Have you noticed how the notion of personal well-being has crept into every corner of our everyday lives in recent years? From what we eat to what we wear and how we work, we’re increasingly encouraged to make decisions that will improve our physical and mental well-being. And it is not enough to embrace wellness in a general sense: we can now measure every step, every calorie, and every minute of sleep to get validation of just how healthy we are.
The need to quantify ourselves has migrated into our apparel, our smart phones, and even our home appliances. We have become “everyday athletes” hooked on technology to track every health-conscious move we make—and this does not stop at the office reception.
Everyday life and work-life is merging more and more, which means the office now has to cater for the emergence of a more health-conscious workforce—a shift that demands more investment from an organization but that can also bring significant benefits. The work environment plays a big role in both the physical and mental well-being of employees. It can influence how people think, feel, and behave on a day-to-day basis, so why are so many workplaces still geared towards the old industrial goal of efficiency and not to the 21st century productivity raiser, well-being?
In this article, Kasia Maynard of global online knowledge network WORKTECH Academy investigates the business case for well-being and how new technologies can support well-being in the workplace.
