Why Terry Crews wants HR to prioritize employee well-being

Terry Crews has transformed his career several times, from professional football player to actor to television host. His passion for health and fitness have helped him stay grounded along the way, he told an audience of several hundred HR pros at the annual Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conference in Orlando on June 17.

In his latest role, as global ambassador of well-being for wellness platform Wellhub, he’s sharing that passion with the people in the people profession and their employees.

“You have to understand it’s like a seed, and you can’t dig up a seed when you plant it because it’ll stop growing,” Crews said. “You just have to water it. You just have to take care of it. You just have to continue and be consistent.”

Why wellness is important. Employee well-being was a hot topic during the first day of the conference, as people leaders discussed AI’s impact on mental health and record rates of burnout. In one such conversation, Mike Daoust, SVP and head of North America at Wellhub, and Crews shared why HR leaders should focus on employee well-being.

“No matter what company, small, medium, large, what vertical, what part of the country, [employees] are feeling stressed. They’re feeling burned out. The workforce is really taking a toll,” Daoust said. “The discussion is now around what can we do to help build a foundation for employees to give them the tools and process to change that.”

Employee well-being programs should no longer be considered a perk, Daoust said. When employees feel that their physical, mental, and emotional health are supported, they are more likely to be productive and show up for themselves, their families, and their communities.

“Fun is the point. Burnout comes when you are not having fun, when you are not enjoying what you are doing,” Crews said. “I made a rule, I said, ‘Man, I got to enjoy what I’m doing. It does not have to be painful.’”

What wellness means to Terry Crews. Success has meant different things to Crews throughout his career, but he said it’s always come from value alignment.

“Ask yourself,” he said, “what do you value?” Crews said asking this question has led him to turn down offers to promote several brands—alcoholic beverage and gambling companies, for example—that don’t align with his values.

“By me setting those goals and setting those values, it paved the way for who I am today,” he said. “I wanted to be this fitness person that helped people be the best version of themselves they can ever be.”