A couple of years ago I wrote a column about meditation in the workplace in which I treated the topic as just another popular employee perk, a fad similar to juice bars and ping-pong tables. But after undertaking the practice on my own and learning more about the benefits it provides the individual (and by extension the company), I thought I should revisit the topic the a less skeptical perspective.
Undoubtedly, there are benefits to meditation. The benefits to the individual are well documented, the question for us interested in the workplace is, do these benefits also extend to the organization? Where I was skeptical before, I would now say, yes!
Because it reduces stress, meditation increases resilience. We still experience the stress, but our bodies are better able to deal with it. This alone is a great benefit to the company by reducing illness and absenteeism. In addition to the body, meditation also benefits the mind. It improves clarity, focus and creativity which all contribute to higher productivity.
What I find most promising however, is the potential for meditation to reduce the likelihood of conflict, misunderstandings and poor communication in the workplace. When employee’s are less stressed out, maybe they won’t find that annoying coworker so irritating, or they won’t anger as easily; they might have more patience and equanimity (one of my favorite meditation words). After all, who doesn’t want employees who have “composure, calmness, self control, level-headedness and poise”?
Ok, so let’s assume that I’ve convinced you that meditation is awesome and you want to bring it to your workplace. Where do you start?
First, make meditation acceptable in your workplace culture. Even though practicing meditation at home has gone mainstream, it’s still not widely accepted -and seen as weird- if practiced at work. One way to telegraph that it’s acceptable is to invite a speaker to a lunch-and-learn so employees can hear about the topic. Although employees tend to be receptive to anything they perceive to be a perk or a break from routine, participation must be voluntary.
Yikes, I’ve run out of room for now, but next week, I’ll bring more ideas on “how to bring meditation to your workplace,” even if you have zero to no budget. Until then, “Ohm”.
©Copyright Eva Del Rio
Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com
