Beach 2030 Project Spotlight: Staff Wellness Inventory
| RECOMMENDED ACTIONS |
2a. Create an inventory of staff wellness, service, and mentorship programs as well as opportunities to serve on campus committees and other activities, and establish a method for communicating this information to all staff. 2b. Create a shared resource pool to help reduce disparity between departments, colleges, and units who cannot generate discretionary funds. |
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| INFRASTRUCTURE AVAILABLE |
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| OPPORTUNITIES |
As staff members are empowered, incentivized, and engaged in a culture of collaboration and community, greater campus citizenship can be extolled to our students as a downstream effect. Campus initiatives will see greater participation and students and staff will want to be on campus more regularly, which can also enhance feelings of well-being and sense of belonging. |
| CHALLENGES |
Funding, resources, and looming budgetary concerns may impact the implementation of any novel staff initiatives, but the prescribed actions should be powered more by rethinking existing structures than by creating new ones. Secondary challenges will be found in mid-manager reluctance, union contract flexibility, and siloing effects, especially in the early stages. Keeping an open line of communication about efforts, progress, timelines, and opportunities will be key to generating positive momentum. |
| RESILIENCE |
Morale and retention will decline during crises, but increasing the ‘reserves’ of satisfaction and morale ahead of time can help weather the storms. |
The recently-launched Beach Wellness Inventory is a growing repository of health and wellness resources for faculty and staff. The Inventory represents a great stride in CSULB’s effort to Design a Culture of Collaboration and Community – a central component of Beach 2030’s Reimagine Staff action zone.
In Fall 2019, the Beach 2030 planning team welcomed thousands of constituents to join the university’s strategic planning effort and develop a shared vision for our future. Among the strongest voices were those of campus staff, whose expertise in all areas of campus operations was critical to understanding how the evolving needs of students and administrators require evolving structures and support for staff members. In dozens of forums and focus groups, exciting ideas around staff culture and community coalesced into CSULB’s goals to Reimagine Staff for 2030 – chief among them, an effort to consolidate and elevate health and wellness resources for faculty and staff.
As Beach 2030 Wellness Inventory project leaders Jeff Klaus, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, and Candice Chick, Student Health Services’ Health & Wellness Coordinator, launched the Beach Wellness Inventory in Spring 2022, the scope of the project quickly became clear. Among the campus’ many colleges, departments and divisions, dozens of resources for student, faculty, and staff health and wellness are offered year-round, but messaging about those resources is not always consistent, and the ability to research and compare them wasn’t available – until now.
Working with the Student Affairs Wellness Committee, the Wellness Inventory project team invited university partners like the Student Recreation & Wellness Center, the LifeFit Center, and Staff Human Resources to identify and develop a shared listing of all resources offered by departments large and small across campus. An internal communications campaign also invited the campus community to submit any and all resources that might have gone under the radar.
The result is a near-comprehensive archive of health and wellness resources, organized to align with 8 dimensions of well-being.
Resources for Emotional Wellness include counseling through LifeMatters and the Community Clinic for Counseling and Educational Services (CCCES), crisis hotlines, and more. Students, faculty and staff can also take advantage of You at CSULB, a free and confidential mental and physical health app with tools for stress management, crisis management, and more.
Relationships and community activities are the domain of social wellness, and opportunities to connect are available through the Beach Nexus mentoring platform, service in Staff Council or student advisement, or simply attending Athletics events.
Even Financial Wellness is considered, with a growing listing of campus fee waiver opportunities and financial workshops available.
“We put together tons of resources from all over campus, but this is not the be all end all,” said Jeff Klaus. “We see this as just the beginning of a larger health and wellness project. The next step is to find what’s missing and create it.”
All are encouraged to submit any resources not yet mentioned using the online submission form.
