“Wellness is the number one trend in the world today”. That’s according to Deepak Chopra, former Chief of Staff at New England Memorial Hospital and advocate for alternative medicine, who made the statement at the Meeting Professionals International World Education Conference in the summer of 2014. It’s a bold statement, given the many important socio-economic, political, financial and health issues that impact the world today. But regardless of where you rank wellness on your personal list of world trends, there’s no doubt that the movement surrounding wellness—particularly wellness in the workplace – impacts everyone on some level in a meaningful way.

The average work day for a U.S. full-time employee is now 8.7 hours, nearly 75% of which is spent at a place of work. These work and work-related activities take up the same approximate time as a person sleeps, eats and drinks each day. What this means to a majority of workers is that their work space has a very real impact on the choices they make to maintain a particular lifestyle. Because corporate real estate (CRE) professionals are often responsible for designing, delivering and maintaining these spaces and the programs/services offered at many organizations, this is an opportunity for CRE professionals to make a positive impact by thinking strategically and more fully understanding the implications of wellness and ways to execute programs and initiatives in comprehensive and cost effective ways.