The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) has announced a new topic for the event: how purpose needs to be at the very heart of corporate culture and how creating a purpose-focused company is the path to more profitable, successful businesses.

Some of the world’s top corporate strategy consultants will explore how a new focus on purpose is the very future of wellness at work and how purpose-driven companies attract and retain the best employees and are far more profitable and productive.

Patricia Dwyer, founder and director of The Purpose Business, a Hong Kong-based network of experts that help businesses across Asia be a force for good (and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader), will keynote on how to create a purpose-driven organisation.

John Wood, founder of Room to Read, which brings education to 16.8 million children, and who is a sought-after advisor on “connecting purpose and profitability” for companies, including Credit Suisse, Facebook, Netflix and Nike, will speak on purpose-driven companies and fast-changing corporate cultures.

With a 2019 theme of “Shaping the Business of Wellness: Asia,” the 13th annual Summit takes place at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong from 15-17 October 2019.

“I believe that a strong sense of purpose is the key to wellness in the workplace,” said Wood. “The age-old model of simply grinding out profits, in order to make rich people richer, no longer excites your potential customers or employees. When we as leaders can prove that our companies embrace both purpose and profitability, that’s when we will build truly great companies — and we will also be using the power of capitalism to make the world a better place.”

A growing mountain of evidence indicates that purpose at work has an extraordinary impact on company success. Deloitte research finds that “mission-driven” companies have 30 per cent higher levels of innovation and 40 per cent higher levels of retention; purpose-driven companies have been shown to drive an annual return on equity of 13.1 per cent (9 per cent higher than the S&P); a BetterUp study estimates that meaningful work drives an extra $9K per worker per year.

Modern employees—especially millennials—increasingly choose meaning over money. For instance, PwC research finds that 88 percent of millennials seek a company whose values reflect their own.

Another growing body of research shows that having a purpose in life has a profound impact on people’s health: It’s strongly tied to longevity (15 per cent lower risk of death) while boosting a host of health indicators, including mental wellness and preventative self-care.

"There is growing recognition of the role of wellness in the resilience and growth of companies, as well as individual employees—and finding ways to activate purpose is at the heart of this,” said Dwyer. "I’m delighted to speak at GWS to share how a purpose-driven organization can help build businesses that are healthier, future-proofed and more sustainable for everyone.”