The benefits of mindfulness & meditation in the workplace

Personally, I have now been practicing mindfulness & daily meditation for over 10 years.  I am often asked “what are the top 4 things for your health & energy?” and these always include mindfulness & meditation, along with great sleep, great nutrition and morning exercise.

In 2014, energiseYou celebrates its 10^th year in helping companies to improve the health, energy & performance of their employees.  For almost a decade we have brought mindfulness & meditation into the workplace via our workshops, webinars, podcasts & health events.

That aside, I have observed a very interesting polarity with this subject. On one hand, there are so many amazing benefits associated with mindfulness & meditation, such as:

-       Improves happiness

-       Increases your energy levels

-       Improves sleep

-       Makes you more successful in business

-       Helps you manage pressure at work

-       Improves problem solving & creativity

-       Lowers blood pressure & boosts the immune system

-       Reduces negative emotions, stress, anxiety, fear and anger

Yet, on the other hand, there are so few people that actually practice mindfulness & meditation on a daily basis.

So given all of these benefits why is it not practiced more? Here are some of the reasons:

-       People and companies are not fully aware of its transforming benefits

-       Some of these benefits cannot be fully appreciated until they are personally experienced

-       People often expect to be able to quieten the mind and meditate like a Buddhist monk on day one, which just doesn’t happen

-       People often try meditation without being shown how, find it very hard and then immediately give up

-       People often over look mindfulness as a practice because it seems too basic and simple, yet it is in its simplicity that the magic lies.

-       As with many things, people need to be inspired by someone to start.  My personal inspiration to start TM meditation was the film director David Lynch who has been meditating everyday for the past 35 years and he’s still loving it!

So the reasons that mindfulness & meditation should be a key part of your wellbeing programme are because of their profound benefits that can transform overall health & energy. To achieve this we need to address the challenges in the list above to ensure we can actively and regularly embrace the gift of mindfulness & meditation into our lives.

Energy management in the workplace

A recent YouGov survey of over 2,000 employees, commissioned by Lucozade Revive, finds nine out of ten of us suffer with a dip in energy in the afternoon. This afternoon energy slump equates to a shocking 24 days in lost productivity per year per employee. 

These two findings really show the benefits that can be gained from improved energy management, for both employers and individuals themselves.

A couple of months ago I was asked by Lucozade Revive to chair their Energy Management Summit. The panel discussed energy management in the workplace and the role employers should play in helping their staff achieve high energy.

The conclusion following the summit is that there are three huge benefits linked to improved energy management within our organisations:

        Employees achieve a better quality life 

      They are not only much happier but their performance at work improves as a result.

      Improved organisational performance 

      Sickness absence reduces, reactive healthcare costs drop and employee performance improves.

Less pressure on the NHS 

      Energy management is directly linked to health, when energy improves our health also improves.  Healthy people put less strain on the NHS, which currently costs the UK £109 billion per year.

To find out how you can help your staff beat the 3pm working slump click here. 

Workers are suffering with poor energy – why?

Research, from energiseYou, shows the large majority of UK workers score just 30-40% on the key drivers of good health and energy.

We now live in a 24/7 world and these things are just some of key changes that are causing us to feel drained or low in energy: 

Nutrition

Our nutritional habits have changed over the last ten years, quite often for the worse. E.g. More processed food, less nutrients in our food

Lack of movement

We are now much more sedentary at work and at home

Approach to work

The way we work now. E.g. Dealing with everything as if it’s urgent, lots of task swapping

Pressure

The sheer pressure people are under

Technology

The excessive technology we are exposed to

Hyper-thinking syndrome

We can get so busy problem solving that thinking takes over our awareness, and we lose our sense of the here and now – this is a common problem

Work-life balance

In today’s 24/7 working world many of us find a blur between work and home, leaving us working too many evenings and weekends and quite often not taking a real break

Lack of sleep

With new technology new information is being delivered to us all the time. Our nervous system is quite often being over stimulated and this is negatively affecting our sleep

The modern world is having a negative impact on our energy and this is just going to get progressively worse unless we take action now. Take action today – to find out what you can do click here to contact one of the energiseYou team  

Positivity is central to success

It can be difficult to remain positive when something goes wrong or you experience a setback. But being optimistic and taking a positive approach to how you deal with challenges is central to success.

