Question

Have you tried mindfulness to reduce stress? Some companies like Google and Aetna are leaders in bringing mindfulness to work.

• What can you find out about the mindfulness programs at Google and Aetna?
• What concerns might you have about implementing a mindfulness intervention in the workplace?
• What are some of the obstacles you might face in trying to have employees engage in a mindfulness stress reduction program?

Answer 1

Let us first understand the basic meaning of mindfulness which states that, "Mindfulness is a psychological process of bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present time or scenario, which any individual can easily develop through mind exercises such as meditation, yoga, etc..

Mindfulness techniques helps in reducing stress, conflicts, and anxiety in any individual. It is proven by science which says that, the neurological benefits of the mindfulness are linked to certain areas of a human mind which increases one's ability to manage conflict and communicate effectively.

Mindfulness also helps the individual in taking a step back and consider all the alternative perspectives rather than simply reacting to events and using the least intelligent area of our brain to make decisions. Also it helps one to switch back to active parts or areas of the brain to control one's emotions, enabling the individual to choose the response wisely.

Today google is very proud to be a part of mindfulness. Google offers it's employees with substantial benefits and perks, including more than a dozen mindfulness courses, some of them are:-

1. Search Inside Yourself

2. Teacher Training

3. Bring SIY To Your Organization

4. Meditation

5. Yoga

Google believes that these mindfulness programs teach emotional intelligence, which helps people better understand their colleague's motivation.

Aetna developed, launched, and studied two mindfulness programs in 2010,i.e.,

1. Viniyoga Stress Reduction

2. Mindfulness At Work.

Aetna was so impressed with the results of the program that now it develops its own mindfulness programs and offers it to its customers.

Implementing a mindfulness intervention at workplace benefits in:-

1. Increases the morale of the employee.

2. It leads to effective communication among the employees.

3. Reduced stress, conflicts, and anxiety.

4. Leads to effective control on emotions and leads to making of decisions by the employee.

5. The employee is able to recognise himself or herself within.