, if we can use that word, workplace or healthier workplaces because of how they've grown up. Right? Like my niece, who's 18, in her high school, they would talk about mental health, they would talk about taking mental health days if they needed, um, which I think from a mental health side, which we haven't really talked about, is fantastic. I think I see a lot less stigma around mental health from the younger generations. And so I think that's very positive and I think we're trending in that right direction. So I think it's just going to take a little bit more time. But I see us definitely moving in the right way. And again, there's a lot. The flexibility, Covid, was a challenge for sure, but I see so many positives that came out of it, especially from the idea of workplace working flexibility, um, which can contribute really well to people having better well being, especially if it's a place where somebody can have a bit more flexible work hours and people are more open to that, um, or even just work locations that sort of thing. I'm really hopeful that organizations will take the opportunity that Covid gave us to reimagine how we work and not just try and go back to pre Covid, because as much as everyone wanted to, quote, go back to normal, the normal was crap and the normal wasn't working, and the normal was literally a stress epidemic. And so we don't want that. I don't want that. I don't think we need that as a society. And so I'm hopeful that, uh, organizations will rise up and do the changes that need to take place so we could all be healthier people. And again, it always contributes to a better bottom line, to better performance, all the things like keeping your staff. I mean, it's so expensive to hire new people, and there's often not a lot of people to be hiring because of these labor shortages that we have these days. And so the smart companies are going to be the ones that are succeeding because they're the ones that are investing either time or resources or dollars into, uh, employee well being, and they're gonna be the ones that survive. So, yeah, I think everyone should just jump on board and get with a program.

Matt Burns: Well, to that point, if folks want to get a hold of you, Lydia, where's the best place to reach you?

Lydia D.: Yeah, so I'm, uh, super prolific on LinkedIn. I'm posting there pretty often, almost daily. Uh, so my LinkedIn account, which I'm sure you can link in the show notes, um, and my website as well, which is fithealthy three, six, five. Um, I do live in Ottawa, but I work with people all across the country and in North America. We, uh, can work remotely or I can travel. I love to travel.

Matt Burns: That's right. I will link those details in the podcast show notes. Lydia, thanks so much for your time today. It's great to have this chat.

Lydia D.: It was so great to chat with you, Matt. Thanks so much for having.

Matt Burns: Mer is a digital transformation consultancy working at the intersection of strategy, technology and people operations. We partner with organizations, private equity and venture capital firms to accelerate value creation and identify the organization's highest leverage initiatives. And this can take place in many forms, from strategic planning and alignment to technology procurement, implementation and integration, along with organizational design, process reengineering and change management. With our proven track record of working with complex, high growth organizations, we provide a Ah lens that goes beyond the balance sheet, increasing enterprise readiness, resilience, and value. For more information, check us out@bentohr.com.