During the 3rd Baltic Sea Business Day on April 16, stakeholders from policy, business, education, and practice convened for a workshop session “Entrepreneurial success and employee health in harmony”. The session was jointly organized by BioCon Valley, Bildungswerk der Wirtschaft Schleswig-Holstein, and the NDPHS Secretariat, with the shared ambition of promoting the “Economy of Wellbeing of People” across the Baltic Sea Region through a “Health in All Policies” approach.

A major consensus from the discussions was that employee wellbeing is no longer a “nice-to-have” perk, but a central economic, political, and business issue. Driven by rising mental health challenges and increasing sick leave statistics across Europe, experts stressed the urgent need to pivot away from merely reacting to health problems and toward early prevention. Because health is actively shaped in workplaces, schools, and communities, addressing it requires coordinated action and joint responsibility far beyond the health sector alone.

During table discussions on prevention, leadership, workplace culture, workforce sustainability, and long-term systems approaches, participants explored practical questions and identified key challenges, promising approaches and key takeaways. The discussions demonstrated that investing in prevention and healthy working environments is not only a social responsibility, but also a strategic investment in productivity, workforce sustainability and economic resilience.

Moving forward, the region’s success will depend on breaking down silos. Experts concluded that strengthening cooperation between health, education, and economic actors is essential to advancing the Economy of Wellbeing and ensuring that both the people and the economies of the Baltic Sea Region can thrive.