New IWBI Report Shows Healthy Buildings Drive Business Success

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) released the second edition of its landmark report, Investing in Health Pays Back: The Business Case for Healthy Buildings and Healthy Organizations, offering a singular resource that links investments in health and well-being to measurable economic returns.

The new report, which integrates academic studies, industry data, and real-world case studies, answers a pressing question facing facility executives today: how should future projects be shaped to elevate human health while unlocking significant economic value? Collectively, it also makes a powerful case to policymakers, real estate leaders, and institutional investors that investing in people is not just the right thing to do—it’s one of the smartest economic strategies organizations can pursue.

Among the report’s key findings:

• Investing in holistic employee health could generate nearly $12 trillion in global economic value and boost global GDP by up to 12%, according to a McKinsey Health Institute study.
• Improved ventilation can increase employee productivity up to $7,500 per person per year, according to a study led by Harvard researchers.
• Certified healthy buildings command rent premiums of 4% to 7%, according to two independent studies, one from MIT researchers and another from researchers at the University of Cambridge.
• WELL Certified buildings report significantly higher employee satisfaction compared to non-certified buildings, including 18% more satisfied with access to sunlight, 17% more satisfied with acoustical privacy, 16% more satisfied with connection to the outdoor environment, 12% more satisfied with lighting, 11% more satisfied with thermal comfort and 10% more satisfied with both indoor air quality and air movement.
• Enhanced indoor environmental quality improves cognitive function by 61% to 101%, depending on the extent of how an environment is improved.
• Occupants in WELL Certified buildings are 39% more likely to report satisfaction with the building compared to those in green-certified buildings.

“With this report, we’re equipping everyone across IWBI’s global community with the data they need to drive faster adoption of healthy building practices,” said Dr. Jason Hartke, the lead author and IWBI’s Executive Vice President for External Affairs and Global Advocacy. “The message is clear: prioritizing health delivers measurable returns across productivity, talent retention, real estate value, and operational resilience.”

The report also explores the rising importance of social sustainability, showing how health-related metrics are being embedded into sustainable finance vehicles—including green, social, and sustainability-linked bonds—and reshaping investment decisions at scale.

“Transforming the health and well-being of the places and spaces where we live, work and gather presents an unprecedented opportunity to improve public health—while unlocking incredible economic value for organizations,” said Rick Fedrizzi, Executive Chairman, IWBI. “After all, people are the single largest investment of any organization, accounting for 90% of expenses. By linking healthier environments to measurable gains in productivity, satisfaction, and retention, the findings enable organizations to move beyond intuition and make data-driven decisions that enhance their human capital strategy.”

View the full report here.