Transparency is extremely important to us, so we are letting you know that we may receive a commission on some of links you click on from this page. See our disclaimer.

Should employees be treated like world-class athletes? They should when businesses seek to “consider how an understanding of physiology can help increase employee, and then, business performance,” write Jack L. Groppel, PhD and Ben Wiegand, PhD in a report titled “Biology and Business Performance.”

Dr. Groppel is co-Founder of Johnson & Johnson's Human Performance Institute, and Dr. Wiegand is Vice President, Science and Innovation, Wellness & Prevention, Inc. They write: “To truly address employee productivity, employers need to move beyond the existing productivity impairment framework and expand it to a new ‘performance enhancement' model, based on a more holistic view of employee productivity and performance. This means viewing productive employees not only as entities with optimal training, professional experience, or formal education, but also as biological and emotional beings, for whom when these dimensions are also optimized, can reach productive levels that are possibly unknown in the workplace.”

The authors look at the physiology of world class athletes and apply some of the principles to managing a healthier workforce, in particular areas nutrition, oxygen (in the form of exercise), and sleep.

As they add: “Clearly, the challenges facing world-class athletes and corporate athletes are very similar. Both live in a world of brutal competition and accountability. Numbers drive everything; last year’s records become this year’s baselines, and individuals must top themselves annually. Every moment requires sustained attention. Like athletes, workers — especially knowledge workers — need to fuel their bodies and brains adequately, train for emotional resilience, and improve their mental toughness.”

Among their tips:

• Understand that the body is business relevant.
• Measure: “As forward-thinking businesses consider the biological aspects of performance and build in practices to support it, they will require metrics that measure progress.”

For more, check out this HERO webinar as Dr. Groppel joined Dr. Paul Terry of HERO to “talk about well-being and human performance.”