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Mindfulness in the Workplace: How to Keep Employees Happy & Motivated

August 12, 2019

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Do you feel like stress is an inevitable part of the workplace? You are not alone. Studies confirm that “occupational pressures and fears” are the leading cause of stress among working Americans. “Increased levels of job stress as assessed by the perception of having little control but lots of demands have been demonstrated to be associated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension and other disorders”, according to The American Institute of Stress.

Now, you may be thinking “well, some occupations are bound to be more stressful than others”, but that’s not actually the point. It’s not just about the job itself and the responsibilities that come with it, there’s also the person-environment factor that comes into play. Each individual is unique and his or her ability to cope with stressful situations can be influenced by a myriad of factors such as workplace dynamics, the environment/place of business, and excessive overtime. The good news? There is a simple remedy available to organizations willing to make work-related stress one of their top priorities: mindfulness.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness can be defined as “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique”. Derived from the Buddhist tradition, the practice “concerns a self-regulation of awareness towards present mental states and processes, and involves a non-evaluative openness and acceptance towards those moment-to-moment experiences”.

At the office, mindfulness entails an acceptance of one’s need to concentrate on a specific task during a specific period of time (the opposite of multitasking) as well as an approach to work that allows one to focus and reflect on the implications of his actions. “Concentration is a cornerstone of mindfulness practice. Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are and founding Executive director of the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

In other words, workplace mindfulness can range from anything like taking the time to properly proofread an email before hitting the send button to making sure a customer’s needs are met before concluding the interaction. It may seem trivial, but the reality is that today’s employees often get lost in a vortex of information that keeps them from reaching this self-regulated state of awareness that is key to high productivity.

How can companies help?

There are a couple of things you can do to build a more mindful company culture, but the first on your list should be incorporating this practice into company-wide processes and policies. You can:

  • Encourage employees to take active breaks throughout the day—but let them decide how to best spend that time. Some people may choose to engage in more structured activities such as yoga or meditation, whereas others will be perfectly content just gazing out the window or taking a short walk.
  • Set designated times during which employees should respond to emails and text notifications.
  • Make sure to provide context for leadership decisions and policy changes. “Because it’s always been done this way” is not a mindful way of dealing with a situation and can lead to frustration among employees.

However, the most popular approach today seems to be corporate meditation. Its benefits have been widely embraced by some of the most successful companies in the world:

Apple: Surprised to see the company’s name on the list? We’re not. After all, Steve Jobs did unite his life to Laurene Powell’s in a Zen wedding ceremony overseen by Buddhist monk Kobun Chino in 1991. And according to Walter Isaacson’s biography, the business magnate was also a diligent practitioner who enjoyed lengthy meditation retreats at Tassajara. Knowing first-hand the impact of meditation on stress and anxiety, Jobs encouraged employees to take 30-minute breaks each day to meditate, providing on-site yoga and meditation classes as well as access to a meditation room.

Google: Few companies understand corporate wellness better than Google does. The tech giant is famously known for its futuristic nap pods that allow employees to unplug and get some shuteye in the middle of the workday. And just like Apple, Google provides its employees with mindful meditation space and classes. In 2007, Chade-Meng Tan, one of Google’s original software engineers and now head of personal growth, spearheaded a program called Search Inside Yourself which “helped more than 500 employees learn how to breathe mindfully, listen to their coworkers, and even improve their emotional intelligence.”

HBO: Tech enterprises aren’t the only ones encouraging their employees to pursue healthier lifestyles. The company boasts a wealth of resources to help employees stay active and motivated both mentally and physically: gyms, free yoga classes as well as meditation classes offered in the workplace. And if you head over to Indeed.com on the Company Reviews section, you’ll see that “workplace culture is what drives the HBO brand as CEO Richard Plepler preaches, culture eats strategy for breakfast”.

But the list of companies whose CEOs have joined the mindful movement does not stop here. More and more thought leaders are considering the benefits of mindfulness in the workplace. But what exactly are the benefits that companies report? According to corporate meditation coach Golbie Kamarei, who “has helped meditation infiltrate and flourish within the conservative halls of the financial services industry”, the results are nothing if not inspiring. Her survey on the impact of mindfulness in the workplace revealed that:

  • 46% of participants saw an increase in creativity and innovation
  • 52% were able to better manage work relationships
  • 60% reported increased focus and better decision-making skills
  • 66% felt less stress or had improved stress-management capabilities

But meditation doesn’t just impact employee productivity and stress levels; it also keeps you mentally, emotionally and physically happy, it helps develop emotional intelligence and builds leadership skills. What could be better?