The well-being of a company depends on the well-being of its people. Henri Savall and ISEOR provide the figures: the hidden costs, unaccounted for on balance sheets and generated by managerial and organisational dysfunctions, represent more than 55% of the real costs of a company. That hurts. However, there is more than these figures. There is a growing awareness and willingness to go about them. One example was the well attended conference “Sustainable health for sustainable performance” organised by Geneva-based business network Rezonance on March 28th. 

Tackling hidden costs is key to success. The question is how. The six speakers, some advising top companies and organisations, offered concrete ideas to answer that question. Some of the leads they encouraged to explore are setting up health policies, rearranging workspaces, implementing organisational changes focusing on the quality of relationships, life and meaning behind work, and managing emotions. Because the emotional needs of individuals and the rational needs of a company are actually tied together, but lack attention. These emotions need to be addressed and managed – collectively – to prevent them from expanding like viruses (domino effect). Jochen Peter Breuer calls it “chasing emotional viruses”. His method is outlined in the German book “Das emotionale Unternehmen”. 

The speakers were real life examples that more and more companies are putting people back at the core of their concern. Because business is ultimately done by people.