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magazine
Talking Point
The two academics from Stockholm
University and Cass Business School
in London argue that the relentless
focus on health and happiness is
giving rise to ‘wellness syndrome’,
which could actually do more harm
than good.
Professor André Spicer of Cass
Business School said: “For many
years, governments have attempted
to control how much people eat and
drink, whether we smoke and exercise,
and how happy we feel. More recently,
big companies have got in on the act.
They encourage employees to sign up
to wellness plans which require them
to adopt a healthy diet, exercise, quit
smoking and cut down on their drinking.
“This fixation on health and
happiness often backfires. An obsession
with individual wellness actually makes
some people more anxious, guilty,
depressed and ultimately unhealthy,
both physically and mentally. People are
under pressure to keep up an appearance
of being upbeat and happy, even when
they are not.”
He adds: “The pressure to maximise
our wellness can make us feel worse.We
have started to think that a person who
is healthy and happy is a morally good
person while people who are unhealthy
and unhappy are moral failures.”
TheWellness Syndrome
reveals
how more and more companies are
introducing wellness programmes
for employees. In the US, companies
already spend more than $6 billion on
such programmes and over 70% of the
Fortune 250 have employee wellness
programmes in place. These can include
everything from smoking cessation and
weight loss programmes to free gym
membership, healthy eating advice and
life coaching.
This tendency, the authors argue,
A new book,
TheWellness Syndrome
by Carl Cederstöm and André Spicer,
provides a welcome antidote to the creeping cult of corporate ‘wellness’.
Talking Point:
Corporate wellness
n
More than three quarters (78%) of managers
with responsibility for recruiting staff wouldn’t
hire a candidate who is obese, according to a
survey of 480 managers by employment law
consultancy Protecting.co.uk. This rises to 89%
of managers working in retail and public-facing
business sectors. More than half (56%) are
concerned that an obese candidate might take
more time off work due to illness.
n
Half (51%) of UK workers want their
employer to care more for their well-being,
for example by providing flexible working
(20%), recognition of their efforts (20%)
and protection insurance (15%). In a survey
by pensions and insurance firm Friends Life,
only 3% of employees said they wanted their
employer to care less.
n
National workplace health programme
Workplace Challenge has launched its
2015 programme to encourage workers to
take more exercise by joining up with their
colleagues and taking a team approach to
getting active. ‘My Team 2015’ awards points
for taking part in sports and other physical
pursuits and ranks workplaces for their
achievements. New this year is an iPhone
app that makes it easier to log activity and
includes social elements so that colleagues
can congratulate each other on their
successes and compete against people with a
similar activity level via bespoke leaderboards.
n
Nuffield Healthscore has
been shortlisted in the ‘Keep Me
Healthy’ category of the first AXA
PPP Health Tech & You Awards.
The awards, a joint initiative
between AXA PPP healthcare,
2020health and the Design
Museum, aim to celebrate and
showcase the best in personal
health technology innovations.
One of 24 finalists, the Nuffield Healthscore
fitness and wellbeing app guides users towards
healthier lifestyle choices by monitoring daily
habits and providing a personal health score.
All finalists will be showcased in a public
exhibition at the Design Museum in London
from March 10-April 26 2015.
n
Workers aged 30-49 years take more sick
leave than any other age group and one in
three feels constantly stressed, according
to research from AXA PPP healthcare. In the
last six months, middle-aged workers have
taken an average of 2.3 days off sick – 12%
have taken as many as five or six days off, the
equivalent to a working week.
n
Businesses that help foster friendships at
work can look forward to a more satisfied
and loyal workforce, or so the results of the
Globoforce 2014 UK and IrelandWorkforce
Mood Tracker
suggest. The survey of 1,200
workers found that almost half (45%) of
those questioned have no colleagues they
consider to be real friends. Of those that do,
62% say they love their company and 24%
intend to stay with their employer for as long
as possible, compared to 16% of those who
don’t have friends at work.
n
Almost half (48%) of 3,000 business people
surveyed by serviced office provider Regus say
they are closer to burning out than they were
five years ago. The top triggers of workplace
stress are lack of exercise, feeling understaffed
and job insecurity. Two thirds (68%) say
freedom to work away from the main office
from time to time can help relieve stress.
has gone so far that some organisations
have now moved from banning smoking
to banning smokers. Following the lead
of the Mayo Clinic, many health care
organisations no longer employ people
who smoke and routinely test employees
to ensure they stay off cigarettes.
Other firms force employees to wear
life-tracking technologies that keep a
record of their heart rates, stress levels,
how much they eat and their sleeping
patterns.
Dr Carl Cederstöm of Stockholm
University says the wellness culture is
also influencing leadership styles, with
CEOs routinely displaying their physical
prowess by engaging in adventure sports
and endurance activities. Between 2001
and 2011, the number of US CEOs who
ran marathons increased 85%.
“The assumption is that to be a
good corporate leader, you don’t just
need to be good at your job, you also
need to be super fit. This myopic focus
on wellness can lead to new forms of
discrimination. It can lead to people who
have a perfectly suitable skill-set for a
job being overlooked because they are
deemed to be unhealthy or unfit. People
who fail to look after their bodies are
now demonised as lazy, feeble or weak-
willed,” he said.
To find out more or to order a
copy of this entertaining book, visit
.
In Brief
