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Why leaders can’t afford to ignore workforce health

Practical steps employers can take


Workforce health is critical to global supply chains, but it is a risk hiding in plain sight. Learn how to protect it.

Global supply chains were optimized for cost, speed and scale, but not for resilience — a shortcoming made stark by repeated shocks from pandemics, extreme weather and regional conflicts. These disruptions have exposed fragile supply networks and slow-moving social protection and health systems, leaving workforce health as a major, often overlooked vulnerability. As leaders warned at the World Economic Forum’s Davos meeting, large “health protection gaps” persist: the WHO estimates 4.6 billion people lack essential health services and 2.1 billion face financial hardship when seeking care.

Employers are increasingly feeling the impact of rising health and benefits costs and labor shortages — Marsh’s upcoming People Risk research names these as among the top people risks. Thirty percent report more frequent employee absences due to sickness and disability, and 31% say healthcare costs are eroding employees’ long-term financial security.

In this article, published by the World Economic Forum, Hervé Balzano, President, Health and Benefits at Mercer and Marsh, explains why workforce health is the bedrock of global supply chains and outlines practical steps employers can take to protect it.

Explore the World Economic Forum (WEF) article

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