Can a workplace wellness program really make employees more productive?
Can workplace wellness programs really have an impact on a company’s bottom line? Or are they just a feel-good benefit for your employees? We’re diving into the science connecting mindfulness and productivity—and why investing in your employee’s well-being is good for business.
It’s no secret that in today’s world employees are under a lot of pressure to perform. And to make it even more challenging, their attention is in very high demand. Employees are busier than ever, and more stressed than ever, a perfect storm for vulnerabilities on both the individual and organization levels.
Even before the pandemic, anxiety, stress and depression were widespread and identified as the leading cause of reduced productivity and increased healthcare costs. And now mental health challenges are amplified during the COVID-19 crisis, and many employers are scrambling to figure out how to support their teams in this new, remote-first world.
Forward-thinking organizations continue to demonstrate that a proactive, employee-centric approach is needed to remain resilient in a world where pressure, stress and change are constant. Take Google for example, who created their own neuroscience-based mindfulness program, Search Inside Yourself, to help their employees thrive. They’ve figured out what other conscious companies are now waking up to: employee well-being isn’t just great for individuals and their personal happiness—it’s good for business.
We, and the leaders in those forward-looking companies, know this to be true: mindfulness and meditation have powerful effects on the working brain.
For example, focusing on the present builds mental control and improves productivity. Meditation requires that we focus on only one thing, giving it our full attention and concentration, which is a workout for our brain.
Ancient wisdom has known for many, many years that a mindfulness practice reduces stress and improves mental health. Today’s research on mindfulness is not as extensive as on physical health, but it’s starting to catch up. A few of our favorite studies:
A study measuring brain waves during meditation showed mental activity that was significantly more aware, awake, and relaxed than the control group who were just instructed to “take it easy.”
Another one that took MRIs of participants with extensive meditation experience showed that the regions of their brains associated with attention and sensory processing were thicker than the control group.
A University of California study showed that just two weeks of mindfulness training effectively reduced distractibility.
By incorporating a six-week course on mindfulness and cognitive behavioral training, Transport for London reported 71% fewer absentee days due to stress, anxiety or depression and 50% fewer absences overall.
Employees who participated in yoga- and mindfulness-based stress reduction programs significantly lowered perceived stress, experienced better sleep, and showed a more controlled autonomic nervous system, the system that controls our fight-or flight response.
Mindfulness training in the workplace has been shown to improve attention, job-satisfaction, attitude and the emotional resilience of employees.
It’s important to remember that workplace wellness programs only work if you work on them. HR teams will almost never get the results they want just by adding a bunch of classes to a schedule without promoting them or encouraging employee engagement.
One survey showed that employees who don’t participate in their programs often lack awareness or feel that the company culture is unsupportive of taking time to invest in personal wellness. Fortunately, there are practical steps that leadership can take to maximize their investment and get the most of their workplace well-being programming, including garnering leadership support and engaging employees in the process.
Want to learn more about how to run a successful workplace wellness program? Join us for our first Virtual Expo or schedule a free consultation to chat specifically how our easy-to-manage Workplace Wellness subscriptions could be right for you.