Here are 5 benefits of mindfulness at work:
1. Reduced absenteeism
Absenteeism costs the average UK business £554 per employee, it’s a huge cost to businesses of all sizes and every effort should be taken to minimise its impact. So how can mindfulness help? Mindfulness has been shown to have an incredible effect on the mind and body and can help to reduce the amount of time employees need to take off work for sickness and ill health.
Mental health issues are now the leading cause of sick leave in the UK, accounting for 70 million sick days, more than half of the 130 million total every year. Mindfulness has been shown to have a positive effect on mental wellbeing and is often recommended as a treatment for stress, anxiety and depression.
Not only does mindfulness help improve mental wellbeing, but the effects can also be seen on physical health too. Mindfulness practise can help reduce physical pain by 19%, without taking any pain-killers or medications. It can also increase the effectiveness of the immune system by an astonishing 25% as it raises the number of antibodies in the blood stream and helps the immune system to fight off disease.
Employees who are able to staying fighting fit, both mentally and physically are much less likely to take sick leave from work and so investing in a mindfulness solution for the workplace really is worthwhile.
2. Reduced stress & increased morale
Mindfulness practice reduces activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain which controls the stress response. Only a few minutes of mindfulness practice each day can reduce stress by more than 20% — without changing the circumstances of your work and personal life. Furthermore, mindfulness has been shown to increase activity in the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain associated with positive emotion. These positive effects on the mental state can lead to improved job satisfaction and higher morale in the workplace.
3. Enhanced relationships
Mindfulness is all about increasing awareness, becoming more aware of yourself and more aware of the present moment. As we increase our connection with our own selves and how we operate, we naturally increase our capacity to relate to others’, their motives and feelings, which in turn opens us up to greater compassion and empathy for others. Becoming more mindful helps us to build better working relationships, improved client interactions and enhanced customer focus.
4. Improved decision making
Mindfulness also develops our decision-making skills. Imagine making decisions from a state of balanced emotions, rather than as a reaction to outside forces. When we learn to take a step back from a specific trigger and create an observer position, it allows us to move from reactivity to responsiveness. Good Decision making skills are fundamental to the way a business is run and the strategies that are implemented. Being able to make clear, calculated decisions is vital to the success of a business and mindfulness training can help.
5. Increased creativity
This point might seem contradictory as creativity often requires a wandering mind and a wild imagination but mindfulness can help us to unlock innovative thinking. Mindfulness allows us to focus attention fully on the problem at hand, then to purposefully step away from it to focus attention fully on something else. This shift in attention allows for ideas to incubate and creative insight begins to develop. Bringing mindfulness to the creative process can open up our minds to original ideas and help us to push away interrupting thoughts.
There is an opportunity for businesses to harness the power of mindfulness in the workplace and benefit from improved employee wellbeing, increased morale, better relationships, enhanced decision making and a boost in creativity. Mindfulness training is a great way to introduce mindfulness to employees at all levels of the business and can help them to start their mindfulness journey to become happier, healthier and more effective within their job and even outside of their job too. Here’s a video from our mindfulness training course to give you a taste of what’s on offer, this is a simple 3 minute exercise you can use anywhere to bring mindfulness to your day whenever you need it:
Speak to us today to find out the best training solutions for your business and how we can work with you to meet your training needs, get in touch using the enquiry form or call us on the number provided.
For more on mindfulness, take a look at our complete guide to Professional Development.
