Companies That Invest In Mindfulness Are More Productive
What do internationally recognized companies such as Nike, Heineken, Apple, Procter & Gamble, Google, Coca Cola, Starbucks or Deutsche Bank have in common? Among other things, they have incorporated Mindfulness-based programs into their way of working with the aim of optimizing their productivity and having a positive impact on the well-being of their workers.
In addition, the most admired universities in the world, such as Harvard, Oxford Yale or Cambridge, also offer an interesting repertoire of Mindfulness programs to improve the well-being and performance of their students and thus prepare them for their leap into the world of work.
Why is Mindfulness gaining so many followers in the business world?
As time goes by, it is increasingly clear that companies and organizations in general move in a very volatile environment in which uncertainty prevails, not knowing what will happen tomorrow. This constant ambiguity has a significant psychological impact on workers (regardless of their hierarchical position in the company), given that they must always remain aware of the latest changes, both in relation to strategic planning and in relation to their processes. productive, both in employees and in managers and leaders.
So that, the need to become multitasking prevails : stop writing a document to answer a phone call, inform the supervisor of an incident, continue writing while paying attention to a colleague’s instructions, etc. This means that if you do not know how to manage the workflow, it accumulates on the table (in the form of columns of documents) and this favors the appearance of stress problems and everything that this entails (difficulty concentrating, lack of coordination, tiredness, etc.).
As a result, this unhealthy work dynamic leads to not completing tasks and executing them poorly, with errors.
In this context, there are many scientific investigations that have provided evidence that the use of Mindfulness programs in organizations significantly helps to better cope with pressure in the workplace, maintain a willingness to pay attention to detail, preserve the ability to be creative and adapt to challenges in real time and quickly, in addition to reinforcing cohesion between work teams.
Furthermore, in this way the formation of conscious leaders is promoted capable of drawing attention to the parts of the work that really matter, and inclined to face problems while maintaining serenity and without getting carried away by arbitrary decisions.
mental gymnastics
Mindfulness, which can be translated into Spanish as full attention is a process by which we adapt to circumstances to focus our attention on the present moment, without making moral evaluations that lead us to prejudge, and relating to reality while adopting the position of observers, without letting ourselves carried by impulses.
Mindfulness can be enhanced through training programs until it becomes a tool for personal development that allows us to face life’s problems, mitigating the effects of anxiety and stress and promoting increased productivity
In other words, the habit of using Mindfulness leads us to reduce the frequency of appearance of certain automatic mental processes based on the emotional imprint left on us by past experiences that, if not managed, can block us in the present.
For this reason, mindfulness has become **one of the most used resources in Western countries (despite being based on traditional meditation in certain regions of Asia) and with more interesting and practical results both at work and in personal life.
Of course, in Spain, the practice of Mindfulness is still something relatively minority and has only been launched in certain companies that highly value the health of workers, or in those that want to adapt to new times by making the work environment a place much more comfortable.
Mindfulness in the company: its advantages
According to a survey carried out by Adecco Training and whose results reflect data from 2016, only 5% of Spanish workers have the habit of practicing Mindfulness, despite its advantages and the positive impact it has on work performance.
Among the most significant advantages reported is the increase in productivity, which is estimated to be 20%. Furthermore, it is estimated that on average, each worker in a company loses approximately one and a half hours due to distractions, which translates into about eight hours lost per week. Approximately 20% of the working day is wasted
Therefore, those who practice Mindfulness have many more possibilities of optimally using all the time dedicated to work, and not losing that 20%. For this reason, although at the moment it is a practice that is not widespread in this country, 8 out of 10 companies that know what Mindfulness is recognize that they have the need to implement training programs in mindfulness.
On the other hand, 80% of the organizations consulted plan to train their workers in Mindfulness in the coming years It is natural, because among workers who already practice it, 65% claim to have a greater feeling of calm at work. This has also led to a 78% reduction in sick days due to anxiety or depression in companies that promote Mindfulness practice initiatives.
One of the responses to the lack of job satisfaction
A report from the consulting firm Accenture shows that the job satisfaction rate in Spain has dropped, from 52% in 2013 to 44% in 2014; Dissatisfaction is now the majority psychological state among workers. Of course, that factor represents a significant challenge for company management teams who see the need to configure their way of working in a way in which workers feel comfortable in order to retain talent.
On the other hand, phenomena such as work presenteeism foster organizational climates in which demotivation, stress and hopelessness are the norm, as a feeling of stagnation and inability to detach from a way of working that wears down mental health appears. This, obviously, does not fit well with the shift that has occurred in recent decades in company philosophy, according to which the professional sphere can be considered another component of working life, with values ​​in line with those we continue in the private sphere.
It has also been seen that Those who are regularly subjected to contexts that generate stress have a very difficult time being creative or be positively predisposed towards teamwork, given that in these situations the human brain is full of cortisol (the stress hormone) whose effects play against the trust hormone, oxytocin.
Furthermore, the 2016 report of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) showed worrying data: the economic cost that stress generates in companies is 136 billion euros per year over all because of the sick leave it causes. This amount represents between 2.6 and 3.8% of the Community GDP, which implies that from this perspective, harmful psychological alterations are the second most common occupational health problem on the European continent.
Investing in emotional health is worth it
Investing in psychological health from the context of work It is in itself a goal that all large companies aspire to, both to generate adequate spaces for professional performance and to be more competitive and retain talent. Studies carried out in several countries on different continents show that occupational health programs lead to a reduction in direct costs associated with healthcare, as well as workplace accidents and job rotation.
All the data invites companies to consider the importance of well-being policies in the organizational environment, and the use of Mindfulness is an excellent way to enhance the psychological well-being of those who are part of the team.
This need has been taken very seriously by psychological assistance organizations such as the Barcelona psychology center PsicoTools, which has been offering Mindfulness training services to companies for some time. Initiatives like this make mental health experts change work dynamics, leaving lasting effects on organizations. In the end, the pioneers of the use of Mindfulness at work in Spain have it easy: they only have to have the point of view of those who have been dedicating themselves to it for years in their psychology office.
