Thriving Organizations 1 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1208

Thriving Organizations 1 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1208

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1208 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: Ketut Subiyanto

Credit: Matheus Bertelli

Preamble

This 2-part blog post is based on a McKinsey Health Institute report ‘Thriving Workplaces: How Employees Can Improve Productivity and Change Lives’. Link at the end.

The report makes the case that employers must shift from viewing health programs as perks to embedding holistic employee health as a core strategic imperative that boosts productivity, reduces costs, and transforms lives.

Part I: Why the Future of Work Depends on Thriving Workplaces

For decades, businesses focused narrowly on efficiency, cost cutting, and output, often sidelining the human experience of work. But in the 2020s, that model has reached its limit. The McKinsey Health Institute’s 2025 report, Thriving workplaces: How employers can improve productivity and change lives, shows that employee health and well-being are no longer fringe concerns or “HR nice-to-haves.” They are central to organizational performance, competitiveness, and social impact.

Employers are discovering that when work enhances health rather than undermines it, the effects ripple out to productivity, retention, engagement, innovation, and even community well-being. The implications are clear: the future of work depends on workplaces where people thrive physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.

The Economic Case: Trillions of Dollars in Value at Stake

The report highlights a staggering finding: investing in holistic employee health could unlock between $3.7 trillion and $11.7 trillion in global economic value. That range reflects improvements in productivity, reduced absenteeism, lower healthcare costs, and enhanced talent attraction and retention — but most importantly, it emphasizes that the biggest gains are not from healthcare cost savings alone, but from getting more work done well and consistently.

 Why the Value Creation is So Large

Reduced Presenteeism and Absenteeism: People struggling silently at work (present but impaired) cost far more than those who stay home sick. Improved health can dramatically reduce these hidden losses.

2. Higher Productivity: Healthy employees are more energetic, focused, and innovative. They make fewer errors, communicate better, and collaborate more effectively. Early evidence suggests productivity gains from health investments comprise a major portion of the $11.7T figure.

Attraction and Retention — Organizations that prioritize employee well-being are better able to attract talent and keep it. This reduces costs tied to turnover and accelerates organizational knowledge retention.

Reduced Healthcare Costs — While not the largest driver, healthier employees generate fewer costly chronic health claims, easing pressure on company-sponsored plans and national systems alike.

This economic logic reframes employee health from a cost center to a value creation engine. Companies that fail to invest strategically in workforce health risk falling behind in a world where competitors are capturing productivity gains and lower attrition through holistic well-being strategies.

The State of Workforce Health: A Global Snapshot

Despite the compelling economic case, the current state of employee health is sobering.

Only 57% of employees globally report good holistic health, defined as physical, mental, social, and spiritual functioning.

Significant disparities exist. Women, younger workers, minority groups, and those with lower financial security report poorer health outcomes.

Burnout remains widespread, with an estimated 1 in 5 workers experiencing symptoms regularly, a risk factor for lowered productivity, disengagement, and turnover.

These findings illuminate a critical disconnect; work often undermines health instead of supporting it, a trend that corrodes productivity and human potential over time.

This is not just a corporate challenge; it’s a societal one. With global disease burdens shifting toward non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, heart disease, and mental health conditions, employers are now on the front lines of public health as well as organizational performance.

Defining Holistic Workforce Health

A key insight from the McKinsey report is that health is more than the absence of illness. Instead, it encompasses:

• Physical health (fitness, chronic condition management)

• Mental health (stress resilience, emotional well-being)

• Social health (connectedness and support systems)

• Spiritual or purpose health (meaning and fulfillment at work)

This broader lens reflects evolving views in global research and practice: work does not just influence the body; it shapes identity, family life, communities, and long-term health trajectories. With more than 3.5 billion working adults spending roughly 45 years of their lives at work, the potential influence of workplace health is enormous.

Towards a Strategic Framework for Thriving Workplaces

The McKinsey report lays out six “evergreen” principles that employers can adopt to integrate health into their core strategy.

1. Understand Baseline Health: Assess the current health status of employees, including mental, physical, social, and spiritual dimensions.

2. Articulate the Value at Stake: Link health investments to business outcomes such as productivity, retention, and workforce engagement.

3. Develop Sustainable Initiatives: Move beyond one-off wellness perks to long-term, evidence-based health programs.

4. Pilot and Learn: Test interventions, gather data, and refine based on measurable outcomes.

5. Measure What Matters: Track 3–5 key performance metrics linked to health and productivity to evaluate success.

6. Ensure Leadership Sponsorship: Engage top leadership to champion health goals and integrate them into organizational culture.

These principles remind us that improving health is not about perks like free gym memberships alone; it is about systemic, strategic, and culturally embedded initiative

The Hidden Costs of Unhealthy Workforces

Employers traditionally measure absenteeism (days missed). However, presenteeism, when employees are physically at work but are sick, disengaged, or stressed, is often a much larger hidden cost. These lost hours of sub-optimal performance accumulate quietly but significantly, eroding organizational output over time.

Research shows that presenteeism can be 2–4 times more costly than absenteeism and is closely related to burnout, chronic stress, and ignored health needs. A focus on workplace health targets this invisible drain and turns it into a measurable business outcome.

Leadership’s Role: From Sponsor to Champion

One of the most consistent barriers to effective workplace health investment is leadership disconnect. Many organizations introduce health initiatives, but without C-suite sponsorship, culture change falters. The report emphasizes that leadership must not just approve health programs but model and champion them.

A leader who speaks openly about health, offers flexible schedules, supports mental health days, and prioritizes safety sends a powerful message: our people matter as human beings first. That sets a foundation for trust, engagement, and commitment, all essential ingredients of a thriving workplace.

Sum Up

The evidence is unequivocal: healthy employees create healthy organizations, and healthy organizations contribute to healthier communities and economies. Moving beyond traditional wellness programs to embrace holistic workforce health represents a strategic shift that employers cannot afford to delay.

As we look toward the future of work, the most successful organizations will be those that see employees not as replaceable units of output, but as whole human beings whose well-being is intimately tied to organizational success. Health is not an HR initiative — it is a core business strategy.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and duly recognized immediately. 

Reference:

https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/thriving-workplaces-how-employers-can-improve-productivity-and-change-lives?stcr=2EBCF2B0BFF24952A352E2527AC97104&cid=eoy_2025-eml-nsl-ttn-mgp-glb--&hlkid=9e6e505d8fd746a59cab3e5cc1d4eeb9&hctky=15999472&hdpid=ec0f4bf0-6750-4bd3-8b07-2f150bfa55e6