In a world where change is constant it is only natural that we face challenges along the way, inside and outside work. These may appear to have a negative impact on circumstances/things around us but it is how we deal with them and move on that will determine the real impact.

Listen to any great leader and you will hear them talk about the little (and sometimes quite big) setbacks that they have experienced along their road to success. One thing they all have in common is that they don’t dwell on these setbacks or consider them ‘problems’, they focus on addressing them and then quickly move on.

Follow in the footsteps of the likes of Richard Branson and Steve Jobs – acknowledge mistakes, learn from them, make relevant changes and then move on. The moving on part is crucial and it is often this that so many people find impossible to do.

But dwelling on what’s gone wrong all the time and taking a negative approach to things around us or setbacks that we experience could leave us stuck, unable to move. This will not only get us down it will get everyone down around us.

Negativity feeds negativity and this is dangerous in the workplace. Because it not only has an impact on how we feel as individuals but it can lead to low employee engagement levels, poor productivity, an increase in sickness absence and high staff turnover. Positivity, on the other hand, builds successful organisations. It creates an engaged and high performing workforce.

So, how do we encourage our people to focus on the positive?

We need to ensure the culture supports this positive approach. This means making sure that our leaders and managers create a positive working environment for their teams, where people can talk openly about mistakes and learn from them but also where people are encouraged to share successes and build on what is good.

Doing this will not just influence how we feel, but also how we perform, individually and as teams. The more we are able to move our attention to what makes us feel good, the more able we will be able to deal with challenges that come along our way.

Creating an environment that builds on positive emotions can build the pathway to success. To find out more click here to register to listen to our free webinar on the 21 August, at 12pm – I will be joined by Chris Samsa, Positive Psychologist, from the NeuroLeadership Group, to discuss the power of positivity in boosting performance. 

Healthy eating needs to be on every employer's agenda

What does good nutrition and healthy eating have to do with employers? Is it really our responsibility to educate staff about healthy eating?

There is a lot of debate about whose role it is to educate people about their health. But the best companies know that a healthy workforce means a healthy business.

According to our recent poll 100 per cent of HR professionals believe nutrition has an impact on the performance of their workforce.

With 100 per cent of the food that we eat affecting our health, energy and performance at work it makes good business sense for employers to support their staff to make healthy choices. 

The challenge for many employers is that they just don’t know where to start...

It is really quite simple. Essentially employers need to do two key things: 

1. Educate employees  
Give employees the tools to achieve a balanced diet. This means educating them so that they understand what a balanced diet is for them and how to achieve it - we work with lots of organisations to do this by delivering regular health related workshops, webinars and events.

2. Make sure healthy food is easy to access and not too expensive 
Where possible include healthy options for staff – if you have a canteen work with your caterers to include healthy options.  

If you have vending machines either remove them or ensure they are filled  with healthy snacks, ensure water is readily available and try to opt for healthy snacks, food and drink during meetings.

It is simple really. If employees are not eating a healthy diet and getting all the essential nutrients they need then they will end up feeling low in energy and will be unable to perform at their best. 

To find out more click here to listen to our recent webinar: How modern day nutrition is affecting your workforce

When the going gets tough the tough get going

As employers we rely on our people to succeed. Yes, we need a sound business offering – great products and services – but we also need great employees to deliver top services and develop innovative products.

Let's face it, in the current economic climate the large majority of organisations are operating with a relatively tight budget and a slimmed down workforce. So when the work picks up or large projects come in it is not uncommon for us to rely on our employees to have to pick up extra slack until we can justify the extra head count.

At times like this we need to be able to rely on our people to take a ‘can-do’ and ‘will-do’ approach and it is our strong and engaged employees that will work hard to meet this challenge.

Why? Because engaged employees value their organisations and therefore are generally more motivated to put in the extra effort and want to support the organisation when things get tough. However, they can only do this to the best of their ability if they are in good health and have the resilience skills to withstand pressure.

So if we are to rely on our employees to get going when things get tough or a little difficult we need to ensure that they are not only engaged but also healthy and able to withstand the pressure.

