Let’s Champion Mindfulness in the Workplace

Published on: Fri 2 February 2018 by Admin

Employee wellbeing in the workplace

It’s unpleasant to feel stressed or anxious and while it’s relatively easy these days to seek out self-help strategies to cope with the challenges life can bring, many of the stresses we experience are work-related. Unfortunately, however, studies reveal that only a small number of organisations are championing employee wellbeing to any significant extent.

Facts

According to The Mental Health at Work report, 2017, 84% of managers accept that employee wellbeing is their responsibility yet only 58% of employees feel that their line manager is genuinely concerned about their mental health. Almost half of the managers surveyed said they would welcome specific training in mental health but less than a quarter of managers (24%) have received any. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since mindfulness was something reserved for hippies, with no place in the business world, but still there is some way to go.

According to ACAS, mental ill-health costs UK employers a massive £30 billion a year; addressing it has real positive implications on productivity, performance and staff turnover, and directly impacts the bottom line. As organisations come to realise this, mental health is becoming less taboo. People are being actively encouraged to talk to their families, friends and employers about how they feel, and many companies such as Google, NHS, Goldman Sachs, Transport for London, Barclays and Intel (to name a few) are embracing Mindfulness training and reaping the benefits from a happier workforce.

Mindfulness apps, books and articles are also becoming more mainstream and people are realising the benefits of practising Mindfulness to support not only their mental health, but also to help improve resilience, stress-management, emotional intelligence, decision-making, strategic-thinking abilities, ability to focus and creativity.

Ultimately practising Mindfulness can make people happier, and happiness breeds happiness. A Wall Street Journal study concluded that those who rate themselves as happy are 36% more motivated than their unhappy counterparts and 31% more likely to achieve their goals. As result, proactive businesses are encouraging their people to:

Take time out to exercise, even if it’s just a stroll at lunchtime

stress

Learn about Mindfulness

learning

Try out meditation (try it, it really works!)

meditation

Start a gratitude diary to focus on the good things

diary blog

At RightTrack we offer a number of different mindfulness and wellbeing training programmes all of which have been carefully designed for the workplace, with love and passion by a team of specialists in training, therapy and mindfulness.

We aim to challenge the stereotype and stigmas associated with discussing our feelings and mental ill-health issues in the workplace and help organisations nurture self-resourced workforces that are better equipped to deal with difficult situations, to sustain their own wellbeing as well as prevent mental ill-health.

We are proud to take our learners on a personal journey to create clearer communication and build healthier happier relationships that can transform lives, teams and workplaces.

Take a look at our Mindfulness training programme content for more information or Contact Us for more information.