0:04

Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything

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and everything HR powered by MRA, the Management Association.

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Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR.

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MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not.

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I'm your host, Sophie Boler, and we are so glad you're here.

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Now it's time to thrive. Well, hello, everybody, and thanks for joining us today.

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We're we're really hearing more about mindful workplaces nowadays.

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We thought we would take today's podcast, really think about this topic more in-depth.

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So i'm here with Laura Ruby senior

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HR Business partner and HR Business advisor for mra.

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We're really going to talk about why mindful workplaces

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are trending or what you really need to be aware of.

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What are some of the challenges that come along with it in more so

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or thanks so much for joining us today.

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I really, really appreciate it.

1:01

Well thank you. So I'm really pleased to be here. This is

1:05

definitely a timely concept,

1:09

I think, for a number of employees to consider or employers to consider.

1:13

Yeah, absolutely. And I know we were talking about that.

1:15

You're very passionate about this topic and you've been working in the HR

1:20

for such a long time that this is kind of the perfect topic to go over today.

1:24

So I think we should kind of start out with what is a mindful workplace.

1:30

Can you define it? Yes, so mindful workplace is really

1:34

a combination of factors as we look at new initiatives

1:38

that people are working towards in that space

1:42

is really developing an awareness

1:45

of an individual's thought processes,

1:49

their emotions and their actions, and helping to enable them

1:54

to laser focus on those and remove obstacles to productivity

2:00

and really improving the work workplace from a variety of different aspects.

2:06

Yeah, absolutely. And you guys in part two to that question.

2:11

Can you describe what that whole concept of the mindful workplace really encompasses?

2:18

It's actually quite broad in as well.

2:20

In talk today we'll touch on all of those components

2:24

but it's it's combining more Eastern philosophies

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about issues of meditation or focus and concentration,

2:34

breathing, as well as branching

2:36

into mental health aspects

2:40

that are damaging workplaces right now and helping individuals

2:45

to deal with their own anxiety, stress,

2:50

as well as other things like

2:52

other issues they may be experiencing. And in relationships, finances, you know, you name it.

2:59

So it's a very good I'm going

3:04

to discuss how the company can actually sort of work

3:08

with developing a healthier source.

3:12

And actually, I feel like it's definitely transformed

3:16

throughout the years or in my opinion, I feel like employers

3:21

didn't really talk about this kind of stuff as much as they do now.

3:24

They didn't care as much about, you know, providing all these resources

3:30

and mental health resources and wellness resources to employees.

3:34

So I think it's great we can kind of cover that and talk about it

3:37

and just the process and how it's evolved over the years, too. So

3:43

my next question then would be, do you have any practices

3:47

that a mindful workplace

3:50

can kind of what can you implement?

3:52

What practices can you implement to create a mindful workplace?

3:56

I mean, it's all over the map,

3:59

but I think that really companies that are finding great success

4:03

with implementing mindfulness, they're starting more

4:06

starting small programs available to employees,

4:11

maybe with classes or chair yoga,

4:14

breathing exercises

4:18

and some of those smaller

4:21

components into helping the individual

4:24

so as to what they're thinking

4:28

and to continue to say that laser focus on what's in front of them

4:32

rather than all these other things that may be coming from

4:36

local personal life or other anxieties.

4:39

So really, it's starting small forces

4:44

or activities designed to encourage that, as well as programs

4:50

designed to work to tell physical and mental health

4:56

things like walking programs or competitions

5:01

within companies where people compete on a physical level

5:05

to the mental health aspects

5:07

and making sure that insurance programs feel great.

5:11

And it's available to employees,

5:15

including people who are in search of more

5:19

provided. So it's a very broad spectrum.

5:23

Some of the larger companies are also includes

5:26

things like meditation rooms

5:30

or Zen areas or places where it's cool

5:35

to take a break there and get reflective.

5:38

And there are things that people want to address.

5:42

Yeah, those are all great examples, Laura And I'm thinking about Emirates

5:47

specifically, some of the cool things we do with our wellness.

5:52

Something I love in the summer,

5:54

we'll kind of get a group of employees together and walk around.

5:57

We have some trails around here and the walk show location

6:01

and that's just great to kind of take like a mental health

6:04

break, take a walk kind of reboot almost.