What does this mean in practice? Employee engagement does provide some of the answers in terms of motivating staff and improving performance but it doesn’t provide all of them. Employee wellbeing needs to be firmly on the agenda – organisations need to prioritise and invest in the health of their workforce, putting interventions in place to support their wellbeing.

Investing in the health of your staff is not only good for employee wellbeing but it is good for business. 

Employers need to focus more on the positives

The large majority of us tend to focus on what is wrong in our lives, both at home and in the workplace. This needs to change if we are to be successful in creating a positive working environment where people are able to achieve their potential.

Think about what your leaders and managers focus the majority of their time on. You will probably find they give more time and attention to problems, rather than focusing on the positive things that are happening within their team and organisation. For example, managers tend to focus more time on what employees are not doing or what is not being done properly instead of sharing all the positive things that have been achieved.

This happens naturally and is what our mind is trained to do. Think about the ‘fight or flight’ response, our body's automatic response prepares us to fight or run from danger or a threat. But times have changed. We don’t need to be on the look-out for danger in the same way we did years ago.

It is important to remember that problems create problems and therefore focusing all of our attention on what is wrong will have a detrimental effect on business and our employees. It creates a ball of negative energy that just attracts more of the same.

This negative focus will eventually lead to a hostile working environment and a disengaged workforce, which will have a negative impact on both productivity and the happiness of our employees.

It’s time for leaders and managers to take a stand. We need to focus on what is positive within our organisation and training our people to do the same. By this I don’t mean we should ignore problems, I simply mean we need to turn most of our attention to what is good and build on this.

This is not easy and our mind will quite often naturally default back to focus on problems and negative things that surround us. It will take time but this shift needs to happen if we are going to attract and retain the best people and succeed as organisations.

Mind management is at the heart of everything we do.  Crack this, and everything else becomes easy.

Click here for more information about our mind management workshops.

We must help our employees work more smartly

Reports suggest the pressure is on and an increasing workload has left 72 per cent of UK employees having to put in around ten hours extra a week without being compensated, according to recent research from Travelodge.

Whilst working hard is always good, long working hours is not always a good thing and does not necessarily mean an increase in productivity. In fact, long working hours can be counterproductive and have a negative impact on businesses, such as reduced productivity and poor performance.

The key to success is to work smartly. As employers and leaders we need to ensure that we put the right support in place in terms of training, tools and systems to help our employees work smartly.

This does not simply mean providing access to the right IT systems/technology and support functions but there other factors that impact on our effectiveness, such as time management.

Timothy Ferris, author of The 4 Hour Workweek, really put the concept of working smartly to the test when he went from working 80 hours per week to just 4 hours. He says, "By working only when you are most effective, life is both more productive and more enjoyable. It's the perfect example of having your cake and eating it, too."

Whilst Ferris has some critics what he really does emphasise is the need to work when you are at your optimum and to focus on the tasks that are going to add most value.

By helping our employees to prioritise tasks effectively, focusing on what will add most value to the business and giving them the skills to manage excess pressure/challenges when they arise we really have the opportunity to improve the effectiveness of our people.

This is not only good for our business, in terms of productivity etc, but it will also improve the wellbeing of our employees and this means improved employee engagement, a nicer working environment and so much more.

To find out how you can help you employees develop mind management practices to improve effectiveness in the workplace click here and sign up to my free 30 minute webinar.

Creating a healthy mind really can boost success

It’s not just famous athletes and celebrities that are reaping the success of mind management and meditation.

If you listen to any ‘great’ leader they attribute much of their success to having a healthy mindset and adopting the right attitude. Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Bill Ford have all spoken about their use of meditation and the benefits associated with creating a healthy mindset.

Now, if we can get our employees to do the same then we are really onto a winner.

A healthy mind offers huge benefits to us as individuals in terms of increasing happiness, improving creativity and aiding weight loss etc. But it also offers huge benefits to our businesses.

People who manage their mind effectively are more successful at work because they have higher energy levels, are generally much healthier and they are able to handle with pressure more effectively.

Our research, of over 4,500 individuals, shows the large majority of people score just 42% on the key drivers of positive mind management. This highlights a huge opportunity for us as employers to improve performance within our businesses.

