The Split-Screen

 

Truly excellent article by Arianna Huffington from The Huffington Post Media Group this week on LinkedIn (you can follow Arianna via groups).

 

The article provides an insight into the American ‘split-screen’ world where stressful work life and focus on the bottom line is meeting a growing awareness of the costs of stress, not just in the health and wellbeing of business leaders and their team, but ultimately the company bottom line as well.

A growing body of scientific evidence continues to supports the view that looking after the health and happiness of the individual, holds serious consequences for the corporate bottom line.  That along with the direct costs of stress (and associated medical conditions), there is also the cost of lost creativity and diminished performance and productivity.

 

Interesting stats:
 

* the cost of stress to American businesses is as high as $300 billion over the last 30 years

* self-reported levels of stress have increased 18% for women and 25% for men

 *high blood pressure (impacted by stress) afflicts nearly 70 million and costs $130 billion a year to treat

* an estimated 75% of all health care spending is on chronic illnesses .. of which 2/3rds of visits to the doctor's office are for stress-related conditions

* studies show that U.S. employers spend 200 to 300% more for the indirect costs of health care -- in the form of absenteeism, sick days, and lower productivity -- than they do on actual health care payments

 

And meditation in the workplace? Well, a National Institutes of Health study reported evidence of significant reductions in mortality and cardiovascular deaths through a TM meditation program .. "This effect is equivalent to discovering an entirely new class of drugs (but without the inevitable side effects)," they write.

 

We have mentioned before the S.I. Y (Search Inside Yourself) program at Google (here and here) but other companies also on board for implementing mindfulness based meditation programs to support their employee wellbeing include: Target, Apple, Nike, Procter &; Gamble, The Huffington Post and AOL .. and I am sure there are many more (I know a few in Australia!).

 

Read the full article "Mindfulness, Meditation, Wellness and Their Connection to Corporate America's Bottom Line" here

 

Does your business have an Employee Wellness Program?  We would love to hear.. and you can find out a little more about our work in this space at Quiet Mind At Work