For employers all over the world, wellbeing is gaining attention fast as a business issue — for good reason.

Especially for knowledge workers, over-the-top complexity has given rise to a host of under-met human needs. That’s a big and growing problem, not just for individuals but also for the organizations that employ them. It’s not just the economy that needs to recover; the wellbeing of the workforce needs recovery, too.

“Every person’s wellbeing is critical to achieving an organization’s goals and fulfilling its mission,” say Gallup researchers and authors Tom Rath and Jim Harter. “Every day in your organization, people don’t show up, don’t give their best effort, erode your productivity, and cost you millions of dollars because of poor mental and physical health.”

During the past decade, Gallup has worked with hundreds of organizations to help boost engagement and improve the wellbeing of their workforces. Gallup studies show that only 8% of employees at companies they’ve studied strongly agree that they have higher overall wellbeing because of their employer, and the majority think that their job is a detriment to their overall wellbeing.

No wonder a growing number of companies is looking closely at steps their organizations can take to improve worker wellbeing and, in so doing, capture measurable gains for their businesses.

One organization that’s leading the way is Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and one of America’s emerging leaders in wellbeing. While it’s predictable that any company in the healthcare industry would pay attention to health, Humana has chosen to tackle wellbeing in the broadest possible way.

After working with Gallup and conducting extensive consumer research on their own, Humana landed on a unique definition of wellbeing that they believe is equally relevant for their employees and their customers: “Living happily with a balanced sense of purpose, belonging, security, and health.” Each of the four pillars of their definition encompasses the workplace — and goes beyond it. “Security,” for example, includes financial and environmental security, among other things. Even the pillar of health is defined broadly: physical, emotional, and spiritual.

With 36,000 employees at over 1,000 locations throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico, implementing a holistic program of employee wellbeing has been no small effort and it still involves a lot of testing and trying. But Humana leaders have no doubt that this is an important path to be on.

Humana’s interest in wellbeing is knitted to facts that relate specifically to their business and directly affect them just like any other U.S. employer: the cost of health care is too high, it’s been rising at an unsustainable rate, and people who report low wellbeing average 50% higher medical costs.

“Wellbeing is a journey we’ve been on for multiple years. It’s about the evolution of our culture and the future of our business,” says Chuck Lambert, Humana’s vice president of associate & business services. “What we’re doing inside Humana is a laboratory for thought leadership to showcase to our customers. We’re trying different things to motivate behaviors and make our employees smarter consumers of healthcare. At this point, we still have questions, but it’s a wonderful, opportunity-laden time.”

Through the insights it’s gaining, Humana is catching its stride in a fast-changing industry. Fortune magazine, for example, recently featured Humana Chairman and CEO Michael McCallister in an interview where he described Humana’s employee population as probably one of the most engaged you’d find anywhere in the country in a big business. “And yet,” he added, “we still have a lot of work to do…. This is hard work because it really, fundamentally, requires a change in how people think.”

Worker wellbeing is a global concern, not just a U.S. issue. Worldwide less than half of all employees say they work for organizations that promote health and wellbeing, according to a 2010 World Economic Forum study conducted by Right Management. It included nearly 30,000 employees in 15 countries and diverse industries, at least half of them “white collar.” Like Gallup’s work, this study also found compelling evidence linking employee health and wellbeing to measures of business success.

While a growing number of researchers and employers alike realize worker wellbeing is important, addressing it in the workplace is anything but clear-cut. Wellbeing means different things to different people and in different places, and what’s right in one workplace may not make as much difference in another due to different cultural contexts and different worker expectations. For example, Indian workers ranked their employers highest in the World Economic Forum study for promoting health and wellbeing. India’s growing prosperity no doubt affects its workers’ overall optimism about what employers are contributing to their wellbeing, and the study also indicated that Indian business leaders regard compensation, work environment, career opportunities, and training as more important for competitive advantage than wellness.

While the expectations of India’s new workforce are still emerging, in Northern Europe there’s an already strong tradition of support for worker health and wellbeing, with solid legislation in place. Expectations are high, and even well-established notions of wellbeing are still evolving. Example: The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health recently coordinated a project designed to produce a new European concept of work that’s thoroughly interdisciplinary, merging health promotion, occupational health services, safety management, human resources, and productivity to ensure their simultaneous and effective impact on the workplace.

“By promoting wellbeing at work, the Forum aims to increase the appeal and productivity of working life, as well as the capacity of individuals to adapt to changes,” explains Beatriz Arantes, a Steelcase researcher in Paris.

