Central Mass. companies embrace mindfulness programs
PHOTOS/MATT WRIGHT
Since Elizabeth Belliveau opened Enlightened Interventions in 2014, there has been an uptick in demand for corporate wellness services.
Elizabeth Belliveau said small businesses and nonprofits tend to think they can't afford wellness programs, but she said there are options for companies of all sizes.
Central Mass. companies are embracing programs like meditation and present-moment awareness to increase health and productivity
For years, Tara Healey practiced meditation on her own time. But about 10 years ago, her onetime hobby became a new career path – and a business venture for her employer.
Healey, who at the time was working in organizational development at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, knew the benefits she got from meditating could help her colleagues. She piloted a seven-week introduction to meditation at work class for 14 Harvard Pilgrim employees in 2006. Since then she has taken that program to more colleagues, Harvard Pilgrim customers and companies outside of the insurer's network.
Today, Healey is Harvard Pilgrim's program director for mindfulness-based learning. She estimates that about 50 percent of the insurer's 1,200 employees have been through mindfulness training. She and her staff have worked with 160 companies, bringing mindfulness to 10,000 workers.
“I continue to be really pleasantly surprised by the receptivity to this topic,” she said. “Interest continues to grow.”
Mindfulness is centered around the idea of being present in any given moment, without providing any judgment on any thoughts or feelings that might arise. This can be done through meditation, yoga, and other practices. Large companies like Google and Target have offered mindfulness training to their employees, as a way to enhance their health, well being, and hopefully, their productivity.
Mindful Worcester
Mindfulness was pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who went on to found the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at UMass Medical School in Shrewsbury.
In Worcester, interest is growing in offering mindfulness and other corporate wellness services in the workplace, said Elizabeth Belliveau, owner of Enlightened Interventions, LLC, a provider of mental health and corporate wellness services.
Since Enlightened Interventions opened in 2014, onsite corporate wellness services have been in high demand, Belliveau said.
“Because we spend a majority of our time at work, it's hard enough for people to balance work and family life,” she said. “Being able to incorporate these services into a corporate setting, we get happier, healthier and more productive employees.”
Most of the companies in the area offering mindfulness services to employees are larger corporations, Belliveau said. For example, at the Hanover Insurance Group, employees can take advantage of virtual and in-person meditation services, a six-week online mindfulness program, yoga classes, a catalog of in-house meditations available any time, and an on-site, dedicated space for personal prayer and meditation.
Enlightening the bottom line
Practicing mindfulness regularly can have positive impacts on stability, control, and efficiency – three qualities of attention – and can lead to better communication, reduced emotional reactivity, and greater empathy, according to a 2015 analysis entitled “Contemplating Mindfulness at Work: An Integrative Review” from the business school at Pepperdine University.
Initial evidence suggests that it can affect interpersonal behavior as well as the quality of workgroup relationships, according to the Pepperdine report.
“It's a way of relating to yourself and to other people that is more skillful, and more compassionate and kind,” said Healey. “As we start to understand the nature of our own minds, it's easier to understand minds in general.”
Hartford health insurer Aetna said its employees reduced their perceived stress levels by 28 percent, improved their sleep quality by 20 percent, and reduced their pain by 19 percent after completing one of three internal mindfulness-based programs.
Since expanding its Mindfulness at Work program to all employees, Aetna found employees regain an estimated 62 minutes per week of productivity, an approximate dollar return of more than $3,000.
Finding the right fit
Companies have realized that all of the qualities they value in leaders and employees – including the ability to retain focus, stay calm in the face of challenges, and the ability to bounce back – all have their foundations in mindfulness, said Brenda Fingold, mindfulness teacher and manager at the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School.
“All companies, regardless of their size, are careful about how they spend their training dollars. What differentiates this training from other more traditional corporate programs is that it is based in science," said Fingold. "Interest in mindfulness is high and more and more organizations want to bring it in-house."
Small businesses and nonprofits tend to think they can't afford wellness services, but there's a package for everyone, Belliveau said. Smaller companies can host wellness sessions once a month either during lunch or at night, for example, or maybe offer a yoga class, she said.
“If you look at the costs associated with employee stress, or even just employee sick time, and you're looking at ways you can increase employees' overall health, the costs even out over time,” Belliveau said.
When it comes to an employee wellness program, mindfulness should be part of an overall stress management initiative that includes medical wellness, having a sense of purpose or meaning at work, and shifting your mindset to become more positive and productive, said David Brendel, a Boston executive coach who uses mindfulness as one of the key components of his practice.
Employers need to make sure people aren't using mindfulness to avoid critical thinking tasks, he said, and to be careful to not push mindfulness on people, because people who aren't interested will end up feeling out of the loop, Brendel said.
While mindfulness can be an effective stress-reduction tool, companies need to make sure they themselves aren't adding any unnecessary stress to their employees.
“As you're offering mindfulness, you should also be asking, 'What else are we doing to improve the workplace situation?'” he said. “That might mean hiring someone else, giving more vacation time or giving flexible work hours.”
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