The best employers understand that their employees are more than just a means to an end—they are important, valued contributors essential to the function of your business. To facilitate an environment where employees feel engaged, excited, and motivated to do their best work, create a culture that prioritizes employee wellness.
While there are plenty of wellness trends for employers to choose from, promoting mindfulness is a great start. In this guide, we’ll explore what mindfulness is, its benefits for the workplace, and how you can foster a culture of mindfulness for employees.
What is Mindfulness and Why is it Important?
Think about the last day you had at work. Can you say that you were completely focused on the task at hand at all times? We’re guessing that you might have taken time to check your phone, think about what you’re eating for dinner, or worry about an upcoming project.
Mindfulness has a few definitions, but it generally refers to the practice of being fully present and aware in the current moment. In today’s technology-focused world, employees are inundated with stimuli from their devices and work responsibilities, resulting in mindfulness falling by the wayside.
However, practicing mindfulness comes with a few key benefits that help employers offer a better working environment, such as:
- Reduced stress: Employees who are stressed or overwhelmed are more likely to suffer from work burnout, resulting in a less productive workforce that may even feel resentful of their employers. Mindfulness can reduce stress, resulting in happier employees.
- Improved productivity: Employees are more likely to remain focused on their work when they follow the primary principle of mindfulness. When their focus is entirely on what they’re doing and not on other thoughts, they’re more likely to be productive and create high-quality work.
- Enhanced collaboration: Employees are more likely to listen actively and communicate effectively when they’re entirely focused on the conversation at hand. This results in fewer misunderstandings and better collaboration between colleagues and teams.
Mindfulness isn’t just for yoga studios and massage businesses—all types of companies, large and small, can benefit from a more present workforce. Happier employees who understand that your business cares about their well-being are more likely to work hard. Ultimately, mindfulness can be the key to unlocking a more successful and sustainable business.
How to Foster a Culture of Mindfulness
Approach mindfulness holistically to properly incorporate it into your workplace. For some individuals, mindfulness is a way of life. While you can’t force your employees to participate in it, you can encourage them to do so by fostering a culture where mindfulness is accepted and encouraged.
To keep employees engaged and ensure they stay present with their work, here are a few ways you can foster a culture of mindfulness:
- Encourage mindfulness in daily tasks: This might mean advising employees to close their emails or messaging tools to minimize distractions and promote focus. You might also promote single-tasking over multi-tasking and discuss focus techniques such as Pomodoro or timeboxing.
- Incorporate mindfulness breaks: Encourage employees to take breaks every now and then to check in with themselves. They should use this time to evaluate their mental, physical, and emotional state. For example, an employee working hard all morning might realize during a mindfulness break that they’re hungry. Then, they can get a snack or a meal to replenish their energy levels.
- Lead by example: If you don’t follow the mindfulness plan you set, your employees will notice and wonder if mindfulness is actually important. Lead by example by following mindfulness practices and encouraging your employees to participate with you—for example, if you do a five-minute stretch break every hour, you could invite your employees to join you.
Many businesses go the extra mile to foster mindfulness by offering wellness programs that provide employees with access to health-related resources, like gym memberships and meditation app subscriptions. However, avoid tying your wellness program to productivity-related rewards.
Astron Solution’s guide to employee retention calls out the myth of carrot-and-stick programs having long-term positive benefits. These initiatives result in small boosts in productivity, but ultimately, employees who are intrinsically motivated due to having a positive workplace will be more successful and engaged in the long run.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t provide health-related benefits—such as health insurance that covers both vital medical needs and extra services like physical therapy and massages—but that those rewards shouldn’t be contingent on employee performance. Instead, these benefits should be a standard part of your workplace that reinforces your commitment to employee health.
Addressing Obstacles to Workplace Mindfulness
Promoting mindfulness has the potential to bring great results to your organization, but in addition to encouraging employees to participate, you have to remove obstacles to their participation.
As a company leader, you may not be involved in your employees' day-to-day lives, which means you might be unfamiliar with their responsibilities. Your first step is ensuring everyone is on the same page about mindfulness. That way, when employees take breaks from their work to recenter themselves, they aren’t penalized by their colleagues or managers. Nothing makes an employee less likely to participate in an exciting new initiative than fearing repercussions for doing so.
One particular challenge to watch out for is workload. When employees are swamped with work, they won’t have the time to implement mindfulness practices and will feel more stressed and overwhelmed. Look for ways you can easily reduce their workload, such as by implementing software. For best results, choose tools made specifically for your business model—for example, a massage practice might invest in massage software that helps them manage appointments and take notes on each massage session.
Improve Your Mindfulness Programs with Data
While implementing your new mindfulness programs, consider how you’ll track data about participation, engagement, and satisfaction. After a few months, assess the impact of your new activities to evaluate their effectiveness and make adjustments as necessary!
