The Future Of Wellbeing For Businesses And Families

2022-12-19T11:07:03+00:00

NEWS

The future of wellbeing for businesses and families

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The global pandemic has put wellbeing under the spotlight with many of us looking at ways to reset life at home and at work. Fiona Bugler from i-wellbeing reports on what the future holds.

In an England-wide survey (*1) of over 5,000 adults 80 percent of people aged over 18 said that they have made the decision to change their lifestyle in 2021. For many the time has come to put wellbeing at the top of the agenda. Before Covid-19 in a 2019 report from Vitality, Britain’s Healthiest Workplace (*2) it was reported that health-related lost productivity is costing the UK economy an estimated £91 billion. This cost, say some, would reduce significantly (*3) with adequate investment in health and wellbeing.

Engagement at work

In this era, it’s vital that employees feel valued and engaged at work. It’s not just a case of ticking a wellbeing box (*4). At i-wellbeing, employee engagement is a focus through our subscription-based online platform (*5). “When staff feel involved and well informed about what’s happening in the organisation, it increases motivation and helps people understand how their role fits into the bigger picture,” says Mind (*6).

The quantified self

Gaining self-knowledge through numbers (*7), tracking the type of data collected by MySense, is a trend that is set to gather momentum both at home and work. In an article on Medium, Startup Health say: “When COVID pushed patients from the doctor’s office to home, we saw the ‘quantified self’ movement shift from a fringe concept to a mainstream necessity. (*8)” At work it’s predicted that corporate health tracking is a trend to watch (*9) where HR teams will use data collected by wearables to develop personalised employee wellbeing strategies. In addition to data such as sleep and steps, other key biomarkers – cardiovascular health, blood pressure, respiration – are being monitored with a goal of optimising performance at work. The ability to highlight key health markers linked to Covid-19 (*10) is one of the secrets of Whoop’s recent success, the strap which monitors heart and sleep health, is now worth $1.2 billion (*11)

Online wellbeing for all

Digital wellbeing and fitness surged in popularity in 2020 as people around the globe found themselves at home, looking for ways to stay fit, take care of their mental health, and manage their sleep. As a result children got active with Joe Wicks (*12) and their mums headed to the likes of indoor cycling specialists, Peleton, who reported a rapid increase in numbers (*13). In 2020 the Global Wellness Summit (GWS) added mental wellness as a new “industry bubble” (*14) valued at $120.8 billion (*15), as the pandemic led to a re-examination of mental health (*16). This hunger for good mental health at home and at work has led to the growth of meditation and mindfulness, with Headspace now boasting 45 million users (*17). Tracking sleep and the sale of products to boost circadian health (*18) has also been a wellbeing focus point, with the sleep market expected to be worth $585 billion by 2024 (*19)

Fiona is the editorial director at i-wellbeing, a wellbeing publisher and consultancy working with businesses who are proactive about wellbeing. She’s had a life-long passion for health, fitness and wellbeing and has combined writing about wellbeing with coaching and endurance sport.

Sources:
  1. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/seven-in-10-adults-are-motivated-to-get-healthier-in-2021-due-to-covid-19 
  2. https://www.vitality.co.uk/business/healthiest-workplace/
  3. https://workplaceinsight.net/british-organisations-could-save-61-billion-a-year-by-prioritising-wellbeing/
  4. https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/voices/comment/how-to-design-a-successful-wellbeing-programme
  5. https://youtu.be/StqgkkHaEGo
  6. https://www.mind.org.uk/media-a/4662/resource3_howtopromotewellbeingfinal.pdf
  7. https://tim.blog/2013/04/03/the-first-ever-quantified-self-notes-plus-lsd-as-cognitive-enhancer/
  8. https://healthtransformer.co/empowering-the-quantified-self-in-a-covid-world-a-health-transformer-showcase-recap-bcf1745f7447
  9. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201110-the-rise-of-employee-health-tracking
  10. https://www.whoop.com/how-whoop-is-fighting-covid-19/
  11. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/28/wearable-fitness-company-whoop-raises-100m-during-pandemic-.html
  12. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8488275/Joe-Wicks-worth-nearly-6-million-thanks-success-lockdown-PE-lessons.html
  13. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/05/peloton-says-recent-spike-in-covid-19-cases-lockdowns-boosting-sales.html
  14. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020-Global-Wellness-Economy-Bubble-Chart-02.jpg
  15. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/press-releases/gwi-finds-mental-wellness-is-a-121-billion-market/
  16. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/research/coronavirus-mental-health-pandemic
  17. https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/wellbeing/mindfulness-apps-coronavirus-lockdown-explained-chilled-headspace-448667
  18. https://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/2020-global-wellness-trends/
  19. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1119471/size-of-the-sleep-economy-worldwide/ 


Fiona Bugler 
Editorial Director for i-wellbeing.com
05/12/2021

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