Employee turnover rates are at all time highs today. 95% of workers are thinking of quitting their jobs and the number one reason is burnout. Even before the pandemic, 1 in 5 people quit their job every single year on average. With poor employee retention costing the U.S. businesses $1 trillion a year, companies are starting to wonder, can corporate meditation lower employee turnover rates?
While employee turnover rates have been a problem for a while, the pandemic has made it much worse. Employees are now rethinking their lives. They’re prioritizing mental health over grinding away day after day. Furthermore, they want fulfillment, not just a paycheck. During these strange times, we’ve all thought about our own mortality and how precious life is.
We’ve thought about our purpose and the meaning of our lives. The costs that low retention puts on employers is staggering. From empty positions to vetting and retraining new hires, retention rates can make or break a company. Moreover, projects get delayed, morale plummets, and productivity craters.
In short, companies need to start getting serious about employee retention. So, can corporate meditation lower employee turnover rates? In this article, first I’ll share what’s really causing poor employee retention. Secondly, how meditation can help. Thirdly, the results from companies who’ve implemented corporate meditation. And fourthly, how to get started at your company.
Why are Employee Turnover Rates So High?
We live in a different world than our parents did. People today are accustomed to having devices in their pocket that will show them anything they want in a nanosecond. This on-demand culture has given us higher expectations for everything in our lives.
Employees expect more from their employers. They want to feel important, valued, and validated. A paycheck is no longer the most important thing in their lives. They want fulfilment, respect, and to love what they’re doing.
Corporations have tried to cater to this. They’ve tried game rooms, bean bag chairs, and open floor plans. Companies have tried livening up the office decor, trivia games, Beer Friday, Massage Mondays, and Taco Truck Tuesdays. However, while all of these things may be fun and quirky, they don’t add meaning or value to their lives.
Game rooms are fun, but they’re usually a cruel reminder to a workforce that never has time to enjoy them. Beer Friday is fun, but it doesn’t make the job more satisfying.
With all of these noble efforts, turnover rates are higher than ever. These attempts failed because they misunderstood what truly makes workers happy.
How Corporate Meditation Can Lower Employee Turnover Rates
Instead of Taco Truck Tuesday, corporations would be better served trying out Meditation Mondays.
In study after study, meditation is shown to:
- Give our lives the meaning we crave.
- Help us enjoy each moment more fully.
- Meditation helps workers be more present and engaged. Corporate meditation programs help workers focus and be less distracted.Lead to lasting joy and serenity.
- Create a sense of fulfilment and contentment.
- Reduce stress, which improves their physical health as well.
- Help employees recharge, relax and reenergize to avoid burnout.
Corporate meditation doesn’t just improve business relationships, it improves our personal relationships as well. We become better listeners and more aware of our loved ones’ needs. When not just work satisfaction but life satisfaction improves too, workers become more loyal and dedicated.
At the end of the day, work is about work. The perks on the side don’t change our experience with what we’re doing the majority of time we spend at work. Only meditation can help us accept the present moment as if we had chosen it.
Through corporate meditation programs, employee turnover rates can be lowered because they improve how we experience work. Consequently, anger, negativity, complaints, gripes, and resentments are all diminished. This leads to better focus, creativity, productivity, and problem-solving skills.
What Happens at Companies that Implement Corporate Meditation?
Fortunately, we now have decades of research on how corporate meditation impacts companies and lowers turnover rates.
For example, a chemical factory in Detroit had its workers meditate for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon. The results were staggering:
- Profits up 520%
- Productivity up 120%
- Quality up 240%
- Employees missing work down 85%
- Sick days down 76%
All of this is evidence that employees were healthier, more engaged, less stressed and less burnt out. That is to say, it’s all the things that lead to lower employee turnover rates.
Out of a survey of 500 employees who took a corporate meditation and mindfulness program, they reported:
- 91% said it improved the company culture
- 52% had better office relationships
- 46% were more innovative and creative
- 66% felt less stress
- 63% manage their work better
- 60% had more focus, mental resilience, and made better decisions
- 88% would recommend it
Furthermore, a study at the Tavistock Institute found that workplace mindfulness improved job performance and lowered turnover intention.
Meditation is the New Coffee Break and Can Lower Employee Turnover
Coffee was first introduced to the workforce at a necktie manufacturer in Denver, Colorado during World War II. The women working the factory were only able to work these intricate looms for about 4 hours a day. They convinced the management to give them some time every morning and afternoon for a coffee break. Productivity exploded and the coffee break became a mainstay in corporate America ever since.
Today, a meditation break is taking the place of coffee in corporate America. It doesn’t just give employees energy though. It gives them a greater quality of life in every possible sense.
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Starting Corporate Meditation at Your Office
Corporate meditation and mindfulness programs can be in-person or remote. They can be daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annually or annually. Furthermore, they can be keynotes, half-day workshops, or retreats.
No matter what fits with your company’s goals, needs and schedule, a corporate meditation and mindfulness program can always be designed specifically for you.
Meaningful moments for oneself and others- is this interlinked? So, the more stillness we experience ourselves and the more attention we pay to the beauty around us, specially nature – the more we are able to create meaningful moments for others? Because the others are drawn to us?