50+ Benefits of Meditation at Work: Huge & Growing List

The most comprehensive list of the benefits of office meditation classes.

The Top 10  Benefits Of Office Mindfulness Programs

The 10 most compelling benefits of workplace meditation classes are:

1. Stanford University School of Medicine conducted a study that shows meditation can lead to a 30% decrease in stress-related symptoms that often lead to serious illness.
2. Multiple neuroimaging studies have shown that meditation enhances neural pathways in the brain responsible for concentration and attention.
3. A study found that 10 days of guided meditation can reduce stress by 14% and reduce irritability by 27%.Three weeks of use was shown to increase compassion by 23% and reduce aggression by 57%.
4. A 2015 study showed that meditation could decrease race and age bias. Following mindfulness training, the number of recognized differences between participants and their peers was noticeably diminished.
5. A Detroit study took a look at how meditation improved productivity in the workplace. It was found that absenteeism fell by 85%, productivity rose by 120% and injuries dropped by 70%.
6. A study conducted at the Emory-Tibet Partnership showed that meditation can increase one’s ability to interpret facial expressions. This leads to a deeper sense of compassion that can strengthen relationships in the workplace.
7. Frontiers Media conducted a study to assess how mindfulness training affects the workplace environment. The results showed the training was very effective in reducing burnout (mean difference = 0.3, p< 0.001), reducing perceived stress and improving wellbeing.
8. A study conducted at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found a link between mindfulness and creativity. This means those who meditate regularly tend to improve their problem-solving abilities and come up with more out of the box ideas both of which are skills that can be beneficial in the workplace.
9. Researchers at Boston University found that meditation programs can reduce anxiety and depression, making workers more optimistic and increasing their satisfaction with their careers.
10. A Harvard study showed that meditation can have a longer-lasting effect on reducing stress levels than a vacation. “After 10 months, the vacationers’ stress levels returned to baseline, while the meditators’ reduced stress levels persisted.”

Mindfulness & Workplace Stress Reduction Stats

Stress reduction is the most widely studied area of mindfulness in the workplace. We know by reducing stress we are able to minimize the occurrence of unpaid absences, lowering healthcare costs and boosting productivity overall.

However, lowering costs should not be our only driver. Reducing stress for employees is an act of compassion and skillful leadership.

• Stanford University School of Medicine conducted a study that shows meditation can lead to a 30% decrease in stress-related symptoms that often lead to serious illness.
• 58% of Americans say work is a significant source of stress. The main sources of stress include workload (36%), people issues (31%), work-life balance (20%) and job security (8%).
• A 2005 study showed that health care professionals who participated in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program improved mood and empathy while lowering levels of stress.
• 80% of workers say they feel stress at work and need help trying to manage it.
• Members of a Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction (MB-BP) program experienced significant reductions in blood pressure levels that were still in effect even one year after the trial.

• Headspace conducted an internal study regarding the benefits of guided meditation. They found that 10 days of guided meditation can reduce stress by 14% and reduce irritability by 27%.Three weeks of use was shown to increase compassion by 23% and reduce aggression by 57%.
• A study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine looked at the Dow Chemical Company to determine how meditation could minimize stress while enhancing the well being of employees. It was found that the 89 employees who participated in meditation for a six month period were less stressed and more resilient overall.
• Hindawi.com conducted a study that showed the effect of chair-based yoga and guided meditation on employees with desk jobs. “Yoga and meditation significantly reduced perceived stress versus control, and this effect was maintained postintervention. In conclusion, yoga postures or meditation performed in the office can acutely improve several physiological and psychological markers of stress.”This is great news because it shows that small, mindful changes to corporate training can make tangible differences, even from the comfort of your chair!
• Researchers at The Wellness Institute in Cleveland conducted a study at a busy corporate call center to determine how mindfulness could reduce stress. After eight weeks, results showed that workers experienced a 31% decrease in stress levels and a 28% increase in vitality.
• Frontiers Media conducted a study to assess how mindfulness training affects the workplace environment. Four companies were studied with results that showed the training was very effective in reducing burnout (mean difference = 0.3, p< 0.001), reducing perceived stress and improving wellbeing.  Interestingly, the study also showed an increase in team and organizational climate and personal performance-two, lesser-known indicators of reduced stress.
• Another recent study proved that mindfulness meditation “lowers the cortisol levels in the blood suggesting that it can lower stress and may decrease the risk of diseases that arise from stress such as psychiatric disorder, peptic ulcer and migraine.”
•  There is strong evidence that a mindfulness practice reduces job burnout among health care professionals and teachers

“Our study suggests that mindfulness training produces an improvement in three capacities that are key for successful leadership in the 21st century: resilience, the capacity for collaboration, and the ability to lead in complex conditions.”
– Megan Reitz

