For many years, the OECD has been highlighting the economic impact of investing in prevention for unhealthy lifestyles and chronic diseases. Unhealthy lifestyles, including smoking, poor diets, harmful alcohol use and physical inactivity are responsible for 76% of all deaths occurring in the population of working age, between ages 20 and 64, in OECD countries. Well-designed prevention policy packages help improve population health, reduce health expenditure, and improve employment and work productivity.

Policies to promote employee health and well-being not only protect from occupational risks, but also provide benefits for individuals and employers. While employment, safe working environment and work conditions are important determinants for employee health and well-being, lifestyle habits are also key contributors. Unhealthy lifestyles, such as sedentary behaviour, overweight, smoking, harmful alcohol use and stress, are major causes of chronic diseases and thus affect the health of employees and negatively impact workplace productivity. For instance, the productivity losses associated with obesity-related diseases are equivalent to 54 million fewer full-time workers across 52 OECD, European Union, Group of 20 countries, which is similar to the number of employed persons in Mexico.

This chapter summarises the key findings of this report. It first explores the links between work and employee health and well-being. It then discusses the potential of interventions in the workplace to promote health and well‑being. It also describes policy levers implemented in G7 and three other OECD countries in the Asia and Pacific region to support and incentivise employers to promote health and well-being in the workplace. Finally, it examines how companies that promote employee health and well‑being can attract investors that prioritise environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, and what initiatives exist to facilitate such investments.

This chapter presents the most recent data on health and well-being in the working-age population in OECD countries. It first recognises the importance of employment and working conditions on employee health and well-being. It then highlights widespread population exposures to lifestyle risk factors for health – such as obesity, smoking, harmful alcohol use, and level of stress – and assesses the distribution of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including mental health conditions, in the working-age population. The chapter also sheds light on the disabilities caused by NCDs in the working-age population. Lastly, it assesses the effects of unhealthy lifestyles and NCDs on workforce participation and productivity.

This chapter provides insight on why health and well-being programmes at the workplace are needed, lays out the motivations for employers to invest in programmes to promote healthy lifestyles among employees, and assesses the potential reach out of these programmes. Finally, based on 2020 survey data, it describes the type of health and well-being programmes implemented by employers.

This chapter examines policy levers that governments can use to promote health and well-being through the workplace in ten OECD countries, including the Group of 7 (G7) (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the OECD countries in the Asia and Pacific region (Australia, Korea and New Zealand). After setting out the legal and policy context, it provides a comparative analysis of workplace regulations, return-to-work legislation, financial incentives, and other measures that governments can and are taking at both the national and sub-national level.

Investors integrating human capital and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in investment decisions show a growing interest in companies that promote the health and well-being of their own employees. This special focus chapter provides a description of developments to steer investment towards companies that promote the health and well-being of employees. It also maps ongoing initiatives to facilitate standardised disclosure and reporting by companies on how they are promoting the health and well-being of their employees.