The Healthy Workplace Nudge Book Review
Rex Miller is a consultant, speaker, and is the author of “The Healthy Workplace Nudge: How Healthy People, Culture, and Buildings Lead to High Performance.” Rex and his team draw from research from more than 100 corporate leaders and experts over a two-year project to discover the root problem with workplace wellness programs and suggests how organizations can improve them.
Organizations currently face growing health costs that are expected to continue to grow in the coming decade. Companies spend an average of $12,000 per employee on health benefits, while other hidden costs such as absenteeism, disengagement, and turnover cost businesses an estimated $1.2 trillion a year. Rex uncovers how the built environment and physical space has a dramatic effect on the overall stress management of the workplace, and that medical science and building science have connected to form healthier environments.
The Healthy Workplace Nudge pushes against the against the conventional “pry, poke and prod” wellness programs that are currently in play. The entirety of Rex’s argument is that hammering people with forced behavior changes have little to no impact. Instead, Rex and his team offer various alternatives, specifically with insights into the physical space of the workplace, where we spend 90% of our time. The latter chapters of the book explore case studies that show how the reality of things can be different if they are led by courageous leaders. Only at the leadership level can the influence on social psychology be enforced, to drive people to make better choices and “nudge them” in the direction of well-being and happiness.
This book caters to business leaders and professionals who care deeply about the health, happiness and success of fellow employees. Anyone who realizes that workplace environments have an affect on employee health and well-being will want to have this in their personal library.
