Wellbeing at Work

'Wellbeing at Work' is the biggest imperative that organizations of all types need to address, adopt and drive constantly. While this may have been a good-to-have showcase factor in the past, the pandemic has made it an absolute necessity.?Well-being is holistic in nature and its elemental aspects work together to make human life fulfilling and productive. The built environment is a key instrument for delivering human health and well-being that enables the occupants to thrive. Especially given the time humans spend indoors every day, the environment becomes the biggest determinant of our overall health and wellbeing.

The world Health Organization states that 20% of an individual’s health status is a direct?result of the quality of their environment.

Understanding Human Health and Well-being

A large majority of organizations don't understand the complete definition of a Human Health and Wellness, and especially how a Healthy Building can contribute to it. The spectrum of possibilities is vast, and organizations need to understand this landscape fully well so that they can curate a Well-being strategy that works for them. Additionally, understanding how buildings can play a pivotal role in augmenting human health and productivity.

Buildings where we Live, Work, Learn and Relax PROFOUNDLY impact our health, well-being and productivity

Evidence-based Global Healthy Building Standards

There are multiple global standards and certifications such as WELL, Fitwel, and Reset Air that focus on promoting holistic Human Health and Wellbeing through evidence-based standards by providing frameworks. These standards provide proven measurable evidence-based human-centric strategies that address all elements of human health in the built environment.

Organizations committing to the Healthy Building agenda must consider plotting these on their roadmap. These certifications are not only an investment in your most valuable asset - your people, but also position you as a leader within your industry. Organizations that invest in creating a culture of health and resilience are better positioned to handle unexpected challenges and global events. The pandemic has made it clearly evident. ?

The ESG Context of Human Health

Human Health and Wellness also contribute to the 'S' part of the ESG (Environment-Social-Governance), however, corporations globally struggle to report this fully mainly by the lack of measurement criteria around Human Health and Wellness within the built environment. Adopting the global Healthy Building standards define a clear alignment for organizations accurately measure and reporting the 'Social' element of ESG.

Additionally, the investment community is increasingly incorporating new data and non-traditional financial indicators—like ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors—into their analyses to gain an understanding of a company’s source of risk and return. A recent study has shown that companies with strong Health and Well-being commitment and performance have significantly outgrown their average peers in terms of Market Capitalization.

While the average company in the study appreciate by 159%, the leaders with H&W track record appreciated by 235%.

To conclude, human health is gaining recognition as being material to a business's bottom line. This is the biggest investment organizations can make in their most valuable asset - the people. The time is just ripe to work on the Healthy Building strategy now as organizations open up to welcome employees back-to-work.

About the 'Wellbeing at Work' Newsletter

In this weekly newsletter, I endeavor to share proven evidence-based insights, best?practices, and strategies to help C-Suite Leaders, Sustainability Professionals, Real Estate Executives, and Wellness?Professionals fully understand this domain and be able to curate/craft unique Workplace Wellbeing offering to help their workforce and occupants thrive. The content shared here would be bite-sized, evidence-based, gradual, and structured to help you move up the learning curve swiftly yet systematically.

Coming Up Next...

In my next article, we will explore the Anatomy of a Healthy Building to set the holistic and integrative context on this topic. In the subsequent articles, I will take you through the broad strategic pillars of Human Health within a Healthy Building.