Wellable Weekly

Your weekly dose of workplace & HR trends, wellness insights, and practical tips to help your team thrive. For more workplace insights, visit: https://www.wellable.co/

Wellable Weekly is a news podcast hosted by Wellable, with 45 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Wellable hosts Wellable Weekly, a news show with 45 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Wellable Weekly

  Why the Death of Middle Management Is Greatly Exaggerated with Chris Williams

  Sep 30, 202659 min

  In this week's episode, Nick sits down with Chris Williams, former VP of HR at Microsoft and leadership advisor to senior executives worldwide. Chris joined Microsoft through the acquisition of FoxPro and eventually oversaw HR for 32,000 employees under Steve Ballmer before branching off into leadership coaching and development. The conversation covers why cutting middle management creates problems companies won't feel for years, how AI can genuinely augment managers without replacing them, why most companies handle layoffs badly, and his prediction that we are currently in an AI bubble. Key Takeaways Flattening organizations by eliminating middle management creates hidden career traps, including employees having little room to develop management skills incrementally, which can result in some leaving for organizations that offer a path to grow Chris predicts a retention crisis in three to five years for companies making extreme cuts to create flat orgs today AI cannot replace the interpersonal nuances of management (e.g., writing performance reviews, handling personnel conflicts, recognizing when someone shuts down after a certain type of feedback) but can help managers track communication patterns and manage more people effectively, making 8 to 12 direct reports realistic instead of the traditional 4 to 6 Companies are terrible at communicating layoffs: they focus entirely on the 1% being let go while ignoring the 99% who remain and are left anxious, uncertain, and quietly polishing their resumes without any clear communication about what the layoff means for them Much of what is being attributed to AI-driven layoffs is post-COVID hiring correction: companies that massively over-hired in 2020 through 2022 are now right-sizing, and the AI narrative is a convenient frame for what is also a structural adjustment Chris's prediction: we are in an AI bubble that will correct, similar to the dotcom era—AI is a genuinely powerful tool, but companies making reckless decisions about management layers and headcount will walk many of those back within three to five years

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Wellable Weekly

  Why Bereavement Leave Policies Are Stuck in the 1950s with Alex Seiler

  Sep 23, 202636 min

  In this week's episode, Nick sits down with Alex Seiler, Chief People Officer and HR expert with 20 years of experience across companies from Blue Shield of California to WeWork. The conversation focuses on two of the most under addressed topics in HR: bereavement leave and caregiving. Alex shares why the standard three-day policy for bereavement leave is a relic of decades-old union contracts, why employees almost never raise caregiving needs with HR, how to build a business case for better policies, and two bold predictions about where workplace grief policies and human-centered culture are heading. Key Takeaways The standard three-day bereavement policy traces back to union contracts from the 1950s (one day for travel, one day for the funeral, one day to drive back) with no input from grief experts or consideration of the actual mourning process The average US company today offers approximately 5.6 days of bereavement leave, while grief experts now recommend a minimum of 20 days for the loss of someone close—a gap that most employers have not meaningfully addressed in decades Only 8% of employees feel comfortable raising caregiving needs with HR, creating a self-sealing cycle: employees don't disclose, data shows no demand, policies don't change, and that outcome confirms to employees that did speak up that it was pointless to do so Alex's prediction: three-day bereavement policies will come to sound as dated as no maternity leave within five to ten years, driven by accumulating state mandates that will force multi-state employers to standardize well above the current floor In an AI world where technology equalizes output, the remaining differentiator between employers will be how they behave when something goes wrong in someone's life—what you do when someone's mother actually passes away is the test of whether human-centered culture is real or just a recruitment talking point

