INTHEBLACK June 2025 - Magazine - Page 47
“Women also are a receptive target audience, because their health
concerns are often dismissed in formal health systems. They feel unheard.”
DR NADIA ZAINUDDIN, UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG
HEALTH CHECK ON WORKPLACE WELLNESS
Harvard Business School lecturer Ashley Whillans and industry specialists
Jazz Croft and Acacia Parks argue that corporate wellness is a hotly debated
space dominated by easy-to-deploy solutions like meditation apps, chatbots
and online therapy.
Research shows such measures are
not enough, with nearly 85 per cent
of US employers offering wellness
programs, yet burnout and mental
health issues continue to escalate.
An individually focused approach,
such as said wellbeing apps, often fails
to address systemic issues, the authors
claim, and can result in “carewashing”
or “superficial care initiatives that
workers may perceive as failing to
tackle root causes”.
Initiatives that do not address root
causes, such as excessive stress due
to a demanding workload, may leave
employees feeling more disengaged
and in poorer mental health.
Instead, a shift to “broader systemic
interventions, such as workload
management and mental health
development training for leaders”
is required.
Among suggested solutions
are addressing work–life balance
and flexibility, developing employee
mental health champions that
support wider teams and provide
feedback to decision-makers,
and adding c-suite leaders such
as chief wellness officers and chief
happiness officers.
in terms of people valuing their wellbeing,
confirms Katherine Droga, chair of the
GWI’s Wellness Tourism Initiative.
“Stress and mental wellbeing are key
drivers of consumer demand for time out,
a way to unplug or to get into nature,” Droga
says. A larger population focusing
on wellbeing has prompted growing numbers
to seek out wellness trips or experiences.
By far the largest segment of wellness
tourism, representing 85 per cent of trips
and spend, is the market where travellers
intentionally add wellness experiences
to trips or holidays. “It shows wellness
is growing from a narrow or niche segment
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