Whole Person Health: Is it Time to Rethink Employee Well-Being?

Whole person health represents a necessary shift in how organisations think about their people. Health isn’t only physical, nor only mental. It’s an interwoven set of factors – emotional, social, spiritual – that together determine whether employees can thrive.

Today, organisations across the world are facing rising levels of workplace stress, chronic health conditions and social disconnection. A recent survey of over 30,000 employees across 30 countries by the McKinsey Health Institute found that only 57% of workers reported “good holistic health” [1]. Businesses need a holistic response.

The problem is that traditional benefit packages tend to focus on physical illness or acute care. But addressing health requires a more comprehensive approach. Employers who view well-being through too narrow a lens risk missing the broader factors that determine whether their people can thrive, both at work and beyond.

“It’s well known that, across the world, many of us are living longer but in poorer health. At Cigna Healthcare, we understand that well-being is multifaceted and interlinked. We know that your physical health can have significant knock-on effects on your family, financial, social, and work life and so, must be tackled head on.” [2]

Dr. Stella George, Chief Medical Officer, Cigna Healthcare International Health

What Is Whole Person Health?

Whole person health is about looking beyond the absence of illness and towards the presence of vitality. It integrates multiple, interconnected elements. Physical fitness, nutrition and sleep are closely linked with stress management, resilience and social connection. Spiritual well-being also plays a part, in the form of purpose, meaning, and alignment with personal values.

Each of these areas influences the others in ways that directly impact employers. A lack of sleep undermines emotional resilience, leading to reduced concentration at work. Social isolation not only increases long-term health risks but also weakens collaboration and engagement within teams. A lack of purpose fuels burnout, which in turn drives attrition and lower productivity.

By recognising how these factors connect, employers can move beyond reactive interventions and adopt proactive strategies that protect both workforce well-being and organisational performance.

Why Whole Person Health Matters for Employers

The Cigna Healthcare International Health Study 2024 reports that only 16% of people globally have high vitality, highlighting widespread challenges with energy, resilience and purpose. [3]

The World Health Organization estimates that depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy $1 trillion each year in lost productivity. [4]

Presenteeism, where employees are in the office but struggling mentally, can be even more damaging than absenteeism, costing employers in the UK around £24 billion annually. [5] Someone who is anxious or exhausted may find it difficult to focus fully, which can delay progress and affect team morale. Employers can help to prevent this by encouraging breaks, fostering open conversations about mental health, and training managers to recognise when extra support is needed. Organisations that foster these kinds of holistic well-being practices benefit from higher retention, stronger engagement, and greater resilience.

The Link Between Physical and Mental Health

The connection between physical and mental health is long established. People with chronic physical conditions are more likely to experience depression, while those living with mental health challenges are at greater risk of developing physical illness, often intensifying symptoms. Mental health conditions can even hamper medical treatment and recovery. 

Prolonged stress, a common byproduct of poor mental health, raises cortisol levels and significantly increases the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease. [6] Meanwhile, conditions like depression can lead to unhealthy behaviour such as poor diet, smoking, or physical inactivity that further contribute to deteriorating physical health.

It’s well known that physical health problems can come with a psychological dimension, and those who suffer long-term physical health conditions are susceptible, therefore driving up costs. [7]

Vitality: A New Measure of Well-being

The Cigna Healthcare International Health Study 2024 discusses the concept of vitality as a way of understanding how people feel in terms of energy, resilience, and purpose. [8]

The Evernorth Vitality Index© (EVI)  has been developed in partnership with leading clinical psychologist and author Dr. Richard Ryan. It gives a comprehensive measure of people’s capacity to pursue life with health, strength, and energy. This is closely aligned with our mission to improve the health and vitality of those we serve around the world.

An employee may be free of illness but socially disconnected. They may be mentally resilient but lack a sense of purpose. Each imbalance reduces their overall capacity to thrive.

For employers, vitality offers a valuable lens. Well-being strategies should go further than discounted gym memberships or mental health workshops. True vitality comes from environments that make it easy to eat well, move regularly, and rest sufficiently, but also from cultures that value inclusion, foster connection, and support personal growth.

When vitality is prioritised, employees feel more engaged, more committed, and more willing to bring their best selves to work. That fuels performance, collaboration and innovation.

And when it comes to keeping hold of top talent, the Global Wellness Institute reports that companies embedding well-being as part of culture achieve retention rates up to 10% higher than their peers. [9]

Practical Steps for Employers

• Think holistically: Building a culture of well-being is less about isolated initiatives and more about embedding support across all aspects of health.
• Shift resources from reactive healthcare to prevention and education: This could be by encouraging staff to rest and recover alongside their workloads, or equipping managers to recognise and respond to burnout.
• Build connections: Creating opportunities for mentoring, cross-team collaboration, or community engagement helps people feel part of something bigger. Recognition and growth opportunities ensure employees align their work with their broader sense of purpose.
• Be prepared to adapt across geographies and demographics: Multinational organisations may need to adjust their approaches to reflect local challenges. But, despite this, a unifying principle remains – investing in whole person health supports the whole organisation.

Sources

1. McKinsey Health Institute, Thriving at Work: How Employers Can Improve Productivity and Change Lives, 2025.
   https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/thriving-workplaces-how-employers-can-improve-productivity-and-change-lives
2. Cigna Healthcare, Let's Talk About Health Series, 2023
   https://www.cignaglobal.com/blog/thought-leadership/lets-talk-about-health-cigna-healthcare-international-health-series-launch
3. Cigna Healthcare, International Health Study 2024
   https://comms.cignaglobalhealth.com/vitality-report-launch
4. World Health Organization, Over a billion people living with mental health conditions – services require urgent scale-up , 2025
   https://www.who.int/news/item/02-09-2025-over-a-billion-people-living-with-mental-health-conditions-services-require-urgent-scale-up
5. Deloitte, Mental health and employers, 2024
   https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/services/consulting/research/mental-health-and-employers-the-case-for-employers-to-invest-in-supporting-working-parents-and-a-mentally-health-workplace.html
6. Cigna Healthcare, Cigna Healthcare International Health Study, 2024
   https://comms.cignaglobalhealth.com/vitality-report-launch
7. Let’s Talk About the Relationship Between Mental and Physical Health, 2023 https://www.cignaglobal.com/blog/thought-leadership/lets-talk-about-the-relationship-between-mental-and-physical-health
8. National Centre for Biotechnology Information, Association of stress hormones and the risk of cardiovascular diseases systematic review and meta-analysis, 2024 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39319239/
9. Global Wellness Institute, Workplace Wellbeing Initiative Trends, 2025
   https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/global-wellness-institute-blog/2025/03/28/workplace-wellbeing-initiative-trends-for-2025/