A highly competitive workspace, hovering deadlines and a pressure-cooker like environment are realities of our time. Our highly connected lifestyles have magnified work stress with long working hours, disturbed sleeping patterns, sedentary lives and lack of relaxation. Resultantly, most working professionals today are stressed and suffer from symptoms such as backache, neck pain, headaches etc. The resultant stress not only causes chronic diseases like hypertension, it also becomes a reason for declining productivity, and attrition rates in organizations. Additionally, organizations also suffer from loss of millions of working days due to stress-related illnesses.
While for a long time, there was no concern offered by HR managers about this aspect of employee wellness, today things are changing. More and more organizations today are realizing that employees are not replaceable property but human resource that needs to be valued. Therefore, in the recent times, efforts are being made by corporate houses to help employees achieve wellness, health and reduce stress. Setting up of gyms inside office campus, official tours, yoga classes and socially relevant activities are some ways organizations are improving their employee engagement and wellness.
At Koenig we offer regular everyday yoga classes to begin the day at workplace, and our employees tell us that this makes a sea of a difference in their overall physical and mental well-being.
Here are some effective methods that workplaces can adopt:
Reflexology
Reflexology is a non-intrusive treatment to wash away the stress from the body. In the procedure, effective pressure is applied to the reflex points in hands, feet and out ears by professional reflexologists. The points when carefully stimulated further correspond to different parts of the body, and offer relief. The process does not require much space and can be performed in-house. Primarily, all that this treatment needs is a special chair. Additionally, a proper reflexology session needs 30-45 minutes. A once in a month session with a reflexologist can rejuvenate your employees and can minimize their mental and physical stress.
As a recreational activity in office, it can help reduce stress and provide adequate rest amidst the stressful working condition. The treatment further ensures better sleeping patterns and boost of energy that helps the employees to remain better focused and productive at work.
Yoga
Across the world, people practicing yoga have discovered various psychological and physical benefits including improved strength, flexibility and general well-being, apart from relief from stress, anxiety and depression. Yoga is a form of meditation and exercise practice that synchronizes the body, mind and soul. Thus, arranging yoga sessions once or twice a week can help the employees de-stress, calm their pressures, and burden.
Conducting a yoga session requires a hall or a large room where at least a section of employees can be accommodated together. Your conference room or board room can be used once a week for this purpose. Yoga is known to combat fatigue, generate energy that further leads to increased productivity and morale, and reduces sick days and stress.
Work out sessions
Many organizations worldwide and even in India have incorporated a gym area with state-of-the-art equipment within the office premise. While the long office hours offer a sedentary lifestyle to the employees, a gym in the premise can help them stretch out to attain fitness. Due to spending most their daily hours at office, many people tend to skip physical exercises. This exposes them to the risk of developing lifestyle diseases such as Obesity, Hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, inculcating wellness programs would help the employees improve their health and remain stress free, as experts believe that 30 minutes of workout a day not combats stress but also helps with clarity of mind.
Off-site gathering
Often, hectic schedules distance employees from their personal lives and leisure activities. Additionally, the competitive work environment creates fissures among the employees. Therefore, arranging occasional off-site gatherings can help employees mingle with each other and also help them de-stress themselves by talking fun and not work. A short trek, a visit to a historical monument or an evening at a cultural program can work wonders to the mental state of stressed-out employees.