Amy Lindgren
Wellness at Work: The new strategic imperative, by John Nesheim, Artisan Digital, 2025, $24.95.
Today I’m writing about a book by a local author, John Nesheim. But first, a riddle: When is wellness at work not wellness at work? OK, that might not be a riddle so much as an invitation for cynical replies, at least for burned-out employees. When workers are provided with “wellness” programs while simultaneously being underpaid and overworked, it’s understandable if they don’t seem fully appreciative. Or well.
One of my favorite workplace wellness anecdotes came from someone who told me she knew it was time to leave her job when she realized she was literally face-down on the corporate logo during a company-sponsored yoga class. That’s when she decided all the asana poses in the world couldn’t fix what was wrong with her job.
I gained a deeper perspective on that story last week when I ran into John Nesheim, author of Wellness at Work: The new strategic imperative. He was setting up for a talk at St. Paul’s University Club when he took time to explain his ideas on workplace wellness and sign a book for me.
As a starting point, Nesheim says, workplace wellness efforts are more likely to succeed when they spring from strategy and culture, and not as added-on “programs and perks.” Yoga classes with logo-emblazoned mats are perks, while being paid fairly represents a strategic and cultural mindset.
Does that mean ping pong tables and pizza Fridays are a thing of the past? I, for one, hope so. Not that it’s a bad thing to chill a bit at work. But when the games show up in lieu of decent boundaries and balance, you can’t help but feel duped.
In any case, today’s entering workforce, Generation Z, seems less likely to fall for those enticements than past workers starting their careers. In numerous surveys and articles, this group (roughly 14-28 years old) consistently cites values-alignment and flexibility as more important than traditional success signals such as titles and promotions. Nor is free pizza moving the needle much in these days of hybrid work schedules.
Nesheim, having recently retired with 30 years of executive human resources experience in a global corporation (3M), says he believes Gen Z workers are already changing the workplace with their expectations. “Wellness wasn’t a thing in the ’80s,” he notes, “but the current workforce demands it. Candidates have expressly asked in job interviews about things like corporate policy on the environment or company values.”
If you’re wondering what the environment or corporate values have to do with wellness, that’s Nesheim’s point exactly. When wellness is fully integrated into the corporate — or candidate — mindset, those questions suddenly seem relevant.
Where wellness has been more of a physical practice in the past — keeping workers “well” by complying with safety regulations, or providing gym memberships — Nesheim believes it is more holistic today. Now it means re-interpreting the workplace to include social, spiritual and other aspects aligned with individual values.
Or at least, that’s what he believes it should mean. It’s an argument Nesheim lays out with care in his book, where he presents eight distinct aspects of workplace wellness on what he calls a “wellness wheel.” The eight include physical, but also spiritual, social, environmental, occupational, financial, emotional and intellectual. In the center of the wheel lies purpose, sustained by and driving each of the eight areas.
Tapping into and supporting each of those wellness aspects form the core of Nesheim’s work, with his primary audience being the managers and executives who have the necessary power to do so. As he explained to me, this concept can be useful to workers lower down the line, but it’s up to the decision-makers to embed it into their organizational strategies, at all levels.
But why should they — especially when companies have more applicants than they have openings, and a significant number of workers will stay even when they’re miserable?
Nesheim takes the long view on that question, calling it “human sustainability” when the workplace is optimized to engage and retain workers, which in turn makes them more productive. “It’s better than the command-and-control style of leadership,” he says, “because that sub-optimizes your human assets. Happier employees are just better, and this is better for them as individuals.”
And, in any case, it may become a matter of organizational survival if enough workers demand a more holistically “well” workplace. Already the percentage of Gen Z workers in the United States has surpassed boomers, on the way to comprising 30% of the labor force by 2030. If for no other reason than to attract and retain employees, Nesheim believes companies must step up their game. “Wellness is a competitive advantage, now, a differentiator,” he says.
If he’s right, this is going to be an interesting few years ahead of us.
Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.