Workplace Mindfulness And Mental Illness Stats

• Millennials experience more depression at work more than any other generation. Millennials are also likely the least engaged generation in the workforce. Only 29% are engaged while 55% are not engaged, and 16% are actively disengaged. Keeping millennials healthy and engaged is a growing concern for most organizations.
• Researchers at Boston University found that meditation programs can reduce anxiety and depression making workers more optimistic and increasing their satisfaction with their careers.
• A study was conducted by Paul Minda from the University of Western Ontario following an 8-week mindfulness program offered to lawyers. Results showed the participants experienced a 32% decrease in stress, a 30% decrease in anxiety and a 29% decrease in depression.
• In 2013, the Massachusetts General Hospital conducted a study on 93 individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. The 8-week group intervention focused on mindfulness and stress reduction. The study was shown to greatly reduce anxiety, proving it could be a useful tool in reducing work-related stress.
• A study published in the Anxiety, Stress & Coping International Journal showed that meditation is a very effective technique when it comes to reducing work-related stress. It is said to relieve anxiety, reduce reliance on drugs and alcohol, promote better sleep patterns and enhance personal development.
• A 2003 study found that meditation “can produce increases in relative left-sided anterior activation that are associated with reductions in anxiety.”This kind of brain activity helps individuals recover relatively quickly after an “emotional hijack.” An emotional hijack refers to a situation in which the amygdala, our emotional processor, “hijacks” or bypasses your normal reasoning process.

“Mindfulness is recommended as a treatment for people with mental ill-health as well as those who want to improve their mental health and wellbeing.”
– The Mental Health Foundation

Workplace Relationships & Psychological Safety Stats

• A comprehensive analysis of mindfulness research was co-directed by a management scientist at Case Western Reserve University in 2016. Results showed that mindfulness improved focus as well as the ability to manage stress and yielded an improvement in employee relationships.
• A 2015 study showed that meditation could decrease race and age bias. Following mindfulness training, the number of recognized differences between participants and their peers was noticeably diminished. This behaviour can drastically improve employee relations in the workplace, especially in times of change.
• A study conducted at the Emory-Tibet Partnership showed that meditation can increase one’s ability to interpret facial expressions. This leads to a deeper sense of compassion that can strengthen relationships in the workplace.
• A 2015 study used meditation to help women open up in a way that made them more able to connect with others, receive feedback and overcome trauma. This increased their sense of compassion and discovery, making them more self-aware and better prepared to forge healthy relationships with others including coworkers.

“Psychological safety, according to Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, is the ‘shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.’

As Charles Duhigg wrote in the New York Times, the most productive teams listened to – and were respectful of – the ideas, feelings, beliefs and suggestions of their peers”

Mindfulness Meditation For Productivity, Focus & Creativity Stats

• A study conducted at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found a strong link between mindfulness and creativity.
• Employees who meditate regularly tend to improve their problem-solving abilities and come up with more “out-of-the-box” ideas.
• A 2010 study was published in the Consciousness and Cognition Journal showing the effects of four sessions of mindfulness meditation training. Results showed improved visuospatial processing, working memory and executive functioning; all of which are very valuable to creative thinking.
• The Harvard Business Review conducted a study where different groups were asked to brainstorm, some following a 10-minute guided meditation and some asked to brainstorm immediately. Although all participants came up with ideas, those that did so after meditating came up with a broader range of ideas. The study showed that as little as 10 minutes of meditation can boost creativity.
• Researchers from Harvard Medical School have found that a meditation program can cause changes in the regions of the brain responsible for learning and working memory capacity. In a high-stress work environment, this can result in employees staying on task longer, improving time management skills and having better task performance.
• A study of more than 85,000 adults showed that worker groups with low rates of engagement in mindfulness practices could benefit the most from workplace meditation training interventions.
• A 2018 study showed that a workplace mindfulness intervention may be associated with improved psychological well-being and productivity.
• A Harvard study was conducted where participants went through an eight-week mindfulness training program to determine the effects it would have on focus. It was shown that the meditation helped the subjects make faster and more attention-based adjustments, an ability that is very valuable in the workplace.
• A 2015 study was conducted to determine the effects of mindfulness meditation on learning and cognitive performance on students in Taiwan. Results showed that a one-semester mindfulness meditation course could improve learning effectiveness, attention span and aspects of cognitive performance.
• In another recent study, 129 individuals who completed a short meditation (10-12 minutes) before a brainstorming session generated a wider range of ideas than those who didn’t.
• Research published by the Department of Psychological Science at Ball State University found that participants who meditated for just 10 minutes, tended to be better at recalling newly learned words. This finding suggests that mindfulness may, in scientific terms, “primarily improve verbal learning and memory through improved encoding processes.”
• Specifically the style of “open monitoring meditation” has been documented to help to create a state that “promotes divergent thinking,” a critical component to the generation of new ideas

