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Mindfulness is an
increasing part of employee wellness programs, from Corporation Services Company (CSC, above), to FLYOGI, an on-demand mobile mindfulness service, to the University of Delaware (below). Photos by Eric Ruth
This is what mindfulness does. This is the sim- ple-yet-powerful practice that for many people seems to offer a virtually cost-free prescription for our increasingly unmanageable lives, our un- relenting workplace stresses, and our vanishing capacity for appreciating the here and now.
And, more and more, big companies are catch- ing on to its benefits.
From Google to Aetna and in workplaces around the state, mindfulness is an increasing part of em-
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ployee wellness programs, and workers’ peace of mind is now a more critical element of manage- ment philosophy. Corporations have realized that happier employees are more productive and profit- able employees—and, as a consequence, less likely to leave, or take sick days, or stumble into conflicts with coworkers.
“After six weeks, people report increases in personal achievement, decreases in stress, and decreases in elements of burnout that are outside their personal control,” says Michael Mackenzie, assistant professor of health behavior science and director of the Mind Body Behavior Laboratory at the University of Delaware, where mindfulness programs are spreading across campus following Mackenzie’s research on staff volunteers.
Google, which offers a corporate mindfulness training program called Search Inside Yourself, reports remarkable success in changing workers’