Why Should Mindfulness Be Prioritized at Work?

Though work is never meant to be easy, most jobs involve stressful circumstances that can affect one’s overall well-being. Sadly, more than 16.1 million American adults get diagnosed with depression, with one cause being chronic stress from personal and professional experiences.

Traumatic situations in stressful work environments can also cause anxiety disorder, especially if an individual has to deal with difficult scenarios over a prolonged period.

As such, it’s time for people to recognize the impact of work on everyone’s well-being. To boost everyone’s well-being, it’s important that we prioritize mindfulness in the workplace.

The Benefits of Workplace Mindfulness

Mindfulness can look out-of-place amidst all the technical or administrative tasks that professionals have to accomplish. However, industry leaders are starting to put mental health on their agenda after realizing the impact of mental health on their workforce.

While mindfulness was previously limited to executives in the workplace, companies like Google are investing in mindfulness activities for their employees. This huge shift was caused by research studies, which showed evidence that meditation can build better companies and stronger bottom lines.

By promoting mindfulness in the workplace, employees can mitigate the onset of burnout and regulate their emotions from stressful work situations. On top of that, regular practice can also boost collaboration, encourage innovation, and increase the productivity of the workforce, making it a win-win practice for everyone.

How Can You Promote Mindfulness at Work:

Encourage wellness conversations

It may seem inappropriate for work, but meaningful discussions between managers and employees can actually foster engagement and productivity in the workplace.

Unfortunately, a wellness survey by LHH and TAG discovered that many managers don’t know how to start or deal with wellness conversations in the workplace. To promote a healthier work culture, managers need to initiate wellness conversations by being transparent about their desire to understand and help their employees. By creating a safe and non-judgmental environment for everyone, workers will be more proactive in expressing and addressing any workplace issues.

Practice gratitude with your co-workers

It’s hard to count your blessings, especially when you’re stressed. However, this simple practice can actually help workers relish good experiences and experience more positive emotions.

Fortunately, workers don’t need to do grand gestures to practice gratitude. To promote gratitude in the workplace, professionals can start by saying thank you to each other after asking for a favor or finishing a project. Workers can also opt to finish their shift by jotting down the things that they were grateful for during the day, such as any kind of progress or any kind of help they received from a co-worker.

Make time for regular meditation

A meditation a day keeps the stress away. As such, it’s important for leaders to encourage regular meditation practice in the workplace.

This can be beneficial for professionals, given that a study by neuroscientist Sara Lazar revealed that meditation can create a sense of relaxation among practitioners. On top of being a great stress reliever, meditation can also provide cognitive and psychological benefits that last throughout the day, such as improved brain function, increased creativity, and reduced stress. By encouraging meditation in the workplace, workers can perform better and recover faster from stress.

Organizations can improve the experiences of their employees by encouraging mindfulness in the workplace setting. Through these practices, the workforce can experience significant benefits in their professional performance and personal well-being.