“The main business case for meditation is that if you’re fully present on the job, you will be more effective as a leader, you will make better decisions and you will work better with other people.”
William George, Goldman Sachs

Stats Around Neuroplasticity & Brain Health At Work

• A 2016 study showed that practicing meditation can provide positive effects on inflammation, cell-mediated immunity and biological ageing. Meditation’s immune system boosting properties can result in fewer absences, cutting down on corporate costs while increasing employee health.
• Science Direct conducted a study to determine how meditation can reverse molecular actions in our DNA which can cause ill health and depression. Inflammation is decreased in those that practice meditation, lowering the risk of inflammatory disease in those individuals.
• PlosOne.org published a study that examined 24 articles containing related mindfulness research over time. Results showed these practices were most effective in reducing emotional exhaustion, stress, psychological distress, depression,
  anxiety and occupational stress.
• Studies have provided some evidence that the brains of older meditators look younger than those of non-meditators and that long-term meditation might change the structure of the brain.
• A 2003 study demonstrated that even a short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function. “These findings suggest that meditation may change brain and immune function in positive ways and underscore the need for additional research.”

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“Meditation invokes that which is known in neuroscience as neuroplasticity; which is the loosening of the old nerve cells or hardwiring in the brain, to make space for the new to emerge.”
– Craig Krishna

Mindfulness Training Stats On Workplace Morale, Absenteeism & Loyalty

• One study, led by A. D. Amar and conducted at the University of Westminster looked at a sample of senior managers who participated in a 12-week meditation training program. It was shown that the program resulted in boosted self-confidence, communication skills and moral intelligence.
• Research has shown that more mindful supervisors can improve an employee’s job satisfaction.
• Many major companies use meditation as a means to improve productivity and employee wellbeing. These include Apple, Google, Time Warner, Yahoo, Nike, Astra Zenica and more. The companies offer meditation spaces for their employees as well as workshops their employees can participate in.
• Work-related stress can be more prevalent in those who work in public, private and non-governmental organizations. Employees in these fields often experience unrealistic demands, low appreciation, a poor effort-reward balance, conflicting roles, a lack of transparency and poor communication. Many of these workers use meditation as a personal intervention to help them manage stress.
• A Detroit study took a look at how meditation improved productivity in the workplace. It was found that absenteeism fell by 85%, productivity rose by 120% and injuries dropped by 70%.
• A study conducted by Science Direct took a look at how mindfulness-based interventions can improve job satisfaction, wellbeing and health while reducing work-related stress. Results showed it was effective in reducing cortisol production and improved heart rate variability. It also improved aspects of the immune system.
• A study published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal Preventing Chronic Disease stated that 1 in 7 workers practice some kind of mindfulness-based activity and feel it has provided benefits they can bring to the workplace.

“You can’t force people to be mindful at all… I think you can make it easier to be mindful. If it’s on your calendar, and there’s a room over there to sit in and there’s someone there to guide you, you’re 10,000 times more likely to do it.”
– Evan Williams, Co-Founder, Twitter

Financial Impact Of Mindfulness Training Stats

• Highly stressed employees can incur an additional $2,000 per year in health care costs as compared to their less-stressed peers. For companies, this can quickly amount to millions of dollars per year in stress-related charges.
• Because of the number of businesses that invest in meditation programs for their employees as well as the number of meditation apps and other resources available, as of 2015, meditation had become a billion-dollar business. This number continues to skyrocket.
• Health care company Aetna did a study with Duke to determine the ROI of their mindfulness programming. Aetna figures the productivity gains alone amounted to $3,000 per employee, an 11-to-one return on its investment.
• Prolonged stress is like a tax on an organization — paid through productivity loss and increased health care costs.
• Stressed workers tend to be tired, prone to mistakes and more likely to take time off. Most significantly, stressed employees incur healthcare costs two times the average of other employees. In the United States, the consequences of stress-related illnesses, such as depression and heart disease, cost businesses an estimated $200 to $300 billion a year in lost productivity.
• Organizations that introduce mindfulness programs see up to a 200-percent return on investment.
• A study found meditation can actually help people make better, more profitable business decisions, by increasing resistance to the “sunk cost bias.”
• Since happy employees are more productive than unhappy ones — at least 12% more productive according to one study — mindful employees improve the bottom line. Similarly, another study showed that happier salespeople sold 37% more than their unhappy counterparts.
• A Gallup study found that companies with engaged employees outperformed those without by more than 200%. Mindfulness programming increases both engagement and morale.

“If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things. That’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more.”
– Steve Jobs

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