What is corporate health?

When people ask me what I do, nine out of 10 follow up with, “What does ‘corporate health’ actually mean?”?

As we all know, the answer to a simple question is often not simple or easy, and this is a case in point.?

When organizations talk about corporate health, they are referring to programs put in place to promote the health and wellbeing of their employee populations. For a long time, those programs were mostly limited to fitness challenges and office weight-loss competitions. “The Office” famously parodied this trend?with a group weigh-in, and it’s worth a watch as an example of art imitating life: Group weight-loss challenges are not the best approach to improving employees’ health.

So if corporate health isn’t just a matter of incentivizing your employees to lose weight, what does it mean, and how can companies do it well? Here’s what you need to know.?

Corporate health is not cookie cutter.?There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Workers at a manufacturing facility, for instance, will have different health concerns than those working at a corporate office. Any organization looking to improve the health of its employees should start by understanding what their employees actually want and need to achieve their personal health and wellness goals.

Corporate health is multifaceted.?In a recent study, McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, found that, today, people view wellness?across six dimensions:?

●??????Better health (Think medicine, supplements, medical devices and remote healthcare services.)

●??????Better fitness (which suffered over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic).

●??????Better nutrition (People increasingly see food as fuel for a healthy lifestyle.)

●??????Better appearance (Turns out athleisure is helping us look good?and?feel good, so here’s to more yoga pants!)

●??????Better sleep (I can say, from personal experience, this is a game-changer.)?

●??????Better mindfulness (At Novant Health, we’re exploring this in-depth among our leadership teams and our front-line healthcare team members.)

If this is how your employees think about health, your organization should, too.?

The next question we should all ask: is corporate health is good for business??There is substantial research out there linking corporate health programs to higher rates of employee engagement, productivity and retention, and I think examples of corporate health’s bottom-line impact speak volumes. For instance, several years ago,?Johnson & Johnson?put numbers around the benefits of its own investment in employee health, estimating that wellness programs saved the company $250 million health care costs over the preceding decade.??

Corporate health is driven from the top.?Years ago, “60 Minutes” interviewed Jim Goodnight, the co-founder and CEO of SAS. Founded in 1976, the company was a true pioneer in the corporate health space, offering all the perks Google and Facebook made famous many years later. In the interview, Mr. Goodnight explained why he had put those programs in place: “My No. 1 job is to ensure that my team members want to come back tomorrow.” Just this year Fortune named SAS—for the 24th?year in a row—as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Clearly his team keeps coming back.

I’ve experienced the same commitment from our own CEO at Novant Health, Carl Armato. He sets a powerful example, showing through his actions that when we take care of each other, we can take even better care of our patients and our communities. I remember one Halloween when Carl and I had a meeting with a few other leaders. After the meeting, Carl suggested we hunker down and focus on finishing what needed to get done. I wanted to, but Halloween is the second biggest holiday in my house. I needed to get home to celebrate with my daughter, so I told him about my conflict. He looked at me and said, “Kim, get out of here. The work can wait until tomorrow. Get home and get your costume on.”??

That moment stayed with me. It suddenly became clear my leader understood I had more important obligations?outside?of work. He respected them as part of my overall health and wellness, and it made me want to work even harder as a result.?

According to Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, recent data tells us that empathy is one of the key elements employees desire from their leaders. This concept can be embedded into a larger cultural strategy to develop environments with reasonable flexibility, commitment to individuals’ development and respect for their overall well-being both in and out of the workplace.

Corporate health doesn’t have to be expensive.?Employee wellness is an?$8 billion industry. It offers a lot of ways to spend a lot of money, and hats off to those organizations looking to make a significant investment. But impact doesn’t have to come with a huge price tag. Companies can start small: Have you asked your employees what would be ideal for them? My Novant Health team members can help with this survey, as well as with setting your short and long-term goals after analyzing their feedback. You may want to start small by sourcing information on the value of mindfulness and share it with your employees, or host lunch-and-learns featuring guest speakers who can provide strategies for healthy eating or stress management (which can be even easier to host these days via Zoom).?

Whatever it is, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. The journey to corporate health begins the same way our personal journeys do — with small steps that add up over time.?

So, have you asked your employees what they want, and did you have an aha moment? How will this insight shift your approach to corporate health? Tell me in the comments.?