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Key Takeaways Movement fuels the cognitive work you’re paying people for — and McKinsey estimates that better employee health could unlock up to $11.7 trillion in global productivity each year.
The fixes are structural, not perks: walking 1:1s, camera-optional calls, standing meetings and calendar blocks that make stepping away feel normal.
Picture a typical day at your office. People typing at desks. Sitting in meetings. Sitting in the kitchen grabbing lunch. You can go through an entire workday without standing up once. That should worry any founder trying to get real output from a team.
I’ve spent nine years building and scaling BetterMe, and if there’s one lesson I keep returning to, it’s this: movement is one of the most underrated drivers of productivity in business, and most companies treat it as a wellness perk instead of infrastructure. A meditation stipend or a gym reimbursement doesn’t fix a workday designed around sitting. Rethinking the workday itself does.
Here’s how I approach it — for myself and for my team.
What happens when people stop moving
Think about a lazy, couch-bound Sunday. After a day like that, do you feel energized? I don’t. I feel sluggish, slower and even simple decisions get harder. That’s the exact state employees end up in after spending a day moving from one chair to another.
The qualities we value most at work — creativity, mental clarity, problem-solving — all rely on good blood flow and oxygen reaching the brain. Movement supports both. When you move, circulation improves, more oxygen reaches the brain and cognitive function sharpens.
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