The Impact of Mindfulness on Corporate America.

In the last ten years, there have been numerous studies that suggest mindfulness increases confidence, intelligence, and focus at work, leading to greater well-being. Also, in the last ten years, the Western world has been duped by many quacks and scammers suggesting exotic solutions for conventional problems. The easiest sell is something foreign, shrouded in mystery and backed by the historical context that no one can verify. The West has always been enamored by the East’s connection with spirituality. Mindfulness and meditation come at the top of their fascination list. 

Lately, mindfulness has taken the Western corporate world by storm and has become a billion-dollar industry according to a research firm called IBIS World. Companies like General Mills, Goldman Sachs, Google, Apple, and Nike are spending millions to keep their employees happy and productive by implementing Mindfulness at work. The question that arises here is mindfulness centuries-old wellness technique to improve productivity, is it a case of the West being fascinated by the mystical East, or is it used to cash in on the growing trend by tech-savvy swindlers? This study answers the billion-dollar question. Yes, Mindfulness works and there is undeniable evidence.

In 2018 I was working at The World Bank as a Communications consultant. The World Bank has one of the highest employee retention rates in the world. This means that very few people want to leave the World Bank. Yes, the salary is great, but it is not just the salary that retains an employee. The employer caring for the employee is one of the biggest reasons people stay and become loyal. There are many ways for employers to show their staff they care for them. Contrary to popular belief, Money is never the only motivator, although it may be the biggest one. 

I have worked with and for many multinationals. The World Bank I felt really looked after their employees, making a conscious effort and a strategic plan to keep the morale high and the productivity thriving. One such activity was Mindfulness, which was amazing for me because I believe I am cynical of almost everything. But I am also a learner for life. I want to be proven wrong and make sure I study and research any new topic that makes me cynical.

The World Bank had an area dedicated to Mindfulness. The staff was allowed an extra 30-minute break every day if they spent their time on mindfulness. I tried it for two days. By the third day, I was a believer. Maybe it was the placebo effect, but I really felt better, more energized, and more motivated. This was also clearly working at The World Bank as the Mindfulness program has been going on for the past several years. However, there are millions who consider this a fad at best or a scam at worst. I want to change that after experiencing Mindfulness and becoming a believer. Since I do not have an agenda except that I want other people to experience the benefits of mindfulness that I did, my voice I believe will carry more weight than the companies and individuals who benefit by promoting it mindfulness. 

But first what is Mindfulness? There is no consistent definition of Mindfulness and it varies based on authors, studies, apps, and even the context it is used in. One of the reasons why people are skeptical about it. My first task on this journey was to understand what Mindfulness is before I convince other people what it does.

According to mindful.org Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

According to the American Psychological Association, mindfulness is:

“…a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait. While it might be promoted by certain practices or activities, such as meditation, it is not equivalent to or synonymous with them.”

According to The Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkley Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens.

From what I gathered through my research Mindfulness is an umbrella term that defines numerous processes related to the capacities of attention, memory retention, and acceptance. The term has its roots in Buddhism (cf. Bodhi, 2011; Dreyfus, 2011; Dunne, 2011; Gethin, 2011; Kabat-Zinn, 2011). The term Mindfulness began to be accepted and recognized among scientists and scholars as the Mind and Life Institute emerged in 1987 and facilitated formal dialogues between the Dalai Lama and prominent scientists. In the early 2000s, mindfulness saw an exponential growth and became ubiquitous in the West.

To state the obvious there have been various studies that suggest people spend most or all of their day overthinking. Jumping from one thought to another, they daydream, they ponder over the past and often stress about the future. Here is my simplified definition of Mindfulness the way I understood and experienced it.

“Mindfulness is pampering your mind by forgetting about the past and the future and focusing on just the one moment that you are present in”

Once I had some “clarity” on what Mindfulness is, I wondered if there is evidence and pertinent data to assure me I was heading in the right direction. I stumbled upon these facts given by David Gelles about insurance giant Aetna in his book, Mindful Work:

• A highly stressed employee costs the company an extra $2,000 per year in healthcare when compared to their less-stressed peers.
• Health care costs at Aetna -- which total more than $90 million a year -- are going down now that they offer mindfulness programs.
• In 2012, as mindfulness programs ramped up, health care costs fell a total of 7 percent. (That equals $6.3 million going straight to the bottom line, partly attributed to mindfulness training.)
• Aetna calculated that productivity gains alone were about $3,000 per employee, equaling an eleven-to-one return on investment.

Coming from a renowned company in the health industry this data bolsters the belief that Mindfulness works and has a positive impact on productivity on the workforce. This was enough to nudge me to stop overthinking, move forward, and understand the impact of mindfulness at work, as the data comprehensibly reassured me I was heading in the right direction.

