Meditation in the Workplace
Occupational health psychology discusses topics such as workplace wellbeing, stress management, and safety. Job stress costs companies hundreds of billions of dollars each year. This is in due part to absenteeism, high turnover, reduced productivity, and even health cost. These four factors motivate companies to investigate how stress can be negated in the workplace to save money.
Many factors can contribute to stress in the workplace, including “role demands, information overload, work-life tradeoffs, interpersonal challenges, and evaluation apprehension” (Truxillo et al., 2016). These factors can cause a toll physiologically, psychologically, and behaviorally on the individual. As the prevalence of anxiety and depression has increased by 19% in the millennial generation, we will discuss the psychological factors and how they affect individuals (Truxillo et al., 2016).
The psychological effects of long-term stress can be damaging (Truxillo et al., 2016). This can be seen as depression, anxiety, rumination, and burnout. The mixture of depression and anxiety is a dangerous combination as one will feel sad and hopeless but also nervous about what may happen. As a result, this could cause an individual to hesitate to start or complete tasks, and if the condition is persistent, they might not show up to work. This condition alone can cost companies tremendous amounts of money because it promotes absenteeism, produces productivity, and if enough people feel this way, high turnover.
Another psychological condition that needs to be discussed is rumination. Rumination is the inability to stop continually thinking about past events. Research shows that people who ruminate about being evaluated have difficulty learning tasks (Truxillo et al., 2016). Rumination can be an aftereffect of already existing stress. Burnout, on the other hand, is the cause of constant pressure. “Individuals with high aspiration who are driven to get things done or more likely to experience burnout (Truxillo et al., 2016).” These persistent conditions can result in several dysfunctional behaviors that can translate to our personal life, such as withdrawal from peers, lashing out at a partner, and alcoholism.
So, what can be done to improve the mental health of individuals by preventing depression, rumination, and burnout and also help companies save money? The ancient practice of mindfulness. Being mindful means to savor the pleasures of life as they occur. By focusing on the here and now, you are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or the past and, therefore, can develop deeper connections with others (Birdie, 2015). Looking at the definition of mindfulness and putting it up against the definitions of the four factors of psychological stress, we can see that using mindfulness as a tactic would be an effective measure of helping to prevent workplace stressors. So how can we benefit from mindfulness?
A study was performed on emotional wellbeing, and this study revealed the effects of integrated mindfulness and relaxation work on 225 children between the age of 5-8 with high anxiety (Birdie, 2015). An intervention was done that included twelve 45-minute sessions. At the end of the study, the children showed significantly decreased test anxiety and ADHD behaviors, leading to their more vital ability to pay attention (Birdie, 2015). This information can also be translated to people in the workplace. In the journal, Birdie states that “mindfulness researchers looked at the effects of leaders being more mindful and employee wellbeing in performance” (2015). They found that the more conscious a leader has resulted in lower task-related stress and higher focus for their employees.
Mindfulness also helped improve decision-making. In a publishing in Psychological Science, researchers looked at the effects of mindfulness on the sunk cost fallacy (Birdie, 2015). This fallacy can be defined as continuing to do something even though one does not enjoy it. An example of this is continuing to watch a show they dislike. Through 15 minutes of meditation, researchers found that subjects had lower tendencies to think in terms of sunk costs (Birdie, 2015). Improved decision-making skills can save the individual from wasted time on tasks and the company from wasted money.
On the topic of tasks, being present in the moment unquestionably helps one focus on said task. Mindfulness increases cognitive recognition and focus, this makes employees better at juggling multiple things while staying engaged and staying upbeat (Birdie, 2015). This allows the individual to have increased job performance and, therefore, focus on what a customer or coworker may need.
Practicing mindfulness is not an outdated idea; in fact, three findings came to light in a study performed by the American Management Association. 49% of organizations provide mindfulness-related training or resources to some degree (Birdie, 2015). In the organizations that used mindfulness practices, about 85% of people reported it being beneficial. This test study also proved that over half of the respondents suffered from above-average stress levels while just 8% held less than the average amount of worker stress (Birdie, 2015).
In conclusion, the ability to inhibit the moment with greater awareness shapes the moment that follows and, if repeated, can lead to a better future and quality of life. Practicing meditation can improve our perception of our past, present state, ourselves, and relationships, whether that be your personal life or the workplace. Simply quieting one’s mind can save companies billions of dollars on stress and occupational health costs.
References
Birdie, A. K. (2015). Mindfulness and its role in workplace. Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 6(4), 432–435.
Truxillo, D. M., Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2016). Psychology and work: Perspectives on industrial and organizational psychology. Routledge, Taylor, & Francis Group.
