Another trap that many organizations fall into is believing that introducing a mindfulness program can compensate for significant underinvestment or inattention to the actual working conditions of employees, said Dr Worline.
She remembers visiting a “large hospital system” to help a unit of physicians facing an increasing rate of error in their work. After organizing a session for the team focused on compassion and “making medicine meaningful”, she discovered that the unit was short of seven employees and many employees were duplicating.
“They told me rightly, ‘You can sit here and talk to us compassionately all day, it won’t change our stress levels,’ Dr Worline said. “No welfare management will work until you set the working conditions for the people there. In this case, the wellness programs were a band-aid on a gaping wound. “
Still, Mr. Israel, the meditation expert, is confident that as stress levels in the workplace increase, so will the demand for this type of programming. Last year, at a hotel design conference in Hollywood, Florida, he presented in front of hundreds of industry people.
“Ninety-five percent of the people in the room had never meditated or done this before, and it was risky for the organizer to book me, but people loved it,” he said. . “In these more traditional spaces where people aren’t in New York or Los Angeles, they’re starting to open up to this stuff.”
And through these sessions, some of them find practices that they can reproduce on a more regular basis. Mr Santulli, the manager of the WayUp office, said he would consider hosting a weekly mindfulness session for all staff.
“Stress and anxiety are a big part of our life, and it gets overwhelming at times,” he said. “It was the first time in a long time that I had let go of this list of things to do, even for a moment.”
Comments are closed.