Ensuring a healthier and more productive economic environment in Europe: Cross-sectorial call to support and lend patronage to the initiative Healthy Lifestyle at Work & Home to help SMEs support and encourage their employees to adopt healthier behaviours

Ensuring a healthier and more productive economic environment in Europe: Cross-sectorial call to support and lend patronage to the initiative Healthy Lifestyle at Work & Home to help SMEs support and encourage their employees to adopt healthier behaviours 

Due to an increased availability of information, health awareness continues to grow, together with the burden of an ageing population and increased risk for lifestyle diseases. Non-communicable diseases, however, are becoming more widespread: today, there are more people in the world who are overweight and obese than underweight. The combination of a lack of physical activity and a poor diet is among leading causes of diseases like Cancer, Diabetes, Strokes and Malnutrition. These conditions negatively impact the work-life balance and cause a higher risk of contracting Covid-19.

The workplace is an important part of a healthy life, as people in full-time employment usually spend a 1/3 of their day at work.With 2/3 of European employment working for SMEs, it is them who can create the right conditions for the employees to become more proactive about their health. 

In context of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the fight against Covid-19, the network of SME Connect is kick-starting its initiative “Healthy Lifestyle at Work & Home” to promote the efforts of the EU actors and those of the private sector in this domain. As information is crucial for prevention,  activities such as Workshops, Events, and Projects will connect all committed stakeholders to guide SMEs towards a positive impact. We invite experts from the politics, administration, science, civil society and business to join us in this effort. Together change is possible.