Fit For Duty

Todd Lazar, President, Aetna International Americas, discusses the differentiators that set Aetna International apart in the marketplace. Listen to hear how our one-carrier solution can deliver a better experience for your clients and their employees.

It’s that time of year again when we ask Aetna’s health care experts to provide a view on emerging or persisting health care trends for the year ahead. Today, we’re speaking to Seeta Hammer, Senior Director, Clinical Health Services at Aetna International. Find out what 2023 has in store as far as healthcare trends are concerned and how organizations can use this insight to support the well-being of their people and manage their corporate healthcare costs. We’ll also be diving into the...

As the war for talent rumbles on, organisations are now facing quiet quitting, disengaged, younger workforces and the rise of quiet firing. And when you layer in the international component, be it globally mobile personnel, overseas offices, or work-from-anywhere teams, it seems that organisations must rethink the management of far-flung teams and the propagation of healthy, people-first values and cultures. In this episode, Lorien Norden is joined by Lorna Borenstein, Founder & CEO of...

While in some areas of the world, mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety or depression are widely spoken about, in other areas they are still misunderstood and could be sidelined or ridiculed. In this episode, Lorien Norden is joined by Nicole van Valen, a Clinical Psychotherapist and Senior Business Leader with Aetna, a CVS Health company to discuss: - The ways in which businesses with international workers can help ensure their teams and their people get the support they need...

In this episode, Lorien Norden is joined by Dr Charushilla Thadani, Medical Director, Aetna International, who explains: Start discovering the trends at play. Find out which ones could impact your health and well-being benefits, your communications strategy and your cultural strategy. Aetna International is a global health and wellness benefits provider, but we're more than just an insurance safety net. Our skill lies in delivering the tools, services and resources that help drive health...

Getting the right people into the right roles in the right location is much trickier than it used to be. The values, needs and expectations of talent are changing rapidly and there are new working models, policies and governance frameworks that organisations need to continue to develop to so they can make fast, agile decisions. Our guests discuss the shift required by leadership to support, develop and get the best out of team members. Lorien Norden is joined by Marc Burrows, Head of Global...

In this episode, Lorien Norden concludes a two-part discussion with Bradley Honnor, Founder & Managing Director, MatchFit and Adele McKenzie-Smith, Senior HR Leader, Aetna International about the way in which organisations are having to adapt their culture, policies and benefits to ensure they’re retaining and attracting talent in a continued period of change. Click below to listen to the first part of this conversation: Fit For Duty #15: The ‘War for Talent’ - Part One Aetna...

In this special Memo episode, we’re looking back over the first half of 2021 to bring you a round-up of some of the most insightful expert opinions from our recent podcast episodes. These excerpts shed light on some of the most notable trends and influences that will continue to shape employee health and well-being and corporate culture in the coming months and years. This includes shifts in attitudes towards health care tech, self-care, the influence of social connectedness on our health...

There’s no denying that today, organisations need to have a distinct competitive advantage when it comes to retaining and attracting talent. Not only do business owners, senior leaders and HR teams need to manage the nuances of the new hybrid work environment, but workers are also putting them under pressure. They expect their employers to live and breathe their purpose, develop collaborative, diverse, inclusive cultures, leverage new technologies and help their people manage their health,...

In this episode, Lorien Norden is joined by workplace health consultant, adviser and author Jesse Lahey and Aetna International’s Global Medical Director, vHealth, Dr Nairah Rasul-Syed to discuss comorbidity. The interplay between conditions is undeniable, but often not front-of-mind when trying to help individuals. Our guests explain how various conditions affect each other, how mental health can damage physical health and vice versa and why whole-person health is essential when tackling...

Coach and author Nicolai Tillisch joins Lorien Norden to discuss the changing role of HR. The episode examines how HR teams need to (and can) adapt to ongoing changes to workplaces – accelerated by the pandemic: distributed and hybrid teams, financial uncertainty, mental health challenges and employee demand. Nicolai outlines his Return On Ambition model of career development, personal growth, work-life-well-being balance to help HR teams as they support their people. Aetna International is...

Smriti Joshi, Lead Psychologist at Wysa and Cara McNulty, Head of Behavioural Health at CVS join Lorien Norden to discuss supporting the spectrum of mental health needs in the workplace. It’s just over a year on from the onset of the pandemic, and the world over has seen a rise of short- and long-term mental health conditions. How are organisations continuing to adapt their culture and strategies to help those with signs of low lying mental ill health, such as stress and sleep disturbances,...

Macroeconomics expert, Professor Graeme Leach discusses how the pandemic could continue to impact global economies and productivity, change consumer habits and accelerate innovation. As CEO of Macronomics - a macroeconomic, geopolitical and future megatrends research consultancy and author of the report Coronanomics – he addresses the positive and negative shocks of the pandemic. Graeme also covers the forces shaping the health care industry, inflation rates, manufacturing, global mobility,...

Lorien Norden discusses workplace health and wellness trends with Dr Hemal Desai and Simon Miller. How can employers pivot to create a culture of well-being in today’s fluid world to ensure the health, happiness and productivity of their people wherever they’re working from? Our experts offer their opinions, insights and advice.

With lockdown restrictions being re-imposed across many countries, new insights from four major global markets have revealed the significant impact they’re having on office worker performance and productivity. Lorien Norden discusses COVID-19 and productivity with Head of Health Services Kate Karwelies.

For this episode of our award-nominated podcast, Dr Sneh Khemka returns, this time to mark World Spine Day. Sneh and our host, Lorien Norden, discuss musculoskeletal conditions (MSK), the second largest contributor to disability - with low-back pain being is the biggest cause. This insightful conversation includes the role of primary care in helping to tackle MSK, treatments such as laser spine surgery and what people can do to avoid musculoskeletal conditions.

For World Mental Health Day, Dr Sneh Khemka discusses how the pandemic is affecting people’s mental health as the fight to erode mental health stigma around the world continues. We also cover how mental health affects the body, the self-help revolution and the influence of community and social connectedness on our overall mental health. Sneh also explains what forward thinking companies are doing in the mental health space.

Heart disease – or cardiovascular disease (CVD) – is the world’s biggest killer, responsible for approximately 30% of global deaths. To mark World Heart Day (29th September 2020), we speak to Dr Sneh Khemka to discuss how COVID-19 and lifestyle choices impact CVD, why mortality and patient figures are hard to pin down, global trends, and the critical steps governments and employers can take to help individuals build good heart health.

Aetna International’s Caroline Pain (Senior Vice President, Customer Proposition) and Dr Hemal Desai (Global Medical Director) discuss the findings of our new survey which asks: is workplace digital tech making employees ill or enabling better health? And will the Covid-19 pandemic increase adoption of digital tech to support health and well-being at work? They also discuss practical ways companies can use digital tech to support employee well-being.

Lorien Norden and Dr Sneh Khemka discuss the many issues surrounding tobacco use around the world. The episode covers changing trends in tobacco use around the world, the impact on individuals and health care systems, and what we know about ‘vaping’ and its effects. Sneh talks about smoking in the context of the global pandemic, how it is a great opportunity to stop smoking and offers advice for those looking to quit.