by Natasha Douglas | Apr 7, 2023 | All Blog Posts, Mindfulness at work
Mindfulness has been gaining popularity in recent years as a tool for reducing stress and promoting well-being. But can mindfulness really help with reducing staff sickness rates?
The short answer is: yes.
Mindfulness has been shown to have significant benefits for both physical and mental health, making it a valuable tool for employers who want to promote a healthy and productive workforce.
Physical Health Benefits of Mindfulness
One of the main ways that mindfulness can help reduce staff sickness rates is by promoting physical health. Stress is a leading cause of many health problems, including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and weakened immune systems. Mindfulness has been shown to be effective in reducing stress levels1, which can have a significant impact on physical health outcomes.
In addition to reducing stress, mindfulness can also promote better sleep2 and healthier eating habits3, both of which are important for maintaining good physical health. Studies have shown that people who practise mindfulness are more likely to eat a healthy diet and engage in regular exercise because they feel more connected to their bodies, things we know can help reduce the risk of a range of health problems.
Mental Health Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness has also been shown to have significant benefits for mental health. It can help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and improve overall mood and well-being1. This is particularly important in the workplace, where stress and burnout are common.
By promoting well-being and creating a more supportive culture, mindfulness can help reduce staff sickness rates by preventing mental health problems from developing or worsening. This can lead to a more productive and engaged workforce, with lower rates of absenteeism and presenteeism.
How to Promote Mindfulness And Reduce Absenteeism
If you’re interested in promoting mindfulness in your workplace, consider joining MindfulnessUK’s JOY programme®, a train-the-trainer style programme that equips your team with the skills, knowledge and passion to create and maintain a culture of mindfulness in your organisation.
You might also considering offering mindfulness training to your employees.
So yes, mindfulness can be an extremely valuable tool for reducing staff sickness rates in the workplace. By promoting physical and mental health, mindfulness can help prevent health problems from developing or worsening, leading to a healthier and more productive workforce.
References:
- Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 33, Issue 6, August 2013, Pages 763-771, Mindfulness-based therapy: a comprehensive meta-analysis, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23796855/
- NCBI, The effect of mindfulness meditation on sleep quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6557693/
- Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 68, October 2014, Pages 107-111, Mindful eating: Trait and state mindfulness predict healthier eating behavior, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886914002396
by Natasha Douglas | Apr 6, 2023 | All Blog Posts, Mindfulness at work
Did you know that employee well-being isn’t just about *avoiding* poor mental health (although we know that’s extremely important too)?
What companies tend to overlook is that employee well-being is about *creating* an environment where employees can thrive and experience genuine joy in their work and personal lives. It’s a holistic concept that encompasses both mental and emotional health and the creation of fulfilling, joyful experiences.
So while employee assistance programmes and mental health first aid training are powerful and important tools for any organisation, they alone cannot significantly improve well-being.
What we need to consider is how to create joy in the everyday.
So why should joy be at the heart of your company’s People Strategy in 2023?
1. Joyful employees are more engaged
When employees are happy and fulfilled, they’re more likely to be engaged in their work. They’ll be more productive, more creative, and more committed to the company’s goals. This means that investing in employee happiness can pay dividends in the form of increased productivity, better quality work, and improved customer satisfaction.
2. Joyful employees are more loyal
Happy employees are more likely to stay with a company for the long term, reducing the costs associated with turnover and recruitment. This can have a significant impact on the bottom line, as the cost of replacing an employee can be as high as two times their salary.
3. Joyful employees create a positive company culture
A positive company culture is essential for attracting and retaining top talent. When employees are happy, they’re more likely to share their positive experiences with others, which can help to build a strong employer brand. A positive culture can also help to improve teamwork, collaboration, and communication, leading to better outcomes for the company.
4. Joyful employees are healthier
Studies show that happy employees are healthier employees, with lower rates of absenteeism and higher levels of energy and motivation. A healthy workforce can reduce healthcare costs and improve overall productivity.
So how can companies create a more joyful workforce? Here are a few tips:
1. Prioritise work-life balance
Encourage staff to take time off when they need it and to prioritise their personal lives. This can help to reduce stress and burnout, leading to happier, more fulfilled employees.
2. Create a positive company culture
Encourage teamwork, collaboration, and open communication. Find ways to recognize and reward employees for their hard work and contributions, and celebrate successes together.
3. Offer opportunities for growth and development
Provide employees with opportunities to learn and grow, whether through training programs, mentorship, or promotions. This can help to keep employees engaged and motivated.
4. Invest in employee well-being
Offer wellness programs, such MindfulnessUK’s THE JOY PROGRAMME to support employee well-being. This can help to reduce stress, improve overall health and build happiness both in and outside of the workplace.
By now, we all know that employee well-being is important. But are you prioritising the creation of joy in 2023?
By focusing on employee happiness and well-being, companies can create a more engaged, loyal, and productive workforce, leading to better outcomes for the company and its employees.
by Claire Kidd | Jul 21, 2022 | All Blog Posts
The team at MindfulnessUK are extremely proud to have taught so many incredible teachers, over many years, in every sector. We really value hearing about their teaching and any feedback on the teaching materials provided during their course.
