Every Feb. 4, as we mark World Cancer Day, the message we hear again and again is simple and true: Early detection saves lives. And yet, for too many Americans, preventive health care remains out of reach.
There are many reasons, but according to the 2025 Aflac Wellness Matters Survey, 90% of Americans delay preventive screenings. The vast majority of people (94%) say they do so not because they don’t want to, but because of barriers like scheduling conflicts, logistics, or access. Early detection is the best way to extend life’s most precious commodity: time. But the painful irony is that our limited time often gets in the way.
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After more than three decades as CEO, I’ve come to see time as our most finite resource. How we delegate our time objectively reflects what we truly value. But time is a hidden privilege that we don’t acknowledge enough. And it is a privilege that business leaders have a responsibility to address. Employers must ensure that workers can access the preventive care they need.
It’s one thing, for example, to know that a screening could save your life: it’s another to find a way to schedule it among work, family, and daily responsibilities. People are busy, and for too many, time is the real constraint, not awareness or willpower. Navigating rigid work schedules, complex appointment systems, and long waits at the doctor’s office offers a whole other set of issues.
Data supports the notion that time is a barrier, particularly when it relates to checking for cancer. In our survey, we asked what thwarts on-time screenings and proactive health care. Among those who blamed logistics, “time” was the top response across all age groups. In fact, 48% of the general population cited challenges like “takes too much time” or “conflicts with work hours” as primary hurdles.
My company is fortunate to provide in-house health care facilities staffed with qualified medical experts. Our employees can schedule checkups, physicals, or acute care without leaving the office.
While I understand that not all workplaces have this capability, I do believe that employers should take responsibility for helping employees manage their health. It’s not enough to tell someone to get screened. We need to make it easier. That means creating workplace practices that ease the path for employees to act on their health needs, particularly as it relates to checking for cancer in the current environment where certain cancers are skewing younger and are diagnosed more frequently.
Plus, there is a business advantage to making investments in your employees’ well-being. I’ve been a CEO for more than 35 years. I’ve seen the data, scoured news articles, digested information, and applied common sense. There is no question in my mind that employees who believe that their employer genuinely cares about them are more satisfied and, therefore, are more productive workers. In fact, according to a 2024 Gallup poll, when employees strongly agree that their organization cares about their well-being, they are more than four times as likely to be engaged at work and 53% less likely to be watching for or actively seeking a new job. They are seven times as likely to recommend their organization as a great place to work.
This is personal for me, because like many families, mine has been touched by cancer. My uncle, who founded the company that I now lead, left us far too early at the tender age of 66. By today’s standards, his life was cut short by cancer. More recently, a beloved family member was taken in his 40s. Their lives are a constant reminder to me that time is precious and that making time to care for oneself is priceless.
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