Meditation Apps: Workplace Fad or Key to a Happier Workforce?

• When they leave their current position, 81% of employees want to work for an organization that supports mental health.
• One way employers can support mental health is by providing access to meditation apps like Headspace for Work.
• However, meditation apps are only one of many resources; access to medical care and professional support is key.

Employers must make employee well-being a priority if they want to attract and retain talent.

According to the APA Work and well-being survey 202281% of individuals will look for jobs that support mental health when they apply for a job in the future.

Failure to support mental health in the workplace has enormous financial costs. Deloitte Mental Health and Employers Report 2022 He highlighted that the total annual cost of absenteeism, presenteeism and workforce turnover has increased by 25% since 2019, with the estimated total annual cost reaching £53-56 billion in 2020-21.

Overall, the increase in total costs is due to increased employee turnover, as more people have left or are planning to leave their jobs for mental health or welfare reasons.

Fortunately, how employers prioritize mental health in the workplace may be on the horizon. The APA survey also found that 71% of workers believe their employers are more concerned about their employees’ mental health than in the past.

Now the onus is on employers to turn concern into action.

One way employers can support wellbeing is through access to meditation or mindfulness apps. Headspace, one of the world’s best-known meditation apps