Forward-thinking companies around the globe are putting wellness as a top priority by bringing programs like Corporate Yoga and Meditation into their office setting. Here’s what you need to know if you’re considering adding yoga to your company’s employee wellness offerings.
Not only is yoga good for the employees; it benefits the company too.
A study by Towers Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health shows that organizations with highly effective wellness programs report significantly lower voluntary attrition than those whose programs have low effectiveness (9% vs. 15%). In addition, Johnson & Johnson has stated that the return on their wellness programs has been $2.71 for every $1 spent. From a financial perspective, this has saved the company $250 million on health care costs in just over the past decade!
Companies now know that they MUST implement a corporate wellness program of some kind. It’s not “Should we?” but rather “How do we?”
Times have changed. Office wellness programs are no longer the norm – they’re the exception. It’s no longer enough to encourage employees to take the stairs instead of the elevator, suggest they stop smoking or give them a discounted pass to a local gym that they hope will get used. It’s also no longer acceptable for employers to take the attitude that wellness is not part of the workday. Bosses can’t think that it’s up to the employee themselves to arrange their own schedule if they wish to go a gym or yoga studio on their lunch break or after hours. In these changing times, it’s truly up to employers to provide real wellness initiatives like Corporate Yoga. Yoga at work is effective, easy to use and has a low barrier to start up. Companies everywhere need to stay focused on the bottom line: happy, healthy employees = a productive, profitable company. It’s truly a win-win.
Why is Workplace Wellness so Important?
Today, nearly 50% of healthcare costs for companies are actually considered to be preventable; therefore, smart organizations will not just focus on how to cure or “fix” problems at work, but how to prevent them in the first place. It all comes down to having onsite workplace programs that have a strong focus on stress management, mindfulness and awareness – like yoga. Yoga has been around for over 5000 years. Regular practitioners of the activity report not only improvements in flexibility, balance and strength, but also in mental outlook, heightened mood, increased emotional stability and much more.
But Why Corporate Yoga?
Most people are now aware that the goal of yoga is not to be able to put your leg behind your head or chant “OM’ for hours on end. In fact, there is no goal in yoga at all, because it’s about the journey, not the destination. Corporate Yoga gives employees the tools they need to manage stress, deal with pesky deadlines or lack of sleep due to long hours and to better manage their mood and emotions. We can’t eradicate stress, but we CAN change the way we deal with it.
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that U.S. employers lose $70 billion a year due to things like absenteeism, lost productivity and disability caused by mental distress. This staggering financial statistic leads us to the obvious conclusion that employers must implement an effective strategy and take employee wellness seriously.
The reason why yoga is an obvious choice when it comes to office wellness programs is, well, obvious. Yoga is really the only form of exercise to focus on the physical body as well as the mind, emotions and breath, while conveniently reducing stress and anxiety too.
Even just one Corporate Yoga session a week can be enough to start seeing significant positive changes in an employee workplace almost immediately.
All You Need for Corporate Yoga
Companies love to choose yoga as a staple program for their office simply because it’s an easy program to implement. No other equipment or special space is necessary besides a yoga mat and comfortable clothing. Most Corporate Yoga classes won’t have you working up a sweat either, so employers don’t have to worry about providing shower facilities to staff, like they would for more vigorous forms of exercise. At Innergy, we have successfully run yoga programs in empty boardrooms, A/V rooms, unused office space, lunchrooms or even a less than glamorous basement storage room – whatever works. The idea is to use the space that you have and make it work.
Workplace Yoga is also ideal for all ages as well as levels and is often taught with a variety of options included, allowing for variations in fitness levels, flexibility and past experience with yoga.
If your office is serious about starting a Corporate Yoga program, then there are a few things you should know first.
Here are 6 things you should know before you start a Corporate Yoga program at your office:
- You may want to survey your staff first – It’s important to first poll your staff to see what’s important to them. Put together a simple 5-10 question poll using a free survey platform like Survey Monkey, then send the survey out to all teams by email. This allows you to really see how much interest there would be in a program like Office Yoga. It’s also the first step in letting your staff know that you are actively seeking wellness programs like yoga to better assist them in navigating the corporate world of stress and deadlines. This preparatory phase will start to build enthusiasm and a sense of curiosity for what’s to come.
- Figure out the logistics – Like where classes will be held, if you need to book the space ahead of time, if you need to make any changes to the room like cleaning it first, changing the lighting, moving tables, etc. Also, how often will you have classes and what day and time?
- Determine who your Corporate Yoga provider will be – Research yoga companies in your area and look for one who specializes specifically in office yoga. They should not only have a team of experienced yoga teachers, but the company should also assist you with marketing materials to promote the classes (flyers, emails to circulate, even the survey we mentioned in #1,etc) as well as communication with employees (when classes are cancelled or rescheduled for example – what will the process be?). If it’s important to you, make sure that the yoga teacher or company you hire is professional and will deliver a style of yoga your employees will jive with. Yoga traditionally is made up of not only physical asanas (yoga poses) but chanting, meditation, imagery and more. If your workplace would prefer a class that introduces these elements of yoga more gradually, or skips them altogether, then do ensure you research several companies and ask them what their teaching style or philosophy is well ahead of time.
- Your company doesn’t have to pay for it. You have three options when it comes to payment: 1) Company pays 100% 2) Staff pay 100%, splitting the cost equally among all participants OR 3) Company subsidizes a portion of the cost. A professional corporate yoga company will be able to help you make sense of these options, assisting you in choosing the right one for your organization.
- You WILL have to work hard to get staff to attend – It’s not that employees don’t want to come to yoga, but more likely that the majority feel intimidated, are new to yoga or are scared of looking bad in front of co-workers. They may not know that Corporate Yoga even exists at their workplace, perhaps they tried yoga before but had a bad experience or they could simply feel too busy/rushed/stressed to attend. Rather than feeling like you need to “drag” your employees to yoga, you simply need to ensure they know that your office offers this beneficial program AND that your Corporate Yoga classes are accessible to everyone, even absolute beginners. Rather than just setting up the program and assuming it will run itself, send out regular reminders to staff via email or through your company’s intranet. And if management attends the classes, in our experience we have seen that staff are more likely to attend too!
- It’s the most fun you’ll ever have at work – no really!