The Wellness Paradox

Wellness and fitness are something most people are familiar with, but some people argue that so called corporate wellness programs makes people unwell. Wellness is becoming a corporate pressure where employees are being faced with slim and muscular people, as role models, leading to anxiety, guilt and the fear of losing their jobs as they think they might be seen as undesirable workers if they don’t live up to measures.

The other paradox is that this might drive a once efficient workforce into becoming inefficient, unhappy and less productive overall, next to work intruding on their private life through a forced change in lifestyle. But it does not stop there, as it is discovered that people are starting to judge others based on wellness characteristics, and that physically fit people are more attractive for hire than the ones who are not, even if they can show to the same qualifications. It has become a corporate illness and amongst leaders wellness has evolved into a measurement of success (Berinato, 2016).

by Ole Petter Anfinsen, Founder and Chief Executive