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A leader’s guide to long-term workforce health

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Brought to you by Liz Hilton Segel, chief client officer and managing partner, global industry practices, & Homayoun Hatami, managing partner, global client capabilities

It isn’t hard to make the connection between health and productivity— after all, common sense dictates that healthier people tend to be more productive and stay in the workforce longer. But the extent of the connection may not be immediately apparent. Our research shows that the improved labor productivity and higher incomes associated with better health can give societies a strong economic boost. The benefits of investing in health go beyond the traditional healthcare industry: they invite consideration from leaders in all industries and public- and private-sector organizations worldwide. Here are some actions you can take right now to ensure that your workforce remains healthier for longer.

Like most smart investments, spending on health can yield substantial returns. Our latest report on the impact of reducing the global disease burden finds that health improvements could add $12 trillion, or 8 percent, to global GDP in 2040. For employers, that means greater labor force participation, fewer employee health conditions, and improved productivity from workers who are physically, cognitively, and psychologically healthier. According to McKinsey senior partners Sven Smit and Jonathan Woetzel and their colleagues, every dollar invested in improving health could yield an economic return of $2 to $4. Long-term disease prevention and health promotion “cannot simply be left to healthcare providers or healthcare systems,” they say. “It is quite literally everybody’s business. Advancing healthy communities and healthy and inclusive workplaces will be critical.”

10

“The mind plays a massive role in how we create a healthy reality,” says author and entrepreneur Tamen Jadad-Garcia in this discussion with McKinsey. “Your mind has a practically unlimited capacity to interpret something as stressful or fear-inducing, but you can also interpret the same context as calming, joyful, and welcoming.” Besides training your brain to achieve this more optimistic perspective, Jadad-Garcia suggests paying attention to the qualities of physical spaces, which “can either contribute to or sabotage our healthy realities.” For example, green spaces—such as grasslands, trees, or vegetation—have been shown to improve cognitive functioning and reduce stress. “Being in nature helps with attention span, creativity, well-being, and happiness,” state McKinsey senior partner Arne Gast and coauthors in this article. “It shouldn’t be a vacation from building these crucial skills but rather a foundational resource for individual and team development.”

You read a fortune cookie and you’re pleased at how aptly the prediction applies to you. That’s an example of the “Barnum effect,” a well-known cognitive bias where people believe that vague or generalized statements are tailored specifically to them. The Barnum effect is just one of many tricks that our minds play on us and that can affect decision making. People may tend to believe information that they hear repeated many times over—for example, the belief that online meetings are just as effective as those occurring in person. Such biases can constrain personal growth and job performance, says McKinsey partner Julia Sperling-Magro, a medical doctor and neuroscientist whose work focuses on helping leaders shift their mindsets and behaviors. “The biggest danger is when people think they are being impartial but in fact carry deep biases.”

Lead in good health.

— Edited by Rama Ramaswami, senior editor, New York

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by "McKinsey Leading Off" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 02:52 - 27 Mar 2023