With obesity a growing problem around the world, many employers are starting there with their efforts to improve the wellbeing of workers. This is especially true in the U.S., where obesity has risen sharply. It turns out that overeating is just part of the cause.

Humana has stepped up its spaces with colors that “pop” and media:scape settings that allow multiple users to see the same content.

Inactivity research is an emerging field of study being conducted at high-profile places such as the Mayo Clinic and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Findings indicate that the long stretches of sitting that most people do everyday, including at work, is the culprit in the obesity crisis. Sitting for most of your day is bad for health, regardless of what you do afterwards or whether you’re obese or fit. Inactivity dramatically slows down calorie-burning, insulin effectiveness, and how well the body gets rid of fat in the bloodstream.

“We’ve found out that the consequences of a lack of movement and heavy smoking are quite similar,” says Marc Hamilton of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Even more surprising: going to the gym regularly isn’t by itself a cure. Dramatically, the research shows that benefits of exercising for 30 minutes a day can be undone if the rest of the day a person is inactive.

Hamilton was among experts from all over the world who participated in a Steelcase-sponsored conference on sedentary behaviors held at the Stanford Center on Longevity in July 2010.

Because some knowledge workers spend so much of their time at work doing primarily sedentary work, there’s significant opportunity for employers to exert influence. Finding ways to increase movement at work is an important piece of the wellbeing puzzle. From a financial perspective alone, the potential rewards are high, especially when you factor in all the indirect costs of obesity for all stakeholders, as McKinsey recently did in an analysis that looked at spending associated with obesity in the U.S. It shows that obesity indirectly costs the U.S. at least $450 billion each year — almost three times as much as the direct medical cost.

As compelling as obesity and other health issues have become, each study and every effort points to the need for a broad understanding of wellbeing that goes beyond just one dimension. Wellbeing involves a congregation of factors including physical, mental, and emotional among others. Successful programs are multipronged and sustained, and centered on holistic needs.

As Humana’s Chuck Lambert expresses it, “Wellness is often just about the health of an individual. Wellbeing, on the other hand, is about the individual and their surroundings, how they are doing in relationship to their world.”

An important dimension of wellbeing can be workplace planning and design. A growing body of research confirms that surroundings can help or hinder wellbeing.

Working with Steelcase, companies at the frontside of the trend are pioneering concepts that leverage the potential of the workplace to improve employee wellbeing.

Achtung! Active Office!

In Germany, Berlin-based workplace consulting company Eurocres worked with Steelcase on a project for Sparkasse Rhein-Nahe, the largest savings bank in Bad Kreuznach. Designed around a concept called eurocresActive Office®, it’s been lauded in a German trade publication, Mensch & Büro (people and the office).

“These days, the office as a zone of wellbeing falls far short of being sufficient,” the article states. “Intelligent and innovative concepts must take into account the efficiency of the available area. Over and above this, it is important to consider aspects such as variable zoning, employee satisfaction, and company representation. Another factor that is important from a financial perspective is health-related preventive measures, seldom brought to bear on many office concepts.”

The space is furnished to encourage the bank’s employees to mobilize both mind and body during the working day.

“Even wellbeing needs motivation!” says Jenö Kleemann, a partner in Eurocres. “A very important feature of eurocresActive Office is the explanation and demonstration of the mobility modules. The objective is that employees develop self motivation to use the components automatically.”

Open spaces offer a high degree of flexibility for individual users and, at the same time, optimize a limited amount of space. Raised flooring accommodates cable management in a space-saving way, opening up central areas where team members can retreat, relax, or recharge.

Says Andreas Peters, CEO of Sparkasse Rhein-Nahe at Bad Kreuznach: “We are aware that healthy and satisfied employees are the foundation of a successful company. For us the implementation of Active Office is an investment in the future. Only as an attractive employer will we have the motivated employees that our customers require.”

Furniture was especially selected to encourage movement. Height-adjustable worksurfaces allow workers to do individual work in a standing or seated position, and special stand-up counters for group meetings easily become settings for stretching exercises.

“A variety of movements developed together with sport, fitness, and re-education specialists ensure that people make health-promoting micro movements throughout the working day,” says Kleemann.

There’s also an “active room” with gym equipment. Or, anytime they need a break, employees are invited to arrange small meetings in a glass-enclosed lounge, where beanbags and soft stools offer comfortable seating — and also a slight workout when getting out of the chairs.

Humana’s concept of wellbeing includes a sense of purpose and belonging, so places that bring people together are becoming an important part of their culture.

Stretching Further

As part of their journey, for the past decade Humana has been upgrading workplaces and creating new ones that are “tangible expressions of what we stand for,” says Lambert. “Workspaces alone can’t carry it, of course. If leaders exhibit negative behaviors, it makes even the greatest physical space unimportant. But, when aligned with leadership and culture, well-designed workplaces help raise the bar.”

