Employee Development

It's a fact that employees today are asked to assume larger and more complex workloads, and are expected to complete projects faster at lower costs in order keep the organization competitive. They manage difficult situations, such as negotiating with customers and team members, to deliver products and services better, faster and cheaper in addition to everyday demands in their personal lives. This causes anxiety and stress for many employees and makes it more difficult for them to be effective and productive at work.

The Mindful Employees program helps participants learn to understand and manage their reactions to workplace stress. The premise of mindfulness is that a situation in and of itself does not cause stress—it is how we interpret and deal with the situation that determines whether or not we experience stress. Interventions that decrease stress and anxiety and increase the ability to work effectively in a group (such as mindfulness practice) have shown to improve productivity and employee satisfaction, and decrease absenteeism.

Mindfulness and meditation have long been associated with religious practices; however, the Mindful Employee programs use these techniques for the benefit to practitioners without any religious connections. Employees report feeling lower levels of anxiety, increased focus, and a greater feeling of happiness and well-being when using mindfulness as a regular practice. Eastern businesses, mainly those in China and Japan, have been employing such practices routinely in business for several decades to ensure the health and well being of their employees and therefore their bottom line.

The effects of mindfulness are directly related to decreasing employees’ levels of stress. A decrease in employee stress levels has significant long-term benefits for the company in terms of productivity gains. When you think of it, just as a machine will have more problems and depreciate more quickly when it is worked overtime, so too will workers lose their ability to stay productive if overworked and stressed. Employees represent an organizations’ sustainable competitive advantage in the corporate world, and ensuring employee wellness is key for companies desiring to stay competitive.