6:09

And we also have a masseuse come once in a while, which is awesome.

6:14

That's a plus. So, yeah, a lot of great examples of what organizations can do well.

6:21

And I know are you talked about starting small.

6:23

You don't have to implement this huge idea right away.

6:27

But what's what other steps can be taken to create

6:31

a culture that values and supports this mindfulness?

6:35

Well, that's a really good question.

6:37

You know, a lot of research out there is built in on

6:43

more so management assertiveness and exhibiting these behaviors

6:48

and then having that trickle down effect within the organizations.

6:52

So many companies will start to train their managers on the basic concepts

6:57

and helping them to modify their behaviors to help other people.

7:03

And so along with this process,

7:07

because a lot of them view that managers are kind of the key to their success in the organization.

7:13

And if you have a manager that's been,

7:16

you know, like micromanaging to use the term or,

7:21

you know, laser focus on what people are doing right then,

7:26

and that can really put a bad tone in the organization

7:31

as employees, more stress and so more

7:35

specific, the focus is really to train the managers first

7:39

and then implement some of these programs for the interviews

7:43

to help encourage them

7:46

to take that step back and begin

7:48

to give themselves some

7:53

additional brave souls. Feel throughout the day.

7:57

And so a lot of the programs that were designed

8:00

or have some training programs in the beginning where they'll people

8:06

there are a number of number of mental health app type applications or mindfulness applications

8:14

that people install on their desktop or their cell.

8:18

So they encourage that as well as integrating a lot of training,

8:22

maybe even utilize you to come in and talk about more stressful

8:27

things that might be pressing individuals who

8:31

trying to work with children and then someone is engaged

8:35

with adult care for them, trying to manage those

8:40

needs. It's on both ends of the spectrum to put that stuff aside

8:44

and let yourself levels.

8:48

Absolutely. And I know we talked about this a little bit in the beginning, but

8:53

what about the physical workspace being designed

8:56

to encourage this mindfulness and others quiet areas,

9:02

massage room,

9:04

but any other examples that you can give

9:07

the physical workspace, specifically?

9:10

And I think this one is really important and I find myself doing this

9:14

every at least once a week, just decluttering your office

9:19

and taking that time to organize it so that things

9:23

are not visually distracting you.

9:26

You have easy access to them.

9:28

For example, I support simple members as well as working on the front line.

9:34

So I basically

9:36

moved all of my materials out of the visual area.

9:40

So a couple of computers set up on my desktop and I tried very diligently

9:44

to only have one computer on the time, but decluttering,

9:50

moving things where they're easy to get to, but not in the visual space

9:55

and using common colors, things like to look at, you know,

10:00

I have a number of pictures in here with my grandchildren and

10:05

they're kind of between the screen here. But, you know, you can use the same concept in your own workspace,

10:10

even a cubicle or, you know, things just to create that environment.

10:15

So the grid, as we mentioned,

10:20

setting up spaces where things can get a little comfortable.

10:24

Both of these have been stored on a break room.

10:27

They have like couches and easy chairs for people

10:30

to sit in versus just the table and a more sterile environment.

10:36

And as you mentioned, like having a Zen room or meditation

10:40

or just a space that people can go into.

10:45

But so

10:47

yeah, I love those. Yeah.

10:51

And I would add to

10:53

for the Quiet Areas piece at MRA, we have focus rooms

10:58

and those are something I definitely take advantage of on a day to day basis.

11:03

And they're just quiet rooms. You can go to solo rooms, kind of gets rid

11:08

of all the distraction and allows you just kind of focus on your own work.

11:12

So that's something that I really love about our physical workspace,

11:18

but also the natural light to think having windows is so important

11:23

and letting the sun come in or is snow light I guess right now.

11:28

Right, Right. But yeah, even in the offices there

11:32

in Wisconsin, the turkeys come up near the windows.

11:35

And so you kind of get this natural breaks throughout the day,

11:39

taking a step back to nature and kind of disengage from work stress.

11:45

So stressful opportunities just get into a different.

11:49

definitely. Definitely. Well, now that we've kind of talked about all the logistics of it, what impact

11:55

does it really have on employees and business success, too?

