RE-IMAGINING WELLNESS

By Kevin Govender

Wellness and wellbeing are crucial for the success of any organisation – and society at large. I view ‘wellness’ as a set of habits and behaviours, and ‘wellbeing’ as a state of mind. As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues and people evaluate the possibilities and potential challenges of returning to their offices and places of work, supporting employee wellness and wellbeing is a rising factor on the CxO agenda.

Did you know that, according to The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), up to 80% of South Africans who need mental health support are unable to access it easily? Mental illness is fast becoming one of the world’s biggest problems, and according to WHO, by the year 2030, it will be the leading cause of disability in the world.

Disruptive and innovative technologies can play a pivotal role in an enterprise’s efforts to create more interactive workplaces and foster happier, healthier and more productive employee wellbeing. The evolution of the employee, which includes working from anywhere, any time, and the use of any device is a new disruptor. Alon Lits, a founder of the Panda App, says that the app makes it easy for people to access mental wellbeing resources and engage with a community of other app users who may be facing similar challenges. The recent increase in entrepreneurial activity in Africa has been driven by digitalisation in e-commerce, fintech, agritech, and healthtech, to name a few. Inequalities in terms of access to acceptable quality education and health services, jobs and decent living conditions have been further exposed by the pandemic. In 2011, the sharing economy was dubbed by TIME Magazine as one of the “Ten ideas that will change the world”, and it has been widely hailed as a major growth sector by sources ranging from Fortune Magazine to the World Economic Forum and former US President Obama.

The sharing economy is a new economic model that focuses on access to assets instead of ownership.

It has disrupted a significant number of mature industries such as the accommodation, automotive and entertainment industries. Is there a rare, but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine and reset our world to create a healthier, more equitable and more prosperous future? An organisation’s ability to reimagine and reinvent its business model to offer unique opportunities for humanising technology and developing innovative sharing platforms such as Uber and Airbnb would be a game-changer in the healthcare sector.

The Future of Healthcare Most developed countries have a growing ageing population, and struggle with inefficiencies when it comes to their healthcare systems. With the help of sharing economy services, which make healthcare less costly and more effective, healthcare is at the forefront of the sharing economy. For example, remote care - in which available doctors are matched with patients - is becoming increasingly popular. The healthcare sourcing app CrowdMed helps ordinary people get faster and more accurate diagnoses. This is accomplished with the help of medical specialists who assist patients in solving their medical cases completely online through CrowdMed’s website. This saves excessive in-office visits for patients and allows medical professionals to make extra income while aiding the community. American Well and Doctor on Demand are other sharing economy brands in healthcare.

The rise of telehealth platforms, which present a “ variety of unique benefits to both consumers and physicians, represents a new frontier of the sharing economy. The sharing economy will reduce costs and improve healthcare - particularly its accessibility.“

With limited resources, the desire to become more environmentally conscious, the excessive cost and burdens of ownership and a rapidly growing population living increasingly in densely populated cities, consumers are faced with greater challenges and opportunities to fulfil their consumption needs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kevin Govender is a Partner/Director at Deloitte, and an experienced business enterprise architect and strategist. His book, The Rise of the Sharing Economy, is published by Tracey McDonald Publishers and available at bookstores and online.

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