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Category: Mental health
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Mental health and poverty remain a struggle for Maui wildfire survivors, new study says
Two years after the devastating fires, many lack access to food, stable housing, work and healthcare
Mental health problems and economic hardship remain widespread among survivors of the Maui wildfire, as access to food, stable housing, work and healthcare remains a struggle for many, according to a study tracking 2,000 survivors.
Two in every five (41%) adults report declining overall health since the August 2023 fire, with the burden falling heaviest on those still exposed to ash, smoke and debris, according to the latest findings of the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study (MauiWES), a pioneering longitudinal research initiative by the University of Hawaii (UH) and local community groups.
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Deloitte is now offering employees a unique wellness benefit: subsidized Legos
Workplace wellness—the trend of companies trying to offset job stress with benefits like time off for volunteering, discounted gym memberships, and free therapy—is a buzzy concept that some employers are taking more to heart than others.
Deloitte is apparently leaning in hard, according to Business Insider, which found that it has updated its list of subsidized items—already including fitness classes and gaming consoles—to include, among other perks, Legos.
The $1,000 subsidy towards “Legos and puzzles” is meant to “empower and support your journey toward thriving mentally, physically, and financially and living your purpose,” say policy documents, according to BI.
Also included in the list of approved items for subsidy, as of June 1, are kitchen appliances like blenders and refrigerators, spa services, personal portable cooling fans, and ergonomic or cooling pillows.
“Most of the responses are things like ‘Lego?!?!? Finally!’ or jokes about how they can now rationalize buying the coveted Millennium Falcon Star Wars Lego set,” one employee told BI, referring to Lego’s most expensive set yet, costing $850 with over 7,500 pieces.
Perhaps Deloitte, one of the world’s Big Four consulting firms along with along with EY, PwC, and KPMG, wants to avoid any misunderstanding among its employees about its desire to support wellness: According to its own 2024 Workplace Well-being report findings, 82% of company executives globally believe their company is advancing human sustainability in general—but only 56% of workers agree.
Further, around 90% of executives believe working for their company has a positive effect on worker well-being, skills development, career advancement, inclusion and belonging, and their sense of purpose and meaning; but only 60% of workers agree.
Deloitte appears determined to go the extra mile—with Legos— to make sure its leaders and workers are in sync. As one X commenter noted: “Building wellness one brick at a time. Honestly, not a bad way to destress.”
More on workplace wellness:
- Want to boost employee morale and productivity? Ramp up volunteering
- Workplace well-being is at an all-time low. Here are 5 ways employers can actually help
- 90% of C-suite executives believe their company promotes worker well-being. Why do only 60% of workers agree?
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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Employee Stress Is a Business Risk—Not an HR Problem
This research-backed framework will help leaders measure and pinpoint the steep costs of a stressed-out workforce.
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HBR’s Best Practices for Supporting Employee Mental Health
Editor-curated strategies from the archive.
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Parents are worried about their kids’ smartphone use—but less than half fully utilize parental controls, research finds
Only 54% of parents feel that their kids are safe online, with top concerns including predatory behavior, cyberbullying, and seeing inappropriate content.
Meanwhile, less than half of parents (47%) are fully utilizing the parental controls at their disposal.
Those disconnects are among the findings of a new report from the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), an international nonprofit working to make the internet safer for kids, and Ipsos.
The study, which examined how parents and children perceive and manage online safety, looked at seven different types of parental controls—web filters, app restrictions, privacy settings, time limits, activity monitors, communication limits, and spending limits—and found they are largely under-utilized.
“Our findings show that even as parental controls become more available, adoption remains low,” said Stephen Balkam, CEO and Founder of FOSI, in a news release.
But rather than putting the onus on parents, he said, “This should prompt serious reflection across the tech industry and policymaking circles and reinforce efforts to make parental controls more accessible and user-friendly.”
Parental controls are ever-evolving, and while the report focused on device-level controls, app-level controls are also refreshed often, with recent updates coming from Instagram and, more recently, TikTok (which partially funded this study but did not “influence the research design, methodology, or analysis,” according to FOSI). But often, young users quickly figure out how to get around the controls.
