The Cost of Wellbeing

After finishing my first assignment in the Health and Wellness in the Built Environment, I saw a trend in my journal entries. Much like my personality implies, I'm an INFJ-T; I am driven by a desire to advocate through strategic constant improvement. How can I make a difference? How can I help solve the problem?

The central concept for this lesson is the cost of wellbeing. It surprised me very little to see the correlation between poor wellbeing and the increased cost of those health burdens. The CDC listed several chronic diseases that contribute to lower wellbeing levels, and I struggle with 3 of the seven listed. Sadly, I am the rule rather than the exception, with 64% of adults are either in the struggling or suffering category from a new disease in a year-over-year comparison.

So what do we as a society do to reverse our overwhelmingly poor wellbeing? The articles I reviewed indicated that workplace organizations could make a difference by enhancing the work environment most adults engage in. The summary gave an excellent overview of how corporations can positively impact employees by offering support, flexibility, programs that promote wellbeing, structures to achieve a level of thriving, and environments in which relationship-building is valued. The CDC stated that over 133 million adults suffer from chronic diseases and over 70% of all US deaths result from one of these chronic diseases.  These diseases are also largely due to personal choice, and the vast majority of the deaths are PREVENTABLE.

Regarding my original question(s) – How can I make a difference, and how can I help solve the problem?  I am not designing the built environment per se, but I am involved in the talent organization, which falls under human resources. From that perspective, I can advocate normalizing self-care, flexibility, and balance in life. Normalize the inclusion of underrepresented groups as a high priority, bringing more voices and perspectives to the table. Normalize discussing our disabilities, health concerns, and limitations as humans concerning our productivity. I can help advocate that you CAN be productive and have any number of physical or mental limitations. Recognize that all employee abilities are not created equally; therefore, human resource policies should not be one size fits all.

I firmly believe my organization values its associates as humans. I am thankful for the global movement to place a higher value on wellbeing as a WHOLE HUMAN BEING, not just the individual portion that is productive for business ROI. That said, I will continue to advocate for additional policies that focus on the individual and their journey to thrive.

Both corporate policies and personal advocation can reduce the number of struggling or suffering adults, which will lessen the burden of cost. In some small way, I feel that is my way of contributing to a healthier society.

-stacey