Based on feedback from formal surveys and conversations, the School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) has committed to investing in organizational wellbeing. In response, the Building Community Steering Committee has engaged an organizational wellness consulting firm called Exude to recommend the scope of a future role in SMPH focused on addressing wellbeing.
“We are really focusing on organizational wellbeing and a culture of wellbeing,” says Karla Chin, Chief Wellbeing Officer at Exude and lead consultant on the SMPH Wellbeing Landscape Analysis project. “We know that at the organizational level you can’t just rely on programs but instead you need a culture of wellbeing.”
The future wellbeing role has been approved by school leadership based on recommendations from the Wellbeing Advisory committee. Efforts are currently focused on staff and faculty, with a student-focused project to follow.
The consultants have reviewed data from previous studies, including the 2022 Community Pulse staff survey. They performed a site-visit in late January for meetings, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews, which will continue virtually through March. These sessions are focusing on people who have formal or informal wellbeing roles in the SMPH. (To nominate yourself or someone else with wellbeing experience to share, please email buildingcommunity@med.wisc.edu.)
Based on their findings, the consultants will detail the experience and responsibilities the individual should have and how the person should prioritize the immediate and long-term needs. Chin says they will focus on what will “realistically move the needle on organizational wellbeing.”