"Are They Really Aiming at 'Wellness'?": The Problem of Consent in Wellness Programs and a Need for an Ethical Reflection from Employers

The use of mHealth in the workplace has become a common intervention in Wellness Programs, which aim to encourage preventive care and discourage unhealthy behaviors among employees to enhance their performance. Most of the data collected in these programs are considered by the GDPR to be health data, and its processing is only lawful if the data subject has given free, informed, specific, and unambiguous consent. Firstly, I analyze that the inherent power disparity in the corporate world raises the question of whether this consent requirement can truly be deemed fulfilled, since this imbalance of power does not make consent a valid legal basis for the processing of employees’ sensitive data. Subsequently, I address the necessity for reflection before the implementation of mHealth in the workplace, since it can function as a technology of power, reinforcing dynamics of domination, control, and subjection, as theorized by Michel Foucault. I propose, then, two sets of principles as a basis for reflecting on the use of mHealth in the corporate environment: the principles of medical ethics, coined by Beauchamp and Childress, as Wellness Programs aim at interventions in the health and well-being of employees; and the fundamental principles of data protection, given the paramount importance of reflecting on the governance of employees’ sensitive data. Given the challenges posed by unequal power relations, ethical considerations on the part of employers are imperative for the implementation of mHealth technologies in the workplace. In conclusion, since consent cannot truly be deemed fulfilled, the risk persists that mHealth implementations in the corporate environment may compromise the bioethical principle of autonomy. The paper employed an exploratory methodology based on documentary and bibliographic research.