When you train to become a mindfulness teacher with MindfulnessUK you are invited to join our community. We’re with you at every stage, from practitioner to seasoned teacher, and will continue to support by sending up-to-date materials and resources.
It’s important to continuously share insights, for example, working with trauma-informed mindfulness. This is something that Karen Atkinson, co-Founder and Senior Partner at MinfulnessUK, has been doing for over 20 years. The team teach and train with these skills underpinning their work. Karen wanted to share these considerations in a more explicit and comprehensive way to ensure all students and graduates are well equipped to teach within their own areas of specialism.
We recently sent all our Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teacher Training and Integrating Mindfulness and Compassion graduates updated teacher training notes. Helping them in continuing to support others at this most challenging of times.
This is what some of our graduates said:
“Since finishing the IMC, I completed the MBSR teaching component and slowly but surely chipping away at the extensive portfolio. I’m looking forward to the Process of Inquiry workshop in October. I work for the NHS as a pediatric OT and was keen to provide an offering within the Trust I work for. So now I am providing a ‘mindful moment’ every Monday, Wednesday and Friday lunchtime. Staff click on a Teams link to have guided meditation and mindful movement with me which is a privilege and a joy . Feedback has certainly been very encouraging which is heartening.” Cath Gibney
“I did a workplace session this week as part of well-being week and had my first mindfulness client. I also led a session on a yoga retreat and I have my website up and running, and my marketing materials printed. Over the next 6 months I hope to promote my new Facebook page and have some calls for schools going to run the CMR course.” Dionne
Continuous Support And Improvement Is Important To Us.
Without it sounding like a cliché we do genuinely want to look after our students and graduates alike and offer them support both during and after their course. Currently we have an Alumni Community that students and graduates can join, offering monthly sitting groups, a closed Facebook group and a portal containing practices, notes and much more.
We listen to our students and have heard the wish and desire to feel more connected to each other so we will be launching our newly imagined community after the summer break….watch this space!!
It’s never easy to set up your own business but with so much fear-driven anxiety in the world right now, the need for people to feel less separate and more connected to themselves, others and their planet is essential to support mental and emotional health and well-being.
There has never been a better time to explore a career in mindfulness and compassion and support others in every sector of society. We’re experiencing a paradigm shift, would you like to contribute to it?
We have a number of mindfulness and compassion teacher training and continuous professional development courses starting in September and October this year to help you do just this, please visit our website to find out more or contact info@mindfulnessuk.com.
by Steph Unthank | Jul 14, 2021 | All Blog Posts, Mindfulness at work
Research to support the benefits of creating a mindful workplace culture is growing. At MindfulnessUK At Work, we want more people to understand and learn the power of mindfulness and how to consider creating a thriving mindful workplace.
In our previous blogs ‘Mindfulness and how it can support today’s leadership challenges’ and Team mindfulness and the importance of taking it seriously’, we highlighted more about the effectiveness and impact on the workplace that comes from the implementation of mindful leadership and team mindfulness.
In this blog, we explore ways of creating a mindful workplace culture and how, if this is developed, an organisation could look and feel positively different, reaping the benefits in the longer term.
How the Approach to Wellbeing in the Workplace is Changing.
The approach to workplace wellbeing has shifted significantly, particularly since the start of the pandemic. Organisations are beginning to think more broadly about employee wellbeing, moving away from the traditional approach of one-off sessions that focus on specific wellbeing-based themes like nutrition, exercise, or mental health to a more holistic approach. This latter approach starts to touch on changes in organisational culture to accommodate changing employees’ expectations of the workplace.
Of course, organisational culture is a very broad term. Edgar Schein’s[1] classic definition talks about a shared pattern of assumptions that guide organisationally accepted behaviour in the face of internal and external organisationally relevant problems. We know that organisational culture is acquired over time and is often based on a set of principles (written and assumed) that is present at the businesses’ foundations. However, if the culture and behaviours within the organisation are no longer fit for purpose, can mindfulness practice help to shift it to a place where the culture helps organisation and employees to thrive?
The Benefit of Mindfulness in an Organisation.
Use of mindfulness in organisational context has been extensively researched for the past two decades. Having already explored the effectiveness of team mindfulness over individual practice, we can safely infer that making mindfulness part of the culture and strategic focus of the organisation is likely to reap benefits in the future. It will allow the organisation to stay dynamic, fluid, constantly evolving and enabling organic alignment with the changing times, where employees’ needs are recognised and met.
Essentially mindfulness can become the key ingredient in the “secret sauce” of culture that keeps employees motivated and engaged. How as Peter Drucker allegedly once said “culture eats strategy for breakfast” so how can we implement mindful organisational culture with real changes without it becoming a token gesture towards a popular trend?
The importance of informal mindfulness practices.
Mindfulness at organisational level is not about availability of training courses and meditation rooms, if the workload and stress remain the same. It is often about what we call ‘informal mindfulness practices’ where we practice on the job, moulding the principles and practices into an organisation’s culture.
