Health as a Cornerstone of Good Business and Sustainable Development

Presidential candidates do not seem to have noticed that some governments and business sectors have moved from opposing positive development needs such as those associated with climate change, to leading the development of innovative products and services to support a cleaner and more profitable future. The work of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has played a vital role in building support for strong private sector engagement in defining and implementing major development goals. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimated that global investment in “clean energy” reached $270 billion in 2014, with most coming from private companies.¹

Over the last decade, an increasing number of organizations now require companies to report progress on environmental issues. These include the United Nations Global Compact, Dow Jones Sustainability and FTSE4Good Indices, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and many accounting bodies. Companies that disclose their efforts are recognized and rewarded through improved reputation and greater access to capital. Achievements in the environment by the private sector should motivate us toward equivalent actions in health. This progress gives me hope that we are at the start of increased and concerted leadership for better global health emerging from the private sector. Business is responding. More than 8600 companies from 163 countries have publicly pledged to support the work of the Global Compact.

There are three areas where business is already engaged in health and where increased progress is possible: (1) stepped-up investment in employee health; (2) transformation of companies’ core products and services to improve the health of billions of people; and (3) coinvestment with local and national health agencies in strengthening the health of communities. Investing in these three areas is no longer regarded as a purely moral and ethical responsibility. These actions strengthen the profitability of business over the long-term.²

Healthier employees are more productive, demonstrate higher morale, and account for lower health care costs. Healthier products and services are becoming more profitable. They are associated with lower regulatory and liability costs and are more attractive to a critical consumer base, whether millennial or the fast-growing members of the “silver economy.”³

Business leaders increasingly recognize that businesses are not islands. They are based in real communities. In those communities live real people who buy their products and who provide their talent. Healthier communities create healthier employees and consumers. Companies benefit from engagement with local and health authorities in myriad ways. For example, many companies support healthy cities or age-friendly city initiatives.⁴ The benefits of these programs accrue to their employees and bring increased sales of healthy products. I will not elaborate on this further and instead focus on the first two areas.

Firstly, workplace health programs need to build on successes achieved in tackling occupational safety and exposures to hazardous environmental and occupational toxins and chemicals. The hearts and livers of today’s employees are affected by unhealthy food, continued tobacco use, excess alcohol use, and diminishing physical activity. Workplace anxiety and depression affect their brains in ways that have been too often ignored.⁵ There are clear links between effective workplace health-promotion programs and better business outcomes. These include increased productivity and morale, reduced health care costs, and improved stock performance.

One critical factor seems evident. Metrics on employee health are rarely considered in the C-suite by CEOs and CFOs as areas for investment. Health and well-being decisions are left to Chief Medical Officers and human resources officers to manage as unavoidable costs. Investors and financial analysts rarely seek information on the health of employees or recognize how material it is to corporate financial health. Stepped-up investment in employee health is one area where increased progress can be made.

Secondly, many companies through their core products and services contribute to population health.⁶ The most positive contributors are the pharmaceutical, medical device, healthy food, and sports apparel sectors. The most cited negative contributors to health are food companies, including some manufacturers, retailers, and food service providers, whose products contribute to obesity; alcohol companies, whose products contribute to many diseases and injuries; and tobacco companies, whose core products have links to debilitating disease and premature death.

“Sightless Among Miracles” is a bronze sculpture by R. T. Wallen, located at Merck’s headquarters in New Jersey. Matching sculptures are located at the World Health Organization, World Bank, The Carter Center, Lions Club International, and the Royal Tropical Institute. The sculptures represent a 30-year global partnership to eliminate river blindness. Photo by Virginia Peddicord, Merck. Printed with permission.

Corporations that are transforming their business plans to improve health and profitability through better use of their core products and services include pharmaceutical and medical device companies, which are building new ways to address the unmet needs of millions in developing countries through affordable chronic disease diagnostics and medications. They include food companies who see higher long-term profits in developing less obesogenic, healthier, and more sustainable portfolios. They include alcohol companies who have committed to decreasing binge drinking among younger people and reducing the negative impact of their products on motor-vehicle injury rates. They include tobacco companies who are investing billions in new reduced-risk tobacco products that hold the promise of cutting the massive death toll caused by traditional cigarettes. They include companies who are invested in highly connected personalized and environmental technologies that are shaping the opportunities for health promotion from childhood to the end of life. Finally, they include insurers who recognize that life extension and health enhancement should be integral to their business models.

Investment advisors, asset managers, and consumer groups are taking note of these developments in their decisions about where to invest and advocate.⁷ Some recognize that their decisions offer incentives for even the most health-damaging companies to transform. If legacy polluting energy and transport companies can change, so can companies who depend upon alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy food consumption to remain profitable.

These issues are relevant to the US Presidential Campaign because acceleration of progress requires three critical factors. Firstly, we need smarter government actions that steer and support companies to transform while designing regulatory frameworks proportionate to the health risks they seek to reduce. The engagement of leading behavioral economists by the senior policy groups in the White House support such actions.

Secondly, we need significant investment in technological innovations across the fields of biotechnology and information technology. Such investment will create opportunities to transform entire business sectors in ways that will benefit health and the environment. A sure sign of whether a legacy sector or company is serious about change is to look at their research and innovation budget.

Thirdly, we need better metrics to help investors, asset managers, consumer groups, and the media independently assess companies’ claims of transformation. Such metrics are and can be equivalent to those used by these groups to judge corporate progress related to environmental and social issues such as diversity and human rights. The best way to tackle the public deficit of trust regarding industry is to provide verifiable data that demonstrates progress on claimed goals and actions.

Returning health to the center of progress on sustainable development and business profitability will mean a profound, lasting, and positive impact for society and for business.