A Cure for the Common Company

2Getting Personal: How Our Subcultures Influence Our Well‐Being

WHEN SARAH KAPLAN WORKED THE night shift for The Washington Post, she wound up averaging three to four hours of sleep a day. Her sleep‐inducing strategies for off hours included soothing music, dull podcasts, yoga, meditation, and chamomile tea, all with poor results. The prescription sleep aids she tried left her unrested and groggy. When she finally did fall asleep, at work, with her cheek pressed against her notes, her boss sent her home, and she wasn't upset about it. In her 14 months on a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., five‐day‐a‐week shift, her short‐term memory faded, her hair fell out, and she said she had the sleep habits “of a colicky infant.”¹ The health risks for such shift workers are high, ranging from upset stomach, nausea, diarrhea, heartburn, insomnia, greater risk of injuries or accidents, to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, ulcers, and depression.² Not a pretty picture.

It's hard to believe that Sarah will feel better without addressing the underlying reason for her poor health, and it's also difficult to conceive of any person achieving their ideal well‐being state if they're not living and working in supportive cultures. Fortunately, there is a process for shaping a well‐being workplace culture. As you can imagine, the larger the team or organization, the more planning, time, and resources are needed to influence and shape the well‐being culture. One of the main reasons for this additional challenge ...