The Future of Work and Employee Wellbeing with Jonathan Shooshani, Co-Founder at JOON
The Most Important Thing
Check out JOON and Jon’s LinkedIn to learn more about the future of work, employee wellbeing, and how you can supercharge your team’s health and happiness with flexible benefits.
About Jonathan Shooshani
Jon is a social entrepreneur that has been working at the intersection of health, wellbeing, and technology over the past decade. Jon is the Co-founder and President of JOON, a flexible and individualized employee benefits platform.
He’s passionate about the future of work, building businesses that help people lead happier and healthier lives, and creating greater access and affordability to wellbeing. Previous to JOON, Jon worked with a variety of purpose-driven companies and health food brands.
JOON’s platform was built on the principles of behavioral science. Jon and his co-founder, Sebastian, have worked with the behavioral economist Dan Ariely and his team at Duke to integrate research that helps people align their intentions with their behavior into their product experience.
Jon also enjoys cooking, singing, spending time in nature, practicing yoga and street striding.
About JOON
JOON (joon.io) is on a mission to maximize the physical, mental, and financial health of the ever-changing workforce.
JOON makes it easy for employers to design a flexible wellbeing program that meets the diverse needs of their team. Employees get the freedom to choose wellness and lifestyle options that are meaningful to them while JOON automates the reimbursement process and eliminates any of the administrative burden.
With JOON, wellbeing categories like fitness, food, mindfulness, women's health, family care, education, donations, and student loan repayment can all be covered under one roof.
Please feel free to reach out to Jon directly at jon@joon.io or via LinkedIn to learn more.
Episode Overview:
I sat down with my joon (you’ll get it when you listen to the episode), Jon Shooshani to talk about the future of work, wellness and corporate employee responsibility in a post-Covid world. It was a great conversation and I learned a lot more about his family’s experience immigrating to the US from Iran during the Iranian revolution. We also discussed our yoga journeys, and asked why many yoga teacher trainings have a cult-like feel. We closed on our shared love for nature and how nature in itself is a form of wellness.
My Favorite Quotes:
“When COVID hit we saw a huge shift in company’s wellness interests towards: food (because it was an uncomfortable trip to go to the grocery store), family care (because it’s been crazy for working parents), and work-from-home essentials (how to ensure you have the things you need in order to be comfortable and productive while you’re doing your job).”
“A lot of people were talking about the future of work a few months ago, but the future of work is NOW.”
“The idea of how to create remote-friendly culture is something that we think about a lot and discuss with a wide range of companies.”
“Different employees need different wellness options. One employee may need food and grocery support, while another is looking to manage their weight.”
“I discovered yoga through corporate wellness.”
“I was the only man out of 25 or 30 women in my yoga teacher training.”
“The simple things are the big things.”
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 – The story behind the name JOON
05:00 – Jon’s family history moving to US from Iran
12:00 – Work in a post-COVID world
17:00 – Work is becoming more human
22:00 – The new definition of wellness
25:00 – A corporation’s role in vetting, curating, and subsidizing wellness programs
29:00 – Jon’s yoga journey
35:00 – Yoga teacher trainings, gurus, con artists, and “cults”
45:00 – The simple things are the big things
50:00 – The secret life of trees
Episode Links:
Jon’s Info
Joon Info
Other Resources & References
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Yoga to the People Scandal, the Cut
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
The Secret Life of Trees on Radiolab
Marc’s Info:
Marc Weinstein, host of the Look Up! Podcast is a public speaker for corporations, universities, and conferences. Click here to view past talks and to book Marc
