From reactive to preventive medicine: why we will be at HUB BienStart

Corporate wellbeing is no longer measured in benefits. It is measured in health.

On Thursday 15 October, Mi Empresa es Saludable brings its HUB BienStart together in Madrid for its first congress: four hours on what really changes the health of a workforce. At 10:35 I will join, on behalf of ETRYUM, the panel “From reactive medicine to digital preventive medicine”, with Francisco Javier Cabrera, Imane Abouibadallah and Leticia Represa from IOON.

I want to explain here what we are bringing to that conversation, and why it matters so much to us.

In short: in many companies, a team’s health is seen for the first time as sick leave, when the problem has been there for a while. Moving from reactive to preventive medicine means looking earlier, with clinical judgement and with data that can be followed over time, without losing sight of mental health or of each person’s confidentiality.

Sick leave is the latest signal

Almost everything that shapes the health of a team, and of whoever leads it, develops for years without symptoms: blood pressure, metabolism, sleep, the ability to recover. By the time it shows up as sick leave, it has been there for a long time.

One figure helps to see it. According to the OSH Pulse 2025 survey by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), 40% of workers in Spain say their work has caused or worsened stress, depression or anxiety. The European average is 29%.

That figure says nothing about each person’s willpower. It speaks about how work is organised and about what a company decides to look at.

What does moving from reactive to preventive medicine mean?

Reactive medicine waits for something to fail. Preventive medicine looks earlier, with clinical judgement and with data that can be measured and followed.

• Looking at what cannot be felt. The first risks, such as high blood pressure or metabolic changes, rarely give warning.
• Measuring with judgement. Only what can change a decision, interpreted by healthcare professionals.
• Following over time. A blood test is a photograph; health is a film, as Dr Emmanuel González explains in this article.
• Including mental health. Sustained stress is part of the conversation, not a separate topic.

What does digital add, and what does it not?

Technology can help a great deal: collecting information simply, following up and spotting a change in trend in time. But it does not replace clinical judgement. A data point without interpretation protects no one; a good system brings the two together.

And there is a line that is never crossed: each person’s health information is confidential. A health programme at work has to earn the team’s trust, and that starts with protecting their data.

What a company can do from tomorrow

1. 01

   Ask what works

   You already invest in people. The useful question is which part of that investment really changes their health.

2. 02

   Look at the load, not only the hours

   Demand weighs more when there is no room for decisions and no time to recover.

3. 03

   Protect recovery

   Sleep, real breaks and switching off: without them, any wellbeing plan stays on the surface.

4. 04

   Rely on clinical judgement

   To decide what to measure, how to interpret it and what to do with each result.

To finish

A wellbeing plan is not measured by what it offers, but by what it changes in people’s health. That is what we will talk about on 15 October, and what we work on every day at ETRYUM.

An idea is only worth its execution. In a company’s health too.

Thank you to Mi Empresa es Saludable and CanalCEO for keeping this conversation going in Spain. If you will be at the congress, see you at the Auditorio de Savia. And if you lead a company, in Leading under load we explain how we work with executives and teams.

Sources

1. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA). OSH Pulse 2025: Spain factsheet. 2025.

This article is for general information and does not replace an individual medical assessment.