In 2016, Katy Talikowska, an advertising executive with over two decades in the industry, was working at AMV BBDO, a global advertising agency, when a single email ignited an awareness for disability inclusion. Now, she leads an organization aimed at increasing visibility of disabled people in the business world.

Talikowska was leading the Maltesers (part of Mars) account when she received an email from the UK’s Channel 4 News about a competition giving away £1 million worth of air time for the Rio Paralympic Games. She’d never thought about disability representation before, but decided to pursue the campaign. Maltesers entered the ad competition with the “Look on the Light Side” campaign and won, with positive feedback from the community.

Her relationship with the Valuable 500, a CEO collective focused on “accelerating disability inclusion through business,” started two years after the campaign, when she was introduced to its founder, Caroline Casey, a disability activist with a vision impairment. Casey was calling on businesses to make disability part of business priorities. With her communications background, Talikowska developed a pro bono awareness campaign for Casey and continued developing their relationship while her passion for disability equality grew.

When Casey decided to step down in early 2023, Talikowska was one of a number of applicants for the CEO job.

Keep reading here.—KP

Too many teams are struggling with high levels of stress and burnout. According to research from Harvard Business Review, the top causes of this stress are overwork and manager/team behavior.

To help your teams avoid stress and all its consequences—like burnout, disengagement, and attrition—Calm Business is hosting an interactive webinar that uncovers how you can create a culture of work-life balance. You’ll learn how to:

• use transformational leadership to create a safe space for team members
• define and outline what a successful work-life balance would look like for your team
• develop tools to help you build a work culture that promotes balance

A healthy work-life balance starts with leaders who are ready to reimagine the modern workplace landscape.

Learn how you can transform your company culture at the Calm Business webinar.

In October, Walmart announced it’s expanding virtual primary healthcare benefits to employees nationwide. As part of the expansion, employees and dependents who are on most of the company’s medical plans will be able to see virtual primary care physicians, as well as digestive health and physical therapy specialists. Most of the benefits will be offered at a $0 copay, according to a statement from the company, in all states but Hawaii, which has its own set of benefits.

The announcement builds on a pilot program that Walmart launched in three states—Colorado, Minnesota, and Wisconsin—in 2020, after recognizing only about one-half of employees and their family members saw a primary care doctor, which is similar to national statistics. Walmart said it saw an 11% reduction in the total cost of care for employees during the pilot, which ultimately expanded to 21 states. Patients with diabetes and hypertension who used the service saw average improvements to their conditions, the company said.

Walmart is partnering with healthcare services company Included Health to offer virtual care. Its CEO, Owen Tripp, praised the program for boosting health outcomes while simultaneously lowering costs. Walmart’s US benefit plan spent $6 billion on claims, insurance premiums, and administrative costs in 2022, according to Department of Labor data cited by Bloomberg.

Now that the largest private employer is offering virtual primary care to workers nationwide, the results could serve as a leading example for other employers seeking to expand their telehealth benefits, Guy D’Andrea, executive director of Catalyst for Payment Reform, told HR Brew.

Keep reading here.—CV

The Japanese government issued guidance in 2022 to encourage fathers to take paternity leave, and new reports indicate it may be working.

Where in the world? Japan already had a generous parental leave policy for fathers, who can take up to 52 weeks off at 61% of their pay, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and as of last year, they can also “take up to four weeks of childcare leave within eight weeks after the birth of their child” at up to full pay, according to the World Economic Forum. UNICEF ranked Japan as number one in the world for length of leave as of 2018.

Additionally, employers with more than 1,000 workers are now required to share the number of employees using paternity leave, the Japan News reported. The government hopes that requiring corporations to report such data will inspire small and mid-size businesses to encourage their male employees to take leave after the birth of a child.

The new guidelines appear to be having an impact. In 2023, 24.4% of dads reported taking paternity leave, up from 9.6% in 2019, according to Bloomberg.

Keep reading here.—KP

Employee gift-giving season is here. Did you know about 60% of HR professionals send swag as a holiday gift, but only 2% of employees actually want it? That’s why Tremendous created a report to help you boost employee engagement and motivation this gift-giving season. Check out the full results to find out what your employees actually want.

With the uncertainties of 2023, the hiring landscape may seem like an enigma. But fear not—our panel of experts and exclusive data will provide you with the insights you need to stay ahead of the curve.

Join our very own Amanda Schiavo, senior reporter at HR Brew, as she sits down with Lisa Shuster, chief people officer at iHire, to explore topics such as the impact of AI, the effect of upskilling, and the growing imperative for HR and PR collaboration. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain a competitive edge in the ever-evolving world of recruitment. See you there!