Sustainability: How health and wellbeing are crucial to the triple bottom line.

What is sustainability?

If you’ve ever been involved in sustainability strategies or board meetings discussing sustainability, you will have
likely heard of “The Three P’s” of sustainability:

1. People
2. Profit
3. Planet

Known in other terms as ‘The Triple Bottom Line’.

‍
Simply, it is a framework involving three main parts: social (people), economic (profit) and environmental (planet).

It can be used to evaluate business performance with a broader perspective than revenue alone. It is a metric to
measure business value on a wider scale.

The primary objective of a sustainable business strategy is to create a positive impact on the environment and
society while simultaneously delivering value to shareholders.

Sustainability can be defined as “a business’ approach to creating long-term value by considering its operations
in the ecological, social, and economic environments.”

Business leaders are progressively recognising the potential of sustainable business approaches to not only
tackle global challenges but also to drive their companies' growth and success. This success can be achieved in
a number of ways, which we will go on to outline in this blog.

When the term 'sustainability' is mentioned, it's natural for the word 'environment' to be the first thing that springs
to mind. You might be curious about how this concept relates to health and wellbeing - I can forgive anyone for
wondering. The fact is, health and wellbeing are intrinsically connected to sustainability. Sounds simple, but let’s
dig a little deeper.

In this blog we will mainly focus on how investing in health can improve your business sustainability through two
of the three P’s: People and Profit.

Planet and environmental benefits do occur, but for ease of reading, we will mainly focus on how health is directly
involved in the sustainability of your business through its benefits to people and profit.

Health and the Economy

We’ll begin with the relationship between health and the economy.

Throughout history, health and the economy have shared a strong positive correlation, each significantly
impacting the other's progress and evolution.

Economic growth has led to enhancements in healthcare systems, longer life expectancies, wider access to
medical services and more income for individuals to make healthier choices. A thriving economy enables better
allocation of resources for healthcare and public health initiatives, contributing to overall improved health.
In turn, a healthier population has played a vital role in boosting productivity, drawing investments, and nurturing
human capital, ultimately creating a more prosperous economy.

Better health provision is an attractive prospect for potential employees, but also customers and investors.

The relationship is undeniable and bi-directional. To summarise, better health often leads to a better economy.
And if we view from the other perspective, a better, more prosperous economy is often followed by better public
health.

It is crucial to continue to tackle the challenges that emerge, ensuring robust public health and the impact on the
economy, and vice versa.

Health and Profit

When it comes to the topic of profit. Health plays an important part.

Direct impacts of health on profit include:

Sick pay, fines, legal suits and claims, loss of productive working hours and recruitment of new staff (to name a
few)..

Less tangible costs include:

Reputation of the business, attractiveness of the workplace to prospective employees, attractiveness of the
business to investors and clients.

The cost to your business is more than purely the tangible outgoings and expenses we see on the balance
sheets.

Sick pay and loss of productivity are easier metrics to measure, however, often overlooked is company
reputation. Your reputation of delivering quality, delivering the service/product you had promised and delivering it
on time are harder to put an absolute number on. However, having a reputation held in higher regard is
associated with increased revenue and stock prices, customer lifetime value, and, bringing us onto the next point,
staffing.

Health and People

Ethics and personal values are becoming an increasingly important driver for both employees and consumers.
Remember BooHoo stock price dropping by 18% in a single day back in 2020 amid the reports of terrible working
conditions and pay for its staff in factories in Leicester? Other high-profile cases include the deaths of thousands
of migrant workers building the stadiums for the Qatar World Cup 2022. Both bringing significant amounts of poor
PR and reputations to both taking a massive hit.

In today’s world, ethics are driving both consumer and employee behaviours and decisions more than ever. I’ve
seen first-hand, on multiple occasions, that including health and wellbeing within bids and tenders has been the
main differentiating factor that has led to success of winning the contracts.

Health and wellbeing hold more power than ever. One because we are seeing the benefits and positive ROIs that
investing in health and wellbeing bring. But, two because there is more focus on ethical behaviours and value
driven decision making both by prospective consumers and employees.

Being an ethical workplace includes supporting the health and wellbeing of your workforce. Amongst the benefits
of reduced absenteeism and presenteeism, improved productivity, reputation and morale. A less commonly
considered benefit is that of recruitment.

The new generation of workers have different priorities when it comes to choosing their preferred workplace in
comparison to how the landscape may have looked 10-15 years ago.

Quite rightly too!

We have learnt that life in the workplace should not be having detrimental effects on our health and wellbeing and
employees are simply putting up with it less. Nearly half (46%) of Gen Zs and Millennials in senior positions have
rejected a job and/or assignment based on their personal ethics (Deloitte 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey).

Money is no longer the only incentive. Characteristics of an attractive workplace include room for progression and
development, flexibility, strong reputation for ethical practices and meaning/value in their role.
These groups are the future of the workforce and of the future leaders of the nation. They are shaping the
workplace for the better, but to attract the best, you need to understand what they are demanding - Workplace
culture needs to adapt with the times.

23% of Millennials reported that “Positive workplace” culture was the reason that they chose to work for their
current organisation (Deloitte 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey).

To become an attractive workplace to the top talent in your industry, you need to be providing the workplace and
support that these individuals want. Which includes looking after their health and wellbeing.

The divide between employee and employer desires is becoming larger. But, by understanding each others’
perspectives, mutually beneficial arrangements can be put into practice. Rising costs are an obvious reason for
some to be concerned about investing in services such as health and wellbeing, however there is vast evidence
of significant returns on investment for health and wellbeing services at an average of £5.30 returned for every £1
of investment. Preventative/organisational strategies provide an even higher return of £6:£1. (Deloitte Mental
health and employers: Refreshing the case for investment, 2020).

Factor in the impact of retaining current employees and the costs associated with recruiting to fill a position that
they may leave. It is important to keep your staff happy, not only because it is the right thing to do, but it makes
strategic sense. Happy employees are more productive and as we’ve discussed above, less likely to leave their
role.

Companies are often happy to change their products and services based on consumer and market demands, but
they often fail to do the same for their employees. Employee engagement, and understanding the needs of
different employees is crucial for creating a sustainable workplace.

Engaging your workforce to understand what they want should be seen in a similar light to conducting market
research. Assumptions will not work. Ask.

In conclusion, prioritising the triple bottom line, incorporating health and wellbeing is vital for businesses aiming to
achieve sustainability and long-term success. Companies can retain and attract top talent, align with consumer
and employee ethics, ensure a healthy and productive workforce maintaining a strong industry reputation.
Adopting the triple bottom line approach might seem idealistic to those of use who adopt a more profit driven,
capitalist approach, but numerous innovative companies have shown that it's possible to do well by doing good.
As the workforce evolves with younger generations emphasising values and ethics, businesses must adapt and
prioritise employee wellbeing. This not only ensures sustainability but also enhances growth and long-term
success.

The triple bottom line approach, centred on health and wellbeing, offers a holistic and sustainable strategy for
businesses looking to thrive in today's ever-changing landscape, positively impacting people and profit, and
ultimately contributing to a more sustainable and prosperous future for all.

Health is not a ‘nice-to-have’ it is a must-have.