Sometimes it is easier said than done and as Dr Jutta Tobias noted in her research on organisational mindfulness, a systematic formula for ‘making an organisation mindful’ does not and cannot exist[1] because each organisational culture is unique and first we need to develop a better understanding of it before bringing the changes. However, we can talk about a few elements that we believe can play an important role in creating a mindful workplace culture such as communication, trust, and empathy. Let’s look at each one in detail.
Key Ingredients for Creation of Mindful Organisation.
Communication:
How we communicate, both in and out of work influences our lives, relationships, happiness and even our levels of success. At an organisational level, mindful communication must be honest, open and transparent. It is key to consider the reader and how they will be affected in receiving the content.
The pandemic has meant that many employees have been living in a world of uncertainty for long periods of time. Communication with employees from a place of mindfulness should aim to reassure, be consistent in message and tone and would do well to reflect the thoughts and experiences of employees across the matrix.
Achievers.com talks about the four elements of mindful communication that can support and develop a mindful culture in the workplace:
- Is the message truthful?
- Will the message be beneficial for the person or the situation? If not, how can you effectively communicate to ensure a positive outcome?
- Can your message be organised to not disturb the mind and emotions of the recipient?
- Can your messaging be structured so that it is pleasing to the recipient?
Communication in the context of mindfulness is of course wider than that as it brings everybody onboard, raises awareness of mindful approach. We communicate our aligned values and vision and constantly bring attention back to ensure that short term objectives are in line with that vision and there is a clear feedback mechanism between organisational structures and individual employees. Mindful and compassionate interaction that stays attentive in the present moment without judgement will ensure that conflicts either do not arise or are swiftly resolved, leaving more time for productive and creative work.
Cultivating trust among employees:
In communicating well, trust can be cultivated. Strong storytelling, which is underpinned by supporting mechanisms and developing capability of employees, can help to shape the picture of a changing culture and in turn build trust among the employees.
It is described that trust can sometimes be seen as the bridge between “the known” and “the unknown” (Boser 2018). Trust is to believe despite uncertainty (Misztal, 1998) and given the amount of uncertainty we have had to cope with since early 2020, we cannot underestimate how important building trust is for employees in terms of achieving organisational effectiveness.
One of the biggest challenges during the pandemic is the fact that a lack of face to face interaction in a live physical environment can diminish trust as we lose the connectivity at a human level beyond the working context (remember those famous conversations at the coffee machine). Now, we need to work harder at our social interactions so that trust is re-gained, particularly in the context of leadership
Ultimately, individuals follow good leaders when they can be supported to feel safe (Sinek, 2009). Trust in a leader is a follower’s belief that a leader can and will act on the basis of the leader’s words, actions, and decisions (McAllister, 2005). In mindful organisations it becomes collective leadership where people share collective responsibility because they trust each other knowing that their backs are covered.
Ability, integrity, and benevolence are all important factors of building trust with employees and can contribute to creating a mindful workplace culture. Trust is all about interconnection, working within individual teams and across an organisation without boundaries, creating an environment where people experience appreciative joy at work.
Empathy
One way we can create a mindful workplace culture is to practice empathy. What is empathy? In simple terms it’s about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, but this isn’t easy. How can we begin to even comprehend what someone else is going through?
We have a strong belief that our experience is our experience, and no one will ever know what it’s like to experience ”inner me”. Let’s face it, there are thousands of reasons why we all behave the way we do, from past experiences, childhood upbringing, engrained values, and behaviours so it can seem like an impossible task. To this end, is empathy for others really achievable?
Even though building empathy for others might feel difficult, we have to try and find ways to build relationships in order to build trust and to empathise with colleagues to the best of our human ability. If we take a moment to listen well, learn to understand, build compassion and empathy we will in turn build trust and create a more mindful culture at work.
Empathy is important to those leaders working to cultivate mindful skills in their approach to leading and managing others. A simple moment of carving time out of your day as a leader to intentionally get to know a member of your team on a personal level without agenda or work-related discussion sneaking in, can be a good place to start. Letting an employee know that you are as interested in their wellbeing (genuinely) as much as their ability to meet objectives is vital during this covid-19 period and for that matter, in the long term.
But ultimately building empathy will help to cultivate cultural diversity which is a paramount ingredient in building a mindful culture. It will help to dimmish the cultural and cognitive biases and avoid misunderstanding and miscommunication because you show up at each interaction being in the present moment with beginner’s mind (both are key tenets of mindfulness practice)
Mindfulness in the Workplace is More than a Nice to Have.
To finish the series of our blogs we would like to stress that mindfulness practices in workplace cannot be just a nice to have. We have shown the benefits of mindfulness to individuals that extends into team mindfulness, but ultimately, we would like to see the change in culture. This progression will lead to more organisations that are open, honest, authentic, and true to their vision and values. Those that are able to learn and grow stronger when faced with challenges, which of course will lead to employee satisfaction and a positive effect on the bottom line.
If you are interested in working with us, please reach out to Steph and Vera (vera.dubrovina@mindfulnessuk.com and stephanie@mindfulnessuk.com.) to work with you on your journey.
www.mindfulnessuk.com
[1] a former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has made a notable mark on the field of organizational development in many areas, including career development, group process consultation, and organizational culture