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Wellable Weekly

  EY Bets $100M on Human Skills

  Sep 9, 202617 min

  In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff cover two timely benefits stories. First, EY announces a $100 million bonus pool for employees who demonstrate human skills, a notable signal from one of the world's largest consulting firms about what it still values in an AI-saturated environment. Then, a Business Group on Health survey reveals that 14% of US employers have dropped or plan to drop GLP-1 coverage from their 2027 benefits. Nick and Geoff debate where employer adoption goes from here. Key Takeaways EY has allocated $100 million in bonuses for employees who demonstrate human or people skills, signaling that in a consulting business built on client relationships, AI cannot replace the value of human judgment and connection Geoff, a former EY employee, notes that consulting is a business where the partner selling the engagement, putting a narrative around data, and building long-term client trust is doing work that AI simply cannot replicate, making the $100 million commitment less surprising than it might appear Healthcare costs are rising well above general inflation, with health insurance costs up approximately 8.5% last year and projected to rise 9.2% for 2027, creating real budget pressure on employer benefits decisions A Business Group on Health survey found that 14% of US employers have or plan to drop GLP-1 coverage from their 2027 benefits, a meaningful difference considering 36% cover the drug for diabetes and weight loss (60% cover it for diabetes only) The key difference between enthusiastic GLP-1 adopters like Bank of America and the 14% walking away is likely not disagreement about the drug's efficacy but workforce profile—high-turnover employers bear the medication cost without capturing the long-term health benefits that justify it

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Wellable Weekly

  HR Lessons from Education and AI Study

  Sep 2, 202627 min

  In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff discuss a recent study that finds AI dramatically improves students' homework scores and speed but meaningfully hurts exam performance, creating strong lessons for how employers think about talent development. They also examine new research which links the four-day work week directly to lower obesity rates and discuss what employers who cannot yet make that shift can do to capture similar benefits. Key Takeaways A study of tens of thousands of students found that AI users saw homework scores improve by 18% but exam scores decline by 20%, signaling that AI is helping students complete work without actually learning the underlying material Findings from the study translates directly to talent development risks in the workplace Zynga founder, Mark Pincus, recently spoke on the issue's core risk: AI can get you to a B+, but it will not get you to an A—and if you have never done the foundational work, you cannot even recognize what an A looks like According to the Financial Times, an investment bank made fewer return offers to its 2025 intern class after senior financiers found that interns' initially impressive work seemed shallow once probed further Research across 33 OECD countries found a 1% reduction in annual working hours correlates with a 0.16% decrease in obesity rates A four-day work week represents roughly a 20% reduction in hours, suggesting meaningful population-level health effects Employers who cannot implement a four-day work week can pursue similar benefits by stacking smaller interventions: stress management programs, healthy food access, structured breaks, and flexible scheduling all address the same underlying mechanisms without changing the work arrangement itself

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Wellable Weekly

  "LinkedIn Time Traveling" and the Loneliness Problem AI Is Making Worse

  Aug 26, 202620 min

  In this week's episode, Nick and Geoff dig into two stories. A National Bureau of Economic Research study identifies "LinkedIn time traveling," where candidates retroactively edit old job entries to stuff AI keywords and exaggerate skills. Then the episode turns to new data showing AI is significantly worsening an already acute workplace loneliness crisis, with 44% of employees now choosing AI over collaborating with a colleague. They dig into practical strategies for what employers can do about it. Key Takeaways One in five LinkedIn users engage in "time traveling" , the term for a newly uncovered practice of retroactively editing past job entries to add AI keywords, remove DEI references, and inflate skills The behavior is being driven in part by candidates attempting to game AI screening tools, stuffing profiles with keywords designed to pass algorithmic filters, and to make them appear more fit for certain roles The US Surgeon General has equated the health impact of chronic loneliness to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, yet most employers are not treating it with anything close to the urgency they would apply to a physical health risk of equivalent scale 44% of employees choose AI over collaborating with a colleague, 75% seek advice from AI rather than a coworker, and 37% use AI for brainstorming out of fear of judgment, a pattern that is accelerating workplace isolation The most effective employer response is intentional collaboration: stack projects with multiple people, use AI in shared team settings rather than in isolation, and reframe AI as a team member rather than a private tool

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Wellable Weekly. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.