12:01

Well, it's not staggering

12:03

when you talk about the mental health aspect of this.

12:07

There was a recent study done that nearly half of the employees

12:11

that were surveyed, I believe this is survey of people

12:15

they had mentioned almost half the time

12:20

that their mental stress or issues that they had got into the workplace

12:25

and in fact they it to so,

12:28

you know, this is a pretty serious area

12:32

when you have our high pressure environments.

12:35

We have technology that is helping us to be more efficient.

12:40

That can sometimes be a distraction as well,

12:46

where those types of things can certainly effect

12:49

productivity at work. You also see where employee absenteeism increases when

12:57

they have to deal with stress or dealing with lots of issues.

13:01

But now you have employee satisfaction

13:05

and engagement, which is a huge factor in this as well,

13:09

is highly impacted by developing those mindfulness practices there.

13:15

As the workforce becomes more engaged to it, we'll see other things

13:19

like reduced toxicity as a

13:22

higher productivity

13:25

and just a number of other things

13:27

within the organization, especially

13:31

the team will sort of

13:33

go into these like best companies to work or those organizations

13:39

or you see continue to be up there addressing these issues regularly.

13:45

You absolutely.

13:48

I think it's also helpful to give some examples

13:51

of wellness programs so that companies can start thinking about

13:57

some ideas for themselves. So what wellness programs are in place to support

14:01

employees mental and emotional well-being?

14:04

For example, there are a couple of other

14:08

offenders that are out there that have websites within engagement,

14:12

and they can provide things from training to

14:18

other directed things for the organization.

14:22

A lot of companies can work with their community against some training

14:27

or some other activities to help themselves

14:31

establish these programs

14:34

and really it's initiatives that a company needs to undertake and puts in it.

14:39

So they know the company is saying,

14:42

we recognize that we need to improve mental health

14:46

so they can begin to throw out some of those initiatives.

14:50

So again, focusing on the key points that they want to bring into

14:55

focus group and being mindful as well as the challenge

15:01

that there's something

15:04

one of the other things

15:07

we've seen a lot of conference engaging in is really looking at the effectiveness

15:11

of our job is goals.

15:14

So we may have a job description, but it could be that the person fails to do

15:19

so. Do set the tone.

15:24

So we structured those positions

15:26

to be acceptable, normal.

15:29

And again, we're working with some of those wellness providers to implement

15:33

some of those programs and really give them a start

15:36

of influence to start us with.

15:38

They've already given

15:42

hope to or different types of services

15:45

into the organization, or they can

15:49

project because they've worked

15:52

with some of these programs as well.

15:55

And then I think the next step we see

15:57

HRC developmental University for tax and spend is outward

16:02

to see what services they can provide in that space,

16:06

because again, it's going to be a balancing act of financial commitment.

16:09

So the company will do little space to implement

16:13

some of these ideas again and again.

16:18

The other important aspect to serving themselves to actually

16:22

find out what it is that they would do, just sitting, just sitting.

16:26

And I think that's another

16:28

survey back to said, you know, companies go where, you know, about 60% of companies

16:34

to be doing a great job if you ask their employees

16:37

and they're like, no, I'm not participating.

16:41

I'm not really seeing some interest to me.

16:44

So we're going to get their feedback soon.

16:47

So let's do the work for you as an individual.

16:51

And then using that David style,

16:54

allow it to influence the audience.

16:57

Yeah, that's a great point to bring up. Absolutely.

16:59

You talked about that stat

17:03

with how mental health impacts productivity.

17:06

So wondering if you're kind of seeing anything else

17:09

here with our mental health really impacts productivity at work.

17:17

It's well, if you look at company, it's going to be a little bit different.

17:22

But I think if you were thinking about mental health,

17:25

there are a number of programs designed to work the same as you're

17:30

providing additional counseling services, maybe through

17:34

your income, more services available to employees,

17:39

and then financial wellness

17:42

and helping them to work with their retirement programs into the future.

17:48

Now let's look and see what we can set up to really help

17:51

support financial unexpected financial things.

17:55

So with

17:58

individuals who are gearing those programs

18:01

to help minimize anxiety or stress

18:05

or know that concept or those day to day activities or childcare

18:11

is another area where, again, you know,

18:14

it's a huge worry for people watching

18:18

as to how they're going to provide support to have

18:21

the right resources available to them, what happens with their child.

