What's 'holistic health' and how does it relate to improved performance at work?

With most adults spending a majority of their waking hours at work, employers play an important role in shaping and safeguarding health.

But this isn’t just about the absence of injury or illness – it should include health in a holistic sense, research from the McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) suggests. This means looking at an individual's mental, physical, spiritual and social functioning as a whole.

And the benefits of better holistic health go both ways, the study shows. Employees who had better work experiences report better holistic health, are more innovative and perform better at work.

Traditionally, employers have tended to focus on elements of health such as stress and burnout, and how they relate to areas such as engagement and happiness.

Many of the factors that contribute to good health sit beyond the remit or control of healthcare systems. These include factors such as quality of sleep or time spent in nature, and in many areas would benefit from employer support, McKinsey says.

By considering, measuring and improving holistic employee health, employers will likely see productivity gains and the country's GDP will be boosted. For example, better employee well-being in the UK has been valued at £130 billion to £370 billion a year – or 6-17% of UK GDP – according to MHI and Business in the Community Research.

More than half of employees reported positive holistic health, according to MHI’s survey of 30,000 workers in 30 countries. There were, however, notable variations between them. Türkiye showed the highest collection of positive scores (78%), while Japan at the other end of the scale had the lowest (25%).

Just under three-quarters of workers responded positively about their physical health, and two-thirds felt positive about their mental and social health. Spiritual health was the lowest-scoring component, with 58%.

Workers aged 18-24 had the lowest holistic health score, reflecting themes highlighted in other research such as the mental health strain reported by many in Gen Z.

Holistic health is a better predictor of outcomes at work than factors like burnout, engagement and happiness, according to MHI research. It is also a strong indicator of how an employee can grow and perform. Workers with good holistic health are more likely to want to – and be able to – work longer, which will also have implications for how companies deal with ageing workforces.

The research also explored the relationship between burnout and holistic health and found that, although the two were related, good holistic health does not necessarily equate to no symptoms of burnout.

Around half of employees were functioning well across all aspects of holistic health, and also were experiencing few symptoms of burnout. However, 9% of people were found to be “stretching” – in good holistic health but also experiencing burnout symptoms.

Organizations can no longer consider employee health a soft metric, McKinsey argues, and should take a systemic approach to improving holistic health.

The impact of the working environment on health was also recently underlined in Harvard research which showed that flexible working can reduce someone’s risk of heart attack or stroke. When employers took steps to reduce conflict between workers’ work and personal lives and reduce stress in the working environment, there was a reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease among those most vulnerable, the study found.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2023 report highlights the disruption the workplace will experience in the short-to-medium term as new technologies come online and new skills are required. Many companies are adapting their strategies in response, investing in upskilling and transitioning staff away from declining roles. Employee health and well-being will be an important part of managing that change.