In 2024, Jillian Bumpus, MBA, PsyD, workforce manager in the Office of Public Health at the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), posed a simple question to the employees she encountered — what do you feel is lacking in your day-to-day work?

Over and over, she heard the same answer: Connection.

That answer didn’t sit well with Bumpus. “One thing that was glaring to us was that employees across the state felt very disconnected from their counterparts in other parts of the state,” she said.

A connected workforce has many benefits for health departments and agencies, and for individual employees. These benefits can include an enhanced sense of well-being, greater engagement in the work, improved job satisfaction, and increased trust among coworkers.

The missing ingredient

Bumpus thought a lot about what she heard from employees and how she and her colleagues might address these feelings of disconnectedness. That’s when a new idea emerged — helping employees connect with one another through shared stories.

As a trained psychologist, Bumpus knew that story sharing is foundational to building empathy. “Leading with empathy is something I was really passionate about as a psychologist,” she said.

Geography posed a challenge. After all, it’s hard to share stories over lunch with a colleague when you’re never in the same cafeteria. So Bumpus raised a new possibility: What if the agency created a digital storytelling space, centered in the idea of helping coworkers get to know each other and form connections?

“I asked myself, ‘What if we had a medium to tell our stories?’” she said. That’s when ENERGY magazine was born.

Sparking hope through shared connection

Bumpus and her colleagues wanted to create a resource that would inspire hope — a topic that came up often in her conversations with employees. People felt most hopeful, and connected, when working together on planning and problem-solving, she said. Knowing that your colleagues understand, appreciate, and share your challenges and successes helps strengthen coworker relationships.

It’s important to remember that employees face challenges in their own lives too, according to Bumpus. “Our goal was to create a publication that shared stories and inspired hope, so people know they’re not alone,” she said. “That became the recipe for ENERGY.”

Write it, and they will come

The agency has published one issue of ENERGY and is now at work on the second. The first issue included stories about employee subcultures, including her own of parenting teenagers, Bumpus said. “I got a lot of feedback saying, ‘Your story really inspired me,’” she said. “People reached out and said, ‘I have teenagers too.’”

While there are six stories in the works for ENERGY’s second issue, Bumpus admits that encouraging employees to share takes some effort. “Creating this level of connection isn’t always easy,” she said. “It’s about inspiring others to share their stories, one story at a time. It takes commitment. I’m working under the premise that if I write it, they will come.”

ENERGY’s momentum is growing, she said. She’s thrilled with how employees are engaging with the content. “They’re intentionally not reading it at work,” she said. “People have told me they wait until they have peace and quiet to sit down and spend time with it.”

Make it special

Bumpus said the agency was very intentional in how the publication was created and promoted. They wanted to be clear that ENERGY is not another department-wide newsletter.

The publication is produced by the Office of Public Health and is supported by its workgroup on organizational wellness. Bumpus creates each issue in the design software Canva, and she expects to use PHIG funds to purchase a paid Canva subscription to provide enhanced graphic design flexibility and functionality.

Right now, all NYSDOH employees receive ENERGY in their email inboxes. As the publication grows, Bumpus expects that employees who no longer want to receive it will be able to unsubscribe.

ENERGY has been a great way for employees in the department’s central office to get to know each other, and to get to know regional employees they may not often encounter. It’s also helped identify commonalities that make it easier for employees to connect, she said. “Employees have emailed me after reading ENERGY and said things like, ‘I know the person who wrote this story, but I didn’t know they were a runner or I didn’t know this person loves dogs,’” she said.

Building personal connections can help teams work more effectively and help ensure that workgroups and initiatives include diverse voices from all agency offices, Bumpus noted. She also hopes ENERGY will be a tool to help employees manage stress and build resilience.

“ENERGY gives us a space to share our experiences, and how we’re getting through our challenges,” she said. “When we share our stories, we start to feel less alone. We feel connected to others who are going through similar things.”

As ENERGY continues to gain momentum, Bumpus said she’s pleased with the response across the agency.

“It’s already gone far beyond what I imagined it could be,” she said. “People’s reactions to others’ stories have shown just how much we’re craving connection with each other.”

Action steps for fostering employee connections

Looking for ways to help deepen connections among your team members? Here are some considerations to keep in mind:

  • Focus on “people first” efforts. Public health work may be a commonality, but don’t focus solely on the work if you want to grow a connected workforce. “While your efforts may be founded in public health values, make sure whoever is driving your initiative focuses on the humans behind the public health work,” Bumpus said.
  • Make it new or different. Unique efforts help drive enthusiasm and interest. Don’t make it like anything you already have, notes Bumpus.
  • Encourage organic opportunities: Employee-led groups focused on shared identities, life stages, challenges, and hobbies can help foster supportive relationships. Provide resources and support to help employees find each other and promote employee-led groups across the enterprise.
  • Prioritize social connection: Make employee connection a priority when writing strategic plans. Consider where and how employees work to help identify challenges that may make connection difficult. Design strategies and offer resources that enable and support employee-led pathways to connecting with one another.