18:25

So how they deal with that.

18:28

So a lot of those focuses to help

18:31

minimize stress for people and allow them to step away from that.

18:36

And the other great focus

18:39

and I think going off of that

18:41

work life balance talk, when you're talking about care, spending

18:44

time, that's where the work life balance kind of also comes into play here.

18:49

So we actually had a whole podcast alone on work life balance.

18:54

So it's definitely important and something you know, everyone wants.

18:57

So do you have any suggestions for employers

19:03

how they can help balance work life, work life balance for their employees?

19:08

Yeah, I think there's a number of things that a company can do.

19:14

One, they talked battles for reevaluating the jobs being done.

19:18

Are they being done effectively because a lot of work stress comes from that.

19:23

That very aspect that my job is,

19:26

is to do an area where I don't have the right tools to get the job done

19:32

or there may be other efficiencies. So you do not want to remove that stress,

19:37

but it seems like very flexible hours so people can stylize hours

19:43

so they're the best person, that sort of thing to do

19:46

to get kids to school and pick them up in the day they can.

19:51

A special

19:54

hybrid workplace is also really powerful in addressing that.

19:58

So identifying when you want to stack all that work around you do work from home.

20:04

It's that's

20:07

with a manufacturing environment.

20:09

It might be implementing, you know, five minute breaks in manufacturing

20:15

or some other ways to stagger breaks so that people can stop working

20:20

a little more frequently throughout the day versus

20:23

just confining that small your ten or 15 minute period.

20:28

So there's a lot of things that something you can evaluate that would work in day

20:34

and again, contribute to some of that work life balance.

20:39

You know, and it just shows.

20:41

I think that's the final thing. You know, companies can use.

20:45

They're buying talent. So speed is providing it for brands or a health care child.

20:53

You know, some of these are very aspects of THRIVE.

20:58

I know several companies I work with nowadays.

21:00

And how do they bring you directly into work and they take it up

21:05

and have it done for you. And so, you know, and utilizing tools like,

21:13

you know, ordering your groceries online from the microwave.

21:18

So there's a person that you can co-champions.

21:21

Lots of people do. Yeah. Why don't we try to This is how we work for you

21:29

to help in that

21:33

flexibility that we're trying to develop in.

21:36

Well, yeah. What's going to make their life easier, right? Yes.

21:41

I'd like to draw on my laundry and have somebody to

21:46

get done.

21:49

Something I read about when I was kind of restructuring

21:52

for this topic today was Holistic well-being initiative.

21:56

So things that kind of encompass physical, mental and emotional health.

22:01

So what are some initiatives employers can implement around here?

22:08

Well, and that's, you know, again,

22:10

if you take a step back to look at all your wellness programs,

22:13

what are you offering today and what can you bring in?

22:16

There are programs that we've been developed

22:19

that are a little more integrated. So you can say here, I want to create a program about,

22:27

you know, balancing work so

22:31

and so things where you coach them and say, you know, when you get into work,

22:35

take 5 minutes at the beginning of work to just kind of arrive and be at your desk.

22:41

Don't check your email, save your email review.

22:44

So maybe 20 minutes into the job or,

22:47

you know, or implementing, there's a

22:51

technique called the Pomodoro technique, where you divide up your your time

22:56

into 25 minute increments and you take just a slight break between them.

23:00

So you just only focus on one thing for 25 minutes to explain two things.

23:06

So if you're implementing, if you're doing

23:09

project management, you can build that into it as well. So

23:15

I think just really being open

23:17

minded as an employer as to what options

23:21

and again, this is for the survey too.

23:24

So in handy is to help isolate, you know,

23:27

what are things that employees interested in.

23:30

And really I think what inhibits of employees

23:33

from participating in those initiatives at work is sometimes the time

23:40

you're hosting a one hour training course.

23:44

Many employees, more than ten of them because they're like, I can't go that.

23:47

But you can break that down to 15 minute sessions.

23:52

You'll see that your attendance rates increase.

23:56

So again, you're really trying to find

24:00

a sweet spot for what you're offering and how much observation

24:05

is in that program and then doing follow up.

24:09

So that was useful.

