Creating a mindful workplace isn’t something you can do overnight. It will take time and patience to build an environment centered around living in the present. To cultivate this shift, you might need to make a few internal adjustments to ensure that your employees benefit from this cultural change.

 Below are some of the most effective ways to encourage mindfulness at work while reducing employee stress, improving engagement, and boosting productivity.

Provide Financial Education

A 2017 Paychex study showed that employee productivity and engagement could be affected by stressful situations in the workplace and at home. With the ongoing economic and public health concerns generated by COVID-19, stress levels are sure to be rising for your workforce. In turn, these challenges could make it difficult for employees to buy into the idea of practicing mindfulness at work.

 Offering additional education to your employees could help them create a better quality of life inside and outside the workplace while reducing stress levels. Young professionals frequently struggle with financial hardships. Your company can start offering financial literacy courses covering debt management and saving strategies to help offset this problem. Educational programs show your staff members that you care about their circumstances while giving them the tools they need to develop better money management skills. 

 Assisting your workforce with financial management can come in several different forms as well.

Many recent college graduates leave school with thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. Small company changes, like suggesting different strategies to pay off student loans, can profoundly impact their financial health. Providing education on debt consolidation, home equity loans, or repayment programs gives your employees the information they need to pay off their obligations. Using alternative methods to debt management allows workers to find a solution that meets their needs and benefits their current situation.

Schedule Time for Mental Breaks

To make sure your mindfulness initiative is well received, you should start with small steps like encouraging employees to schedule regular breaks throughout the day. You should also suggest that staff members use this time to analyze their thoughts and feelings to bring awareness to their mental state. Even if your workforce doesn’t use this opportunity as a thought exercise, taking breaks can boost employee productivity and motivation. 

A large part of mindfulness is focusing on your body and mind as a way to create calmness. While mindfulness breaks can seem like a tiny change in the workplace, it can be an effective way to get employees to be more thoughtful.

When your workers are busy with tasks, it’s easy for them to feel anxious or burnt out. Taking five minutes out of the day to sit and think about how they feel gives them the mental space to work through their negative emotions and prevent them from getting too overwhelmed. Having a set schedule for the breaks will allow your staff members to build better habits without too much effort.

Offer Group Meditation Sessions

Practicing meditation is an essential part of creating mindfulness, but some employees could feel too intimidated to try it at work. To inspire more of your staff members to attempt this activity, you can create a meditation group for on-site and off-site workers alike. A company-wide event will make skeptics more willing to join in when they see their fellow teammates participating.

No matter where your employees are working from, they could also be struggling with loneliness. Hosting group meditation practices virtually or in person, will bring your workers together while promoting mindfulness in the workplace. These sessions are even a great way to boost team creativity, collaboration, and communication. All of which can increase your employees’ engagement and job satisfaction.

Although cultivating mindfulness in the workplace isn’t easy, there are ways to make the change more manageable. Starting small with an employee education program, company mindfulness and meditation sessions can quickly create a new workplace mindset. Don’t feel discouraged if it takes time to see a difference. Making adjustments to company culture takes plenty of patience and dedication.