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The beating heart of your workforce: why cardiovascular health should be a leadership priority
We spend a great deal of time thinking about organisational health: performance, productivity, resilience, culture and growth. But how often do we think about the hearts of the people who make those things possible?
In this latest article in our employee wellbeing series, Inuvi’ s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Nisa Aslam, explains why cardiovascular health should be a leadership priority.
Cardiovascular health deserves a bigger place in the workplace conversation
As a GP, I have seen first-hand how easily cardiovascular health becomes something we think about only when there is a problem. A patient develops chest pain walking or becomes unusually breathless climbing the stairs. Sometimes, tragically, the first warning sign is a heart attack or cardiac arrest.
What can be easy to forget is that cardiovascular disease rarely starts when symptoms appear. The process can begin silently years, even decades, earlier. Risk factors including blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, smoking, physical inactivity, diet, weight, sleep and stress can gradually affect cardiovascular health.
By the time symptoms become obvious, disease may already be well established. That is why cardiovascular health should be a leadership priority, not simply another item on the employee wellbeing agenda.
The opportunity is prevention
While we cannot change our age, family history or genetics, many factors influencing cardiovascular health are modifiable.
Regular physical activity, a balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, moderating alcohol intake, managing blood pressure and blood sugar, and getting enough quality sleep can all make a meaningful difference.
Stress matters too. While a certain level of stress is an inevitable part of working life, prolonged or unmanaged stress can have a significant impact on employee wellbeing, contributing to issues such as raised blood pressure, disrupted sleep, and behaviours that may increase cardiovascular risk
For employers, this raises an important question: are we asking employees to take responsibility for their health while overlooking the environments in which they work?
Dr Nisa Aslam
Can people take proper breaks? Do they have opportunities to move during the working day? Is healthy food accessible? Can people talk openly about stress and seek support? Is prevention and early detection easy to access?
These are not just wellbeing questions. They are leadership questions.
A healthy heart supports a healthy workforce
Cardiovascular health is closely connected to how people function at work. Our cardiovascular system delivers oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, including to the brain and muscles, supporting energy, concentration, physical stamina and sustained effort.
Poor cardiovascular health can affect working life long before a major cardiac event. Fatigue, reduced exercise tolerance, breathlessness and poor sleep can make everyday activities harder. Conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity can also affect energy, cognition and wellbeing.
There is another often-overlooked dimension: presenteeism. Someone does not need to be off sick for their health to affect their ability to contribute. They may be at work but struggling to concentrate, feeling exhausted or managing symptoms.
What can leaders do?
The answer is not to turn the workplace into a clinic or make employees feel that their health is another performance metric. It is to create the conditions in which prevention is possible.
That might mean making cardiovascular risk assessments and health checks more accessible; providing opportunities to move during the working day; improving access to healthier choices; supporting better sleep and stress management; and creating a culture where people feel comfortable seeking help early.
Most importantly, leaders need to recognise that employee health and organisational health are not separate conversations.
A workforce cannot be truly resilient if the people within it are struggling with preventable health risks. Cardiovascular health deserves the same level of attention we increasingly give to mental health, psychological safety and workplace culture.
Prevention is not simply about avoiding a future diagnosis. It is about helping people feel better today, remain well for longer and have the physical capacity to live and work at their best.
We should not wait for the warning sign – the chest pain, the breathlessness, the diagnosis or the crisis.
The beating heart of a business is its people. Perhaps it is time we paid a little more attention to their hearts.
About Inuvi and Dr Nisa
Inuvi is a leading provider of health assessments, phlebotomy, laboratory testing and diagnostic services. Its LiveSmart programme combines digital technology, blood testing and clinical support to deliver accessible, data-led employee health and wellbeing support.
Inuvi’ s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Nisa Aslam, is an NHS GP with a special interest in preventive medicine and employee wellbeing. She focuses on early identification of risk and practical support for healthier lifestyle change, and is a regular media commentator featured by the BBC, The Telegraph and The Times.
Meet Dr Nisa
Dr Nisa will be discussing the importance of supporting employees’ cardiovascular health at the next P3 Forum on 30th September at 1843 Hamlet Hotel, Reading.
52 Autumn 2026