This past weekend in San Francisco I attended the Dutch King’s Day celebration. As an American who lived and worked in The Netherlands for close to 20 years this is always a welcomed event. An opportunity to speak Dutch with other Dutch-speaking folks and feel like one is back in Amsterdam, if only for a day.
It’s a chance to share laughs with a variety of people, young and old, all with ties to a particular heritage, in this case Dutch. For me, it’s also a reminder of the value in social rituals and how they contribute to overall wellbeing.
Why is this important?
I believe in the recent push for companies to reduce health care costs they’ve lost sight of the real essence of wellness. From my perspective the sole goal of workplace wellness is to assist employees in high-level performance, and thus contribute to a higher quality of life.
Over the past decade worksite wellness has become synonymous with health risk assessments (HRA’s) and cholesterol testing. Those two items are in many situations the sole remaining “ritual” in worksite wellness programs. If one goes back to the original intentions of leaders like Donald B. Ardell, PhD, we have striven far from our intended goals.
Ardell who published in 1976 High Level Wellness: An Alternative to Doctors, Drugs and Disease promoted the idea of wellness beyond medicine. He still promotes similar thinking with a focus on quality of life.
“My definition is that REAL wellness is a philosophy founded on reason, exuberance, athleticism and liberty in the deliberate quest to experience the highest possible quality of life.“
Donald B. Ardell, PhD
How to get back to Square 1?
In my interactions with various companies and worksite programs annual company outings are always talked about positively. Much like the Dutch King’s Day they offer opportunities for children as well as adults to interact in a variety of games, music and sharing of food. In the King’s Day celebration children play music, compete in bag hopping contests, sell various old and used articles.
There is music suited to all ages from the latest DJ’s to old tunes that adults can readily sing along, and which bring back memories of decades past. Certainly, having a common heritage makes it easier to focus such an event but companies have other historical events that can be tapped into.
Music and dance are great equalizers. So much of corporate wellness has been about illness and the fear mongering of conditions. A social event with music is about as far away from that as possible. I see that as a big plus!
Individuals need regular outlets to socialize and be free to let go. For me this past Dutch King’s Day was a great reminder of the power of fun. Employee wellness needs a healthy dose of pleasure if we really want to inspire higher levels of wellbeing.
Final personal note
High-level performance requires energy, dedication, passion and community. As a former professional dancer for many decades, being at the top of one’s game demands an intense work ethic. All work and no play is just not sustainable.
Our push to create “healthy” workplaces should not be limiting in its’ quest of opportunities. Social rituals offer chances for all individuals to feel good about themselves and the people they work with. Now that’s real wellness.
I feel extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work and live in the Netherlands for so many years. From a wellness perspective we have much to learn from the Dutch. Their respect for quality of life and sensibility towards balance in work and life is much to be admired.
Tot ziens en tot de volgende keer!
