Wellness in the workplace 

At 21, Chase Sterling wasn’t familiar with the military when she spoke with an Army recruiter inside a mall. But it was because of her seven years in the Army – both active duty and reserves – that Sterling fell in love with fitness and health which became a catalyst for her civilian career.

Sterling is this week’s special guest on The American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast where she discusses her work as a consultant with individuals and organizations to create a culture of health and wellbeing in the workplace.

“I’m so passionate about what I do because the majority of us have to work to survive,” Sterling said. “Work in the United States has become this negative thing, and it doesn’t need to be negative.”

The book “Dying for a Paycheck” formed a lot of Sterling’s work that led to her consulting firm HHP – happy, healthy and productive –  along with her founding of Wellbeing Think Tank, which provides free virtual events that focus on topics affecting workplace wellbeing.

“Humans don’t hate work … we want to be valued, we want to be seen, we want to be heard, we want to be appreciated. And when we leave work each day, we want to get that feeling of accomplishment,” Sterling said.

“If you left work each day feeling accomplished and good, how would that carry over into the rest of your life? As individuals we have a personal responsibility to care for our own health and wellbeing, but the role of a workplace is to add a bare minimum, not make us worse. Most of the time work brings us down. But imagine a world where work could uplift us. It is possible. I do see it in some organizations. But it’s not as widespread as it should be.”

With the veteran population who come into the corporate world with mental and physical health needs, Sterling often sees something vital missing – respect.

“We need to have respect for one another. (That involves people) recognizing each other’s unique talents and skills and humanity. At Google their thing is focus on the user and all else will follow. In the workplace just focus on the human.”

It’s the human needs that Sterling asks of when she consultants with an organization and its leaders on workplace wellbeing.

“For workplace wellbeing you have to have positive leadership. You need to have really good corporate communication. You need to have excellent learning and development programs. You have to pay people well. You have to have access to good benefits.  You have to have a safe, healthy workspace that’s not going to injure someone. You have to think about being inclusive in the workplace and how do we embrace and recognize diversity and the unique talent everyone brings.”

In the episode, Sterling gave this advice – among many others –  for veterans working in or transitioning to the civilian workforce.

“I talk about finding this path to wellness as a civilian. As veterans we really have to learn how to give ourselves grace. Especially in that time of transition you’re coming from this very regimented controlled environment into corporate America is an entirely different world. And every company is unique. It’s really hard. You have to learn a whole new way of working, a whole new way communicating, a whole new everything. Give yourself grace if you’re trying to figure out how the heck do I get into this corporate environment and play this game. Cause it’s kind of a game.”

Also, podcast co-hosts discuss:

·         The idea of robots fighting wars.

·         The dry eye challenge after military dogs are reunited with their U.S. Marine handlers after two years.

·         How American Legion Post 39 is cooling things off in Taylor, Texas.

Check out this week’s episode, which is among more than 260 Tango Alpha Lima podcasts available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play or other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available at the Legion’s YouTube channel