In today’s nonstop 24/7 digital world, we lead such busy lives and as a result our mind rarely stops thinking. Most people’s habits mean they are using technology non-stop from the minute they open their eyes to the minute they close them at night. This over stimulation of mind and body can drain energy and cause poor health, such as sleep problems and mental health fatigue.

By helping our employees to manage their mind effectively we can really improve performance. 

To find out how you can create healthy mind and body in the workplace click here and sign up to my free 30 minute webinar today.

This is taking place on Wednesday 15 May 2013, at 12pm 2013. I will cover:

- How supporting your employees' health & energy can improve business performance
- Why your staff need a healthy mind & body at work
- The 7 essential ingredients to create a healthy body
- Innovative mind management practices to improve performance
- Practical steps to improve the health & energy of your staff this summer

The Best Companies Understand The Importance Of Wellbeing

With The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For Awards taking place this week I reflected on where we are now and what the future holds for employee engagement and wellbeing.

When I founded energiseYou, eight years ago, things were very different. Employee engagement was quite a new concept and as for wellbeing, well it was only a small minority of companies that were really leading the way.

I’m pleased to say things have really moved on since then. More employers understand that their people are key to the success of their business and as a result are focusing on employee engagement.

And this does not simply mean investing in people in a monetary way. The eight key factors that Best Companies feel drive employee engagement include:

-       Leadership
-       My company
-       Personal growth
-       My manager
-       My team
-       Giving something back
-       Fair deal

-       Wellbeing

 

We know that the large majority of organisations do now have employee wellbeing on their agenda in some shape or form. But it is the pioneers in this group, like the Top 100 Best Companies, leading the way and taking a proactive approach to wellbeing that are seeing a real return on investment. This is set to continue.

With research showing employee burnout is becoming more common employers can no longer afford to simply dabble in employee wellbeing. The best companies know they need to take a proactive approach to wellbeing and make it part of their people strategy – only when they do this will they prevent burnout and reap the rewards in terms of helping employees are able to perform at their best.

So in a further eight years I predict organisations will be doing more with regards to wellbeing. I will be as bold to say there won’t be any companies around just dabbling or dipping their toe in the water because these organisations just won’t be able to survive in the current climate.

To find out what the forward thinking companies are doing to engage staff click here to sign up to our free webinar. Guest speaker, Wayne Clarke, from The Sunday Times Best Companies Partnership will join me to discuss:

- The 8 key ingredients for a fully engaged workforce
- Best engagement practices from some of the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies
- How to get directors to buy into your staff engagement programme
- Q&A session with Oliver Gray (energiseYou) & Wayne Clarke (Best Companies Partnership)

 

What are you doing to tackle sleep deprivation in your business?

Chronic sleep deprivation can do more than cause tiredness, it can have many negative effects. Employees with sleep problems may find it difficult to pay attention at work, struggle to remain alert and unable to concentrate.

But employees themselves aren’t the only ones suffering the consequences of sleepiness at work; it’s costing businesses money and, in some cases, may be putting the safety of others at risk.

Not only does a lack of sleep affect people’s health, which can cause an increase in sickness absence and have a negative impact on productivity, it can also be the cause of poor performance and injuries in the workplace.

Fact – sleep deprivation and poor quality sleep is not good for business. Clearly, it is a problem that needs to be addressed. Our research, of over 3,000 people finds the large majority of people score less than 50% on the drivers that help them achieve a good night’s sleep.

Although workers’ sleep habits are largely out of an employer’s control, businesses need to be aware of the effects of sleep deprivation and take a proactive approach to limit the impact of poor sleep, so that employees do their jobs more safely and efficiently.

There are companies, such as Google, that are taking action by providing sleep pods so employees who have to put in long hours sometimes or need to re-energise are allowed to take a power nap during their working day.

But it’s not just allocating enough time to sleep that determines how tired we feel or has an impact on performance, it’s also the ‘quality’ of sleep. And this is where education comes in. There are many factors that have an impact on the quality of sleep and these will depend on individual’s daily habits - only when we understand how to improve the quality of sleep can we improve it.
 

Whilst every workplace is different, there are a couple of simple steps that businesses can start with to limit the negative impact of sleep-deprivation:

1.     Help employees identify the problem

To help employees understand whether sleep is a problem area for them and understand how to start addressing this get them to complete our free online health and energy check. For more information about this check click here.

