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.

Interactive Health CEO Cathy Kenworthy

This post from Cathy Kenworthy, Interactive Health CEO, was originally published in LinkedIn here. Please visit the original piece to leave any comment.

Is workplace wellness a business strategy?

I think it is. But then, you might expect me to feel that way, given my role at Interactive Health, a dedicated and long-time provider of health management solutions.

However, my deep belief – indeed, my certainty – that workplace wellness can provide a path to business success comes from my inside view: every day I see the action on the ground with employees, as well as the bird’s eye perch of my interactions with CEOs, HR leaders, and benefits advisers.  Business is an awful lot about people and, ergo, people are at the heart of business strategy.

For good reasons, there are differing views among employers about worksite wellness… the merits and the limitations, what works and what doesn’t work, the latest fads and the enduring principles.  From my chair, I see through the prism of thousands of employer groups and employees a simple truth:  preventive care is known science and smart business.

Certainly, preventive care programs are not pixie dust and do not magically provide individuals suffering from long-term chronic health risks an immediate answer.  As in so many areas of business strategy, though, a proactive approach goes a very long way to improving the odds of success in overcoming tough issues.  A clear and factual view of one’s health today improves the odds that one’s health will be better in the future than it otherwise would be.  A clear and factual view of an organization’s aggregate health today improves the odds that the organization’s health will be better in the future than it otherwise would be.  And better health is good for individuals and good for organizations, in ways that are measurable and, more importantly, in ways that are far less measurable.

An effective forward-looking workplace wellness plan delivers positive and sustainable benefit to business.  Prioritizing action today to change business results in the future… That’s the essence of effective business strategy.

I’m often part of private conversations on the role of preventive care and health management in the workplace. I’d now like to take that conversation public, and I hope you’ll join me.

Over a series of posts, we’ll get broader and deeper into the underlying important strategic questions, and I would appreciate the opportunity to engage with and learn from you on ideas that you may have about mission, purpose, and approach.  I’ll be very interested in your views – and your reaction to what I write. You can comment here, or you can reach me on Twitter at @CKenworthy.

I look forward to our conversation. Thanks for joining.  Oh, and up next?  What do the theater and social change and wellness have to do with each other….