If you still think a “nice office” is a beanbag and a ping-pong table, the data’s moved on. The link between healthier indoor environments and business performance is now quantifiable and meaningful.
In its second-edition special report, Investing in Health Pays Back, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) brings together hundreds of peer-reviewed and industry studies across offices, multifamily, education, healthcare, and retail to show that health-first buildings outperform on satisfaction, productivity, and real-estate metrics.
The headline is simple: when you invest in people’s health at work, the numbers pay you back.
We’ll break down what the research actually shows, why WELL sits at the center of that evidence, and how owners, employers, and renters can translate it into real project decisions.
What makes the IWBI report so useful is its breadth. It draws on over 250 studies and evidence from more than six billion square feet. Plus, the resources come from credible peer-reviewed and industry sources, including the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Healthy Buildings, the World Green Building Council, and IWBI’s own multi-market datasets and case profiles.
The result is a consistent signal across sectors and geographies: when indoor environmental quality improves, people perform better, and assets compete better.
Energy and Operational Efficiency Gains: Health-first ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ) strategies deliver people-side returns that far exceed utility-only paybacks. For example, increasing fresh air by 12 liters per second per person (about 25 cubic feet per minute) has been linked to a 35% reduction in short-term absences. At scale, investing in holistic employee health can generate nearly $12 trillion in global economic value.
Taken together, the data redefines “high-performing” buildings beyond just lower energy bills and more efficient water use. That work still matters, but the competitive edge has shifted to include people.
Health-focused sustainable design is now a core business strategy. It drives employee productivity, lowers turnover, and increases tenant satisfaction. This translates to better leasing and renewal rates for owners, while also providing more value for tenants—a win-win for everyone.
WELL v2 is performance-based. It organizes health and well-being into ten concepts: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, and Community. Each concept includes Preconditions—requirements that every WELL project must meet—along with Optimizations, which are optional strategies that earn points. Projects achieve different certification levels (Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum) based on how many points they earn after meeting all required Preconditions. Verification is performance-based, meaning buildings must demonstrate measurable results to maintain compliance.
However, WELL is not an energy code or an efficiency rating. It complements frameworks like LEED by translating science into design and operational criteria that can be audited and scaled. Many teams coordinate documentation across both programs to reduce duplication, since several WELL and LEED requirements overlap. In practice, that means project teams can document similar credits once and apply them to both rating systems—streamlining the process while signaling strength in both LEED’s focus on resource stewardship and WELL’s focus on people outcomes.
WELL’s growth underscores its practicality at scale. Since its launch, the program has expanded to nearly 75,000 locations in 130 countries, impacting 25 million people across 5+ billion ft². This is a large enough footprint for owners to expect consistent application across portfolios.
Owners care about performance metrics, and WELL has a measurable impact across them.
On the people side, WELL is associated with the satisfaction and well-being gains cited above, which are precursors to retention and productivity. On the real-estate side, healthy-building attributes support rent premiums, faster leasing, and higher valuations. Two examples stand out in the report:
If you want to explore more examples, IWBI’s WELL Certification Directory provides a searchable list of certified and registered projects across all markets and regions.
At Emerald Built Environments, a Crete United Company, we translate WELL’s research into scopes that owners can execute. We start by aligning strategies with your business goals, such as tenant retention for owners, productivity for employers, or user experience for corporate renters. We then coordinate design, MEP, and facilities around those targets.
Because WELL is performance-based, independent Performance Verification is required. Emerald manages third-party verification and streamlines documentation, allowing your team to focus on delivering excellent on-floor experiences.
If you want a deeper dive into human-capital risk and why WELL is a credible mitigation lever, our earlier article lays out the case with examples and data points you can use with your leadership team.
Healthy buildings now have a business case that speaks to owners, CFOs, and brokers alike. The IWBI report and real-world case studies show how health-first features translate into the metrics that matter: higher satisfaction, stronger retention, faster leasing, and, ultimately, higher valuations.
WELL provides the roadmap and the measurement system to make those gains repeatable. If you’re ready to implement WELL in your portfolio, we can help you scope it and get moving. If you’re not ready yet to jump in or want to see the evidence first-hand, start with IWBI’s report and the 3-minute overview video, or shoot us an email for project-specific questions!