2.     Education

Forward thinking organisations, like eBay and TES Aviation, are taking a proactive approach and providing their staff with workshops where experts are on hand to offer sleep related advice. 

To mark National Sleep Awareness I am holding free 30-minute webinar focusing on the secret to great sleep in 2013.

This is being held on the 6 March 2013, at 12pm. Places are limited so you will need to register in advance – please click here for more information.

Within this webinar I will cover:

      - The benefits of great sleep
      - Why your habits are the key to your sleep
      - The top seven habits to avoid for great sleep
      - The top seven best habits for great sleep

3.     Culture of your organisation

Fatigue can affect more than the employee involved. It can create health and safety risks and have a negative impact on performance and productivity. It’s important to ensure you have the policies and procedures in place, within your organisation, so that employees are able to achieve a positive work-life balance and are able to take regular breaks throughout their working day to re-energise.

National sickie day - how much is this costing your business?

The first Monday in February is often dubbed ‘national sickie day’ – a day when staff are most likely to take an unofficial day off.

According to new research, from Credit: Lewis Whyld/PA Archive, as many as 375,000 will take today off sick, with half of the country's bosses admitting they do not always believe those who phone in sick.

Sickness absence costs UK businesses billions each year in loss of productivity and reactive healthcare costs. And with the pressure on HR to cut costs, now is the time to take a proactive approach and look at smart ways to reduce sickness absence.

We ran a recent poll which found just 21 per cent of HR professionals know the cost of staff absence in their organisation. The organisations that do record sickness absence tend to record different things, some simply focusing on the basic cost and others including the cost of staff turnover etc.

The fact of the matter is that the true cost of sickness absence is often much higher than organisations first anticipate. We know, for an organisation with 750 staff sickness absence costs around £2,745,600, when taking into account pay, staff turnover and reactive healthcare costs.

To find out the cost of sickness absence in your organisation, click here to use our free calculator   

 

Whilst some organisations do routinely monitor sickness absence, when it comes to managing absence, current approaches tend to be quite reactive. This means there is already a problem and business finances and productivity is often suffering as a result.

To really reduce the negative impact attached to sickness absence employers need to take a proactive approach to the health and wellbeing of their staff. In practice, what this means is influencing employees to be much healthier and helping them to put in place good habits.

This will improve the health of employees so that they are less likely to need to take time off work because they are sick and any reactive health costs will reduce as a result. But get it right and it will also ensure they turn up to work more engaged and motivated.

Click here to listen to our recent webinar focusing on Why your business must be energised in 2013 and how to achieve this?

Smart computer use - it's up to employers to train their people

There is no doubt about it technology can really improve productivity. But for this to happen employees need to be using it smartly.

Our research, of over 2,000 employees, finds the large majority score just 55% on the key drivers of smart computer use. Given the amount of time we spend in front of our computer this is not good for business – not only is it putting employees at risk but also the business.

It’s up to us as employers to make sure our people understand how to stay healthy and energised at their computer.

Doing this properly will not only ensure we comply with the health & safety legislation but also reduce the risk of employees developing health related problems which is putting a strain on businesses, such as musculo-skeletal disorders and headaches.

Take action now - here are three simple steps to get you started:

1. Carry out workstation assessments – this is a legal requirement
A staggering 51% of employees surveyed are not set up with the correct seating and posture at their computer. By carrying out a workstation assessment you can make sure employees are following healthy workstation practices, and also ensure your company is complying with health and safety regulations. For more information click here.

2. Understand how to use computers smartly
I am holding a 30-minute live webinar to help you improve computer use in your organisation. Click here to register – places are limited.

This will help you ensure you comply with the legislation and identify ways to reduce the risk of employees developing musculo-skeletal disorders.

This is being held at 12pm, on the 19 February 2013. All attendees will receive a free factsheet on ‘how to stay healthy and energised at your computer’ to circulate to their employees.

3. Support employees
Make sure you have the policies and procedures in place within your organisation so that employees:
- Achieve the correct seated posture
- De-clutter - keep their workstation clutter free
- Are able to take regular breaks from their desk
- Drink water