Humana has been systematically transforming its spaces, floor by floor and building by building over the past decade. At the same time, their workforce has more than doubled to 36,000 employees.

Providing as many workers as possible with natural light and views to the outdoors is a fundamental design principle, says Greg Shafer, manager of workplace strategy, Humana Workplace Solutions. In all newer spaces, enclosed areas are at the core instead of the periphery, so most employees can enjoy the benefits of natural light. There’s lots of glass throughout, even fronting individual offices, to increase transparency everywhere. Where natural light and views aren’t possible, it’s simulated — for example, environmental branding techniques connect to nature. Other ways that Humana workspaces are designed to support wellbeing include energy-efficient lighting, low VOC-emitting materials, and products that are Cradle-to-Cradle certified as safe for people and planet.

Bold, enlivening applications of brand colors and messaging are other opportunities that Humana is intentionally exploiting to kick up the wellbeing dimensions of their workplaces, reinforcing research that shows color is one of several aspects of space design that affects how people think. “We want more energetic colors in the workspace than taupe,” says Shafer. “People bringing their A-game to work is important to us and we believe the workspace can provide a platform for this.”

Getting employees moving more is another strategic objective that Humana is bringing to life in its workspaces. Walkstation™, a product that combines a workstation with a low-speed treadmill, “has been a big hit for us,” says Shafer. “Walkstations have been tested in Humana facilities and, after studying their impact on wellbeing, we are gradually incorporating this amenity to more and more of our spaces.” In addition, some locations have areas designated for indoor walking, including a few defined by carpet differentiation, directly adjacent to work areas so employees can easily get up and walk around.

To encourage more movement, stairwells are being repurposed to be more attractive versus forgotten places in Humana facilities. At the Cincinnati office, large windows within stairwells maximize exterior views and provide abundant natural light so employees are more likely to choose the stairs instead of the elevator.

Designing workspaces that support collaboration and offer a variety of work settings is fundamental to Humana’s formula for wellbeing, as well as innovation. Spaces that bring people together easily are prized. Setting a new direction has been the HUB (Humana Unity Building), renovated 1890s iron-front warehouse space adjacent to the company’s Michael Graves-designed post-modern headquarters tower in Louisville.

The HUB opened four years ago, and today it functions as a “fourth place” getaway for executives as well as rank-and-file employees who want more choice and control over where they work. It’s a conference and learning center, cafeteria, meeting space, informal touchdown work environment, and more, all in one big interconnected space equipped with wireless throughout.

Says Brent Densford, now director of innovation who previously headed the Humana Workplace Solutions team: “Working with Steelcase’s Applied Research Consulting group helped us get to the concept of what we needed for our culture — a space that would be a magnet where people could come and interact.” Previously, Humana employees in Louisville had only areas on their own floor of the headquarters building to gather. There was no cafeteria for social networking, no alternative work settings or other large areas accessible to all.

The impact of the HUB has been huge, says Densford. “Within a year, it made a significant positive impact on our headquarters culture.” Now Humana is looking for ways to replicate elements of the HUB in other locations as a way to ignite more collaboration and innovation, as well as improve wellbeing.

Given the nature of Humana’s work, employees are mostly residents in their spaces, working in individually assigned workstations, which comprise most of Humana’s workspaces. But the high-panel “cube farms” of the 1990s have been replaced with 120-degree planning and low, seated-height privacy panels so spaces feel friendlier. Ergonomics and adjustability — provided by carefully selected task seating, flexible workstations, and worktools — are essentials, versus afterthoughts or special requests.

For the external sales force, the highly mobile component of Humana’s workforce, a recent design improvement in sales offices is a hoteling area that’s easily converted for customer presentations. That flexibility reduces stress and improves wellbeing for salespeople, since they now know there’s a well-equipped place that’s readily available to them. “Wellbeing can always be stretched because it really includes so many things,” says Shafer.

Enough said?

For Sparkasse Rhein-Nahe, Humana, and a growing number of other employers worldwide, at its very best the workplace is a powerful way to both affect improved wellbeing and tangibly communicate its importance.

When leaders embrace the opportunity to improve employees’ wellbeing, they create more engaging places to work and greater returns for their organization, according to a growing number of studies. When they don’t, it erodes confidence and limits the organization’s ability to grow.

Clearly, more than a cause for concern, improving employee wellbeing is an opportunity for businesses to improve and grow. And the spaces where work is done can make a significant difference in the end results.”