“My accent comes out after a glass or two of wine,” mentioned native Bostonian Jennifer George, VP of Communications and Public Relations at Shutterfly. Since her profession took off, nonetheless, she’s referred to as a number of nations dwelling.
Her journey began in China, the place she consulted for small and medium-sized companies, one thing that George mentioned confirmed her “the facility of what comms can do.” Afterwards, she volunteered at a college in Kenya for younger women who had been rescued from youngster marriages. “I acquired to see firsthand how local weather change was impacting the plight of girls and women,” mentioned George. “It kicked off an expert ardour of mine for ESG.”
It’s not George’s solely ardour: Along with being the chief sponsor of Shutterfly’s psychological well being worker useful resource group (ERG), she’s the previous world director of communications at Headspace, the psychological well being and meditation app. “I can not communicate extra extremely of the significance of getting assist community,” mentioned George.
Forward of her session at Ragan’s upcoming Worker Communications and Tradition Convention, George shared her favourite TED speak, her finest recommendation to managers searching for to implement mindfulness practices with their direct studies, and why she’s made it her mission to destigmatize psychological well being within the office.
Communication has really been on the heart of all points of your life. Your passions have actually grown out of your lived expertise.
George: At first while you’re up and coming in your profession, you suppose you must bifurcate every thing: “That is the skilled me; and that is the non-public me.” The reality is, there’s no such factor.
That’s on the core of one of many causes of burnout, although, that lack of separation from work and residential that got here out of being at dwelling in the course of the pandemic.
When lockdown first began, I used to be operating PR for Headspace. And I used to be so overwhelmed. It was a peak second for individuals who have been on the lookout for psychological well being assist — we have been partnering with Governor Cuomo in New York, Governor Whitmer in Michigan, we have been making new contemporary content material and attempting to make it out there without spending a dime to as many communities and audiences we might.
I keep in mind one second, it was a Saturday night time. I used to be on the cellphone with Governor Cuomo’s press secretary. And we have been getting ready for one among his upcoming press conferences.
I used to be holed up within the lavatory on the cellphone, attempting to have this private name. My two-and-a-half-year-old was banging on the door attempting to get in, and I’ve acquired my foot towards the door, and I’m attempting to carry it collectively.
I’m not alone in these tales of desperation. You simply all of the sudden notice there’s no method you’ll be able to stability [your way out of] this.
I’m the chief sponsor of our psychological well being ERG right here at Shutterfly. I’ve struggled with psychological well being myself, which I discuss very overtly, as a result of there’s nonetheless an enormous stigma round it.
How did you stroll again from that? What allowed you to re-center your self after that second within the lavatory along with your foot towards the door?
When COVID first began, I figured it’s going be a few weeks, issues will return to regular… like everybody else thought. I used to be already struggling a bit with my psychological well being due to postpartum anxiousness [my daughter was born in mid-2019]. And after a couple of month, which was proper across the time [of the bathroom incident], there was a second the place I used to be attempting to make dinner and the children have been crying, and I used to be getting extra calls.
I simply slumped on the kitchen flooring. I texted my therapist, and we had a session that night time. And since then, each Friday at 1 pm, my calendar is blocked and my group is aware of that it’s blocked, as a result of I’m speaking to [my therapist].
You’ll go to the hospital for a damaged arm. Your thoughts wants assist simply the identical method. Psychological well being is bodily well being. I noticed it in that second after I bodily couldn’t rise up.
How do you acknowledge when your fellow staff get to that second? Do you’ve any recommendation for dealing with these delicate conversations?
I make it an actual level to speak very overtly about my very own psychological well being. However I additionally ask questions: How are you doing? Is there something that I can take off your plate? Can I enable you reprioritize? Opening [the door] to that dialog is step one.
Shutterfly has a really heavy quarter 4; loads of vacation playing cards, items, college images. It’s usually very exhausting for folks to take break day. Each quarter 4 I require folks to place in no less than per week, if no more, into our [group] calendar. Individuals know that their work goes to be taken care of, and they’re inspired to take that point off [without stress].
I ship notes. World Psychological Well being Day, Stress Consciousness Month. [Sometimes] I’ll additionally ship a listing of sources. Andy Puddicombe’s TED speak is a superb one to simply rewatch. There’s additionally The Motherhood Middle. Numerous of us in communications are girls and moms. From my very own expertise, it may be actually difficult fighting psychological well being, but in addition attempting to deal with your youngster.
In fact, now we have our worker help applications, however [I think beyond that] to different choices, like [therapy app] BetterHelp. Now we have entry to Sanvello [a mindfulness app] as a part of our advantages. Discover other ways to verify in.
We additionally arrange a 15-minute block on the group’s calendar, about 18 folks, each single day. It’s a aware second. It’s meant to [allow you] to take a little bit little bit of time, take a stroll, meditate or simply make one thing a part of your routine.
There has additionally been a generational shift in how folks take a look at work. There are individuals who have by no means stepped foot in an workplace, that had been working at dwelling for years.
The workforce is dealing with an enormous quantity of burnout and stress and loneliness. The pandemic actually supercharged it, however the macro-economic setting is exacerbating it. You’ve acquired elevated stressors because it pertains to geopolitical turmoil in Ukraine, Russia, what’s occurring in Israel. All of these items collectively are creating a extremely complicated place for our minds.
[My first consideration] helps to scale back the stigma round [mental health], whether or not it’s bringing in a speaker or resiliency workshops.
The opposite piece is simply round preventative care. How are we proactively monitoring our workforces and evaluating [our] staff’ psychological well being? We’ve carried out wellbeing surveys to get a pulse on how our persons are faring proper now. How is their workload? Are they accessing the instruments frequently? The preventative care piece is basically vital to assist stave off a few of that burnout and fatigue.
The third piece is round having the braveness to begin a dialog [at the top, because you really do set the tone as a leader. There is something about showing care and grace for our people that is so profound.
And that doesn’t take any budget or resources. It just takes [us being able to] wrap our arms round our folks in a method that solely HR and communicators can accomplish that superbly.
Be a part of George at Ragan’s Worker Communications and Tradition Convention on April 25-27. George will communicate alongside communications leaders from Kraft Heinz, US Financial institution, Motorola, Constellation, and extra.
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