HERO Webinar - Why Is Everyone So Damn Grumpy?

September 4, 2025 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (EDT)

Description

We are bombarded with stories about war, famine, crime, climate disaster, social unrest, disease, lack of civility, and political divisiveness – delivered ad infinitum via Tik Tok, Instagram, X, Facebook, and other social media. It turns out that doom scrolling is not good for one’s mental health and well-being. Not only that, money, power, fame, stuff, and more stuff can’t buy happiness (beyond a minimum threshold, of course). Just look at Elon, Jeff, Mark, and Donald. So, what can make us happy? Friends, family, faith — and wait for it — work. Work can be a happy place when there is an intentional culture promoting mental health and well-being. What does it take? Psychosocially, instilling positive emotions, creating “flow,” highlighting organizational support, building bonding relationships, and communicating a sense of purpose. Add fun, and work becomes a fulfilling life experience, and of course, a way to pay bills. The session will not just wax poetic. It will present findings from recent studies and literature reviews uncovering the sources and impacts of toxic work environments that cause distress and burnout. On the bright side, it will also offer solutions that extend beyond telling employees to “grin and bear it.” The session builds upon traditional psychosocial interventions aimed at enhancing resilience by introducing organizational and environmental stressors and solutions to improve the workplace. The session will recall a case study of protective factors shown to be effective in ameliorating stressors experienced by front-line hospital food service workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the session will conclude by answering the question, “what is Ron Goetzel thinking about and what are his solutions to the world’s problems?” Learning Objectives Participants will articulate factors causing stress arising from psychosocial, organizational, and environmental (POE) sources. Participants will describe possible solutions to distress by drawing from research unearthed in recent literature reviews on mental health and well-being in the workplace. Participants will articulate a basic framework for “calming the waters” on stress and anxiety on a societal level. SPEAKER Ron Goetzel is a Senior Scientist and Director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (IHPS) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The mission of the IHPS is to bridge the gap between academia, the business community, and the healthcare policy world – bringing academic resources into policy debates and day-to-day business decisions and bringing worker health and productivity management concerns to academia. Dr. Goetzel is responsible for leading innovative measurement and evaluation projects for healthcare purchaser, provider, government, and foundation clients engaged in cutting-edge research focused on the relationship between health and well-being, medical costs, and work-related productivity. He is an internationally recognized and widely published expert in health and productivity management (HPM), return-on-investment (ROI), program evaluation, and outcomes research. Dr. Goetzel has published well over 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and frequently presents at international business and scientific forums. HOST Paul Terry, PhD, is a Senior Fellow at HERO where he leads our learning agenda. Paul is also Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Health Promotion. His prior positions were president and CEO at HERO, president and CEO at StayWell Health Management, and president and CEO at The Park Nicollet Institute. Paul is the author of four books and over 200 research and professional papers. A study he led won the C. Everett Koop National Health Award. He was awarded two Fulbright Senior Scholarships and served on advisory councils for The National Academy of Sciences, the American Heart Association, the CDC, the University of North Carolina, Gillings School of Global Public Health, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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