What makes GHRI a great workplace? Altruism

While bicycling in Iceland, Dr. Eric Larson takes time off to contemplate altruism, empathy and workplace culture. Photo by Dr. Eric Olsen. 

Dr. Eric B. Larson sees parallels between a David Brooks New York Times commentary and the Group Health mission and work culture.

by Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, executive director of Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) and vice president for research at Group Health

I’ve been traveling a lot recently on business and vacation, including a bicycle trip in Iceland I’ve been planning for a long time. Being away from GHRI made me think about what makes our group of 300-plus scientific investigators and staff unique. While I was on the road, I saw a New York Times piece from David Brooks about the quality that I think makes GHRI such a great place to work: altruism.

In his column, Brooks argues that altruism is a basic human trait. Even babies tend to help others, he writes. And grownups respond better to policies that appeal to our generous nature instead of punishing our errors.

Brooks gives several examples, including a daycare center that began imposing fines on late parents and saw a rise in tardiness instead of punctuality. Apparently, people are more likely to pick up their kids on time if they view that behavior as a kindness to the teachers rather than a way to avoid a fee. Brooks argues that we should nurture the natural human impulse to be altruistic when writing our policies and designing our workplaces.

Altruism is central to our mission

Why did this column resonate with me? It made me think of my GHRI colleagues. Although we have diverse backgrounds, skills, and responsibilities, we share a commitment to making a difference in the world. We’re all working to improve health and health care for as many people as possible.

GHRI is part of Group Health, where altruism is central to our mission. Brooks writes that institutions should be built on our natural selflessness. That made me think of the bylaws of Group Health, written in the 1940s, that explicitly state our purpose: “To serve the greatest possible number of people.”

Here are just a few examples of how GHRI is serving the public:

• Michael Von Korff and his collaborators were among the first to recognize the harms of excessive opioid use. He has been a leader in developing national policies to address the opioid epidemic.
• Clarissa Hsu’s LINCC project, one of the first to be funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, is helping people tap into health-related resources in their own community.
• Our work with the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium helps women across the country better understand the risks and benefits of mammography and other breast imaging methods. We’re making screening for breast and other cancers safer and more effective for all.

Treasure empathy

Of course, Brooks took criticism for his column, including comments that selfless acts are really part of an implied exchange or for an implicit advantage. I agree that humans are complex and our actions are motivated in part by self-interest. But I point to work by Frans de Waal of Emory University whose primate studies indicate that empathy and altruism are ancient biological traits. In this view, an altruistic act, while not necessarily advantageous to the individual who performs it, benefits the overall group.

In the end, I agree with Brooks’ basic point: People have a natural impulse to help others and our policies should allow us to act on that impulse. Although formally stating this goal in a mission statement is a first step, it is not enough. We have to work constantly to support a culture of altruism.

Every day at GHRI reminds me that altruism is a fundamental part of human nature. I treasure our altruistic mission, our culture, and the way my coworkers and I share a sense of pride in our work, our good science, and our benefit to the community.