The Hottest Topic on Today’s Business Pages? Good Health.

According to Arianna Huffington, President of The Huffington Post, wellness, and how to integrate it into our work lives, has become the hottest topic in the business pages. And that should come as no surprise. Because, though it would be nice if this change were simply because of altruism, what’s happening is that big business is finally realizing that the health of their employees and the health of their bottom line are inseparable. In other words, big business has learned that wellness is good business.

As Dr. Rajiv Kumar, CEO of the wellness solutions company ShapeUp wrote in the Harvard Business Review, “a growing body of research suggests that nurturing employee health and wellness has a significant impact on productivity — which, as we all know, has a direct bearing on company profitability.” Kumar goes on to cite a study out of Harvard that showed that for each dollar spent on wellness programs, large companies got back $3.27 in reduced health costs, and $2.73 in costs connected to absenteeism. That’s no small savings, since, according to a study by the Milken Institute, lost productivity due to chronic conditions like heart disease, hypertension, pulmonary conditions, and diabetes cost the U.S. $1.1 trillion.

And that’s because of the very direct connection between our state of minds and bodies and the quality of our work. High performance, whether in sports or in business, depends not just on training and hard work, but on making sure our resources are replenished. To read the entire article, click here: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140706003151-143695135-big-business-finally-learns-that-wellness-is-good-business?trk=eml-ced-b-art-M-0-6943929177177682548&midToken=AQFqZ3Qqo7KIgw&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=1ggyelTNR5jSk1