24:11

You know, how learned about this topic. One of the topics that they want to and so that's not

24:17

so good, but it's again, taking that to the stage where

24:22

our approach, it's not just one solution, but there are many aspects to it.

24:27

Yeah, finding the balance, Google optimization.

24:31

And I would just emphasize what you said on

24:35

surveys and employee surveys and Emery can help you with that.

24:39

We have employee surveys, we can help you with custom surveys.

24:42

So I will make sure to add the link in the show notes.

24:45

So if you do want to check that out, absolutely go for that.

24:50

But we're I feel like a lot of managers

24:53

or leaders may be asking the question right now,

24:57

how do you know this is having an impact on your employees and your organization?

25:01

Yeah, actually, using metrics, we can implement

25:06

a lot of metrics within your own organization to measure.

25:10

First, I would suggest to a baseline to consumer research.

25:14

So like

25:17

how often are we missing deadlines or other aspects within

25:24

the organization? Absenteeism, utilization of PTO also seems to give you

25:31

an overall view of where we'll start today, even serving and things again

25:37

we've utilized since then, since getting baseline on

25:41

the effectiveness of the program is today.

25:44

And then as you move forward with these,

25:47

once you're putting them out one by one by one,

25:50

you can measure it into the survey

25:53

information of that work, which is improving things

25:57

long term and a little bit annually, you look at absenteeism rates

26:01

and see how that's being affected or turnover statistics is number one.

26:07

So as you see absenteeism

26:09

rates starting to decline now,

26:12

people lower turnover

26:15

in the organization and all of these are indicators

26:18

of several components of success, the wellness.

26:21

But I think again, like I keep harping on it, surveys are a good way to pinpoint

26:27

work as this affected where you can use exit interviews

26:31

for people who do leave the organization and find out where do you see

26:36

the lowest since or something that could have helped

26:41

to reduce you?

26:44

And then again, employee feedback about their managers,

26:48

because again, we've talked about this all starts with leadership

26:52

and has a trickle down effect and identifying leaders that maybe needs

26:56

some additional support as well in their managerial style indicators.

27:03

So these are all ways that you can say, yes, we will evaluate that.

27:08

Some statistics to look at are performing over time.

27:13

Yeah, sounds like there's a lot of indicators

27:15

and tools out there to help you kind of measure that impact.

27:20

And even some of those are mobile applications

27:23

that people are downloading and which is the organization

27:27

will store information that can

27:30

with what effect without utilization

27:34

and maybe help identify some other areas that people might want to expand

27:39

upon. Well,

27:41

or as we kind of close out the episode today, is there one thing that you want

27:46

our listeners to really take away from today's episode

27:50

on Mindful Workplaces?

27:53

I know it's it's a lot

27:56

and there are a lot of stigma associated with meditation or,

28:00

you know, doing yoga or a lot of things like that, but

28:06

recognizing that there isn't a one

28:09

that's all sort of solution,

28:12

that it's got to be customized to workplace.

28:16

No being well connected experiences

28:21

to be able to get that feedback, but was one of them in one thing.

28:26

This is a journey that's about me as an individual.

28:29

First and then come to me as a company.

28:33

How we're going to provide resources and tools for each individual on that labor station.

28:39

So keeping that in your mind, it will help you to develop these break ins.

28:44

Now it's up to me in to help them to use it

28:51

to help reduce stress, anxiety, stress, anxiety.

28:55

Just for sure.

28:57

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being our guest on today's topic

29:02

and sharing all of your expertise, because I know you have so much in this area.

29:07

I think everyone can really walk away with a lot of great new ideas

29:11

and action steps that they can take to create a mindful workplace

29:15

if they haven't already. But to our listeners listening and watching,

29:20

if you liked our chat and our topic today, I would encourage you to share

29:24

this episode out and consider joining MRA if you aren't a member already.

29:29

Like I said, we have all the resources you need in the show

29:32

notes below and we have resources on this topic too,

29:35

so make sure to look at the show notes and thanks for tuning in, Laura.

29:40

Thanks for joining us today and we will see you next week

29:44

and that wraps up our content for this episode.

29:47

Be sure to reference the show notes where you can sign in to connect.

29:50

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29:56

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30:00

Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry