Nine ways business can improve health in the workplace and beyond.

Businesses can suffer through ill health with absenteesism, but are in a strong position to encourage healthier lifestyles. The way we travel, eat, work and generally live today is having a profound effect on our health and that of those around us. Diabetes and other chronic diseases, including obesity, are on the rise. According to the WHO, there are 36 million preventable deaths every year from these health problems – leaving a devastating social impact and a major financial burden.

Businesses suffer as well through absenteeism and retention problems, affecting their overall success. The good news is they are in a strong position to help, but to be truly effective, this can’t just start and stop in the workplace.

Recognising this, Bupa developed a Wellness through the Workplace challenge with the International Diabetes Federation to identify new approaches to improve health through the workplace and wider communities.

This was hosted as a challenge on OpenIDEO, IDEO’s open innovation platform where a community of 45,000 people from over 170 different countries solve complex challenges in order to make the world a better place. Read it here