In today’s world data has become the backbone for every major decision in the corporate sector. My favorite piece of evidence comes from the Forbes magazine article titled 6 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Mindfulness And Meditation. The great thing about this evidence is that it is not just the source that is great, the content is backed up with credible research and studies. According to Jeena Cho, author of “The Anxious Lawyer, An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation” and a regular contributor to Forbes “The practice of mindfulness and meditation has been around for thousands of years but has gained interested in the business world primarily because we now have the ability to do the one thing that was never possible before—see how these practices change the wiring and the makeup of our brains.” She then breaks up the benefits and supports each benefit with a study from a different source. The studies include 2013 Massachusetts General Hospital study, 2015 Central Michigan University study by Professor Adam Lueke, MBCT eight-week, group-based program conducted by American Psychological Association, a study by researchers Ellen R. Albertson, Kristin D. Neff and Karen E. Dill-Shackleford, a 2010 study published in Consciousness and Cognition Journal, and lastly a Harvard study. This research is extremely important to prove the effectiveness of Mindfulness as it is conducted by a few of the top hospitals, researchers and academics of the world. Therefore, this essay provides authentic, and ample data-driven research, pointing towards Mindfulness’ efficacy in the workplace.

As a social media professional and an expert, I wanted to go through tons of evidence before I become an advocate of Mindfulness. I knew this subject would get me a lot of engagement and positive buzz so I wanted to be certain before the predictable argument begins on Twitter and Facebook. You know the one where you try to convince the naysayers and end up making everyone angry including yourself. I also wanted to understand the other perspective before I try to convince anyone. I found this to begin with;

“There is a common misperception in public and government domains that compelling clinical evidence exists for the broad and strong efficacy of mindfulness as a therapeutic intervention,”

Written by a group of 15 renowned scholars in “Mind the Hype, ” an article that appeared in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. According to the article “a mixture of only moderate, low or no efficacy, depending on the disorder being treated,” the scholars added, citing a 2014 meta-analysis commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The research points out that the data is not conclusive because of many limitations including the scope of the research. Although this research also summarizes that their findings are inconclusive and need further research. Therefore, this research can be overlooked based on the generic summary it provides.

I found further research that raises the question about the quality of research previously conducted on Mindfulness, refuting most of the findings. According to another article published in Quartz the author states that mindfulness cultivation programs rely on poor scientific proof that compounds cultural confusion. According to an entry in the journal of Perspectives on Psychological Science 

“As mindfulness has increasingly pervaded every aspect of contemporary society, so have misunderstandings about what it is, whom it helps, and how it affects the mind and brain. At a practical level, the misinformation and propagation of poor research methodology can potentially lead to people being harmed, cheated, disappointed, and disaffected.”

Their findings can be true for any research conducted on workforce productivity as no research can conclusively prove a subjective effect like productivity. Therefore, in my opinion there will always be variables that can dampen the results that prove Mindfulness works.

The great thing about the internet is that you can find research and arguments about almost anything and from usually both the perspectives. Based on these and various research that are not cited in this essay, my analysis of “The Impact of Mindfulness on Corporate America,” was simple. None of the studies were absolutely conclusive but there is enough scientific evidence to prove that Mindfulness works. It increases efficiency, productivity and if nothing else it relieves stress. America’s top companies like Nike, Google, and Salesforce are spending millions running the program based on various research and data. They continue to run the programs because they have their own data to prove that it works and productivity has improved because of Mindfulness. The world has changed tremendously in the last 50 years. There are more stresses in the work environment as it becomes more competitive every year. Combine that with the stresses at home including financial stress, Mindfulness can help people cope with life and work. As someone working in the corporate sector I highly recommend Mindfulness, not just for social reasons but also for economic reasons. A happy employee will be more productive and will have a direct effect on the company’s bottom line.

References

?Scott, Bartie (2017, March 17) Why Meditation and Mindfulness Training Is One of the Best Industries for Starting a Business in 2017 Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/bartie-scott/best-industries-2017-meditation-and-mindfulness-training.html

Levin, Marissa (2017, June 12) Why Google, Nike, and Apple Love Mindfulness Training, and How You Can Easily Love It Too Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/marissa-levin/why-google-nike-and-apple-love-mindfulness-training-and-how-you-can-easily-love-.html

Mindful Staff (2014, October 14) What is Mindfulness? Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/

Moore, Catherine (2019, June 28) What Is Mindfulness? Definition + Benefits Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-mindfulness/

Editorial What is Mindfulness? Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition

Nicholas T. Van Dam, Marieke K. van Vugt, David R. Vago Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation

(2017, October 10) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1745691617709589#

Lieberman, Bruce, (2018, March 24) Mindfulness meditation is huge, but science isn’t sure how, or whether, it works Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mindfulness-meditation-is-huge-but-science-isnt-sure-how-or-whether-it-works/2018/03/23/2fa510a6-1e4e-11e8-9de1-147dd2df3829_story.html

Gelles, David (2018, October 14) Mindful Work Retrieved from https://davidgelles.com/mindfulwork/

Cho, Jeena (2016, July 14) 6 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Mindfulness And Meditation

 Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeenacho/2016/07/14/10-scientifically-proven-benefits-of-mindfulness-and-meditation/#54486b5163ce

Van Dam, NT, Van Vugt, MK, Vago, DR, Schmalzl, L (2018, Jan13) Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29016274