“In a survey we did a couple of years ago, a lot of parents admitted they even ask their kids help in setting them up,” Balkam tells Fortune, “which upends the whole notion of what parental controls means.”
The FOSI research was based on a nationally representative survey of 1,000 parents and 1,000 children aged 10–17. While it found that just around half of parents utilize device-level parental controls on tablets, that percentage drops for other devices such as smartphones (47%), desktops (46%), laptops (43%), smart TVs (38%), and game consoles (35%).
Other findings of the wide-ranging report included:
- Parents who report lower screen time for their children are more likely to have installed parental controls, while parents who report higher screen time for their children are less likely to use them.
- Posting on social media is the No. 1 screen time concern for both parents and children—with parents significantly more worried.
- Children reported engaging in a wide range of online activities—including watching videos, gaming, and social media use—at much higher rates than parents perceived.
- On the positive side, 89% of kids say they feel comfortable turning to their parents if something online makes them feel unsafe.
Why parents shy away from safety controls—and how to get started
Alanna Powers, FOSI’s Research and Program Specialist who led the study, said that figuring out device controls can feel “intimidating” to a lot of parents.
“Something that we advocate for a lot is streamlining those controls across systems to make it less intimidating and less confusing,” she tells Fortune.
Adds Balkam, “We need easy to find, easy to use parental controls that are also properly marketed and clear to use.”
Until then, he suggests parents educate themselves, even if it means using ChatGP (or your kids) to ask for help in figuring out the various device control settings. He also points to FOSI’s guide 7 Steps to Good Digital Parenting, highlighting the No. 1 suggestion: To talk with your kids, early and often.
That echoes advice from other experts.
“I want to emphasize that technical solutions are just one part of the puzzle,” Jill Murphy, chief content officer for Common Sense Media, told Fortune recently. “But I do think, in general, parental controls are just not a set-it-and-forget-it solution.”
Murphy pointed out that Common Sense Media research consistently shows that open, ongoing conversations between parents and teens is actually most important, acknowledging that it’s “heavy lifting,” but essential.
“There’s going to be frustration, a complaint, and that’s fine. That’s what it should be that evokes a dialogue,” she said regarding discussions around online safety with kids. “So preparing for that and expecting that, I think, is another essential part of parenting around digital media.”
Powers suggests asking your kids where online they spend most of their time and then, from there, researching those specific parental controls.
How you approach such controls as your child gets older will also change, Balkam notes. He points out that around the end of middle school and into the start of high school, there will typically be a shift from device-based parental controls to the online safety tools created by the apps in order to report, block, stay private, or monitor their own usage.
That’s when FOSI encourages parents to go from being helicopter parents to “co-pilots” with their kids, “simply by saying, ‘Yes, you can go on Instagram now, but before I give you that privilege, show me how you’re going to set up the privacy settings,’” he says. “And treat it like a joint venture, because parents aren’t going to know everything. And the kids, if you involve them and engage them in setting the rules as well as the consequences, they’re far more likely to buy into it.”
More on online safety:
- TikTok introduces tighter controls for kids and teens—but experts still have a warning for parents
- 68% of parents with children under 6 say their kids need a ‘detox’ from technology. Here’s why that’s scary, say experts
- Modern parenting is hurting kids and adults, ‘Anxious Generation’ author warns
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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The Risks of Collecting Employees’ Biometric Data
Companies use these programs to increase safety and productivity—but run the risk of harming employee engagement, trust, and mental health.
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A Texas man is seeking justice for his brother who died in police custody: ‘He was a good person’
Glenn Smallwood had schizoaffective disorder. Instead of a hospital, police took him to jail and strapped him to a chair
Two days before he died, a 33-year-old father and US army veteran named Glenn Smallwood Jr was talking about building a house. His younger brother, John, was remodeling a home in Lufkin, Texas, where both brothers lived, and Glenn asked whether he could help.
“He was so happy about the idea of working with me and turning his life around,” John said. “He was thinking positively about his future. I think about this memory often.”
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Money and masculinity: How wellness became big business and changed American health culture
In the first months of Donald Trump’s second presidency, the world of American healthcare has seen rapid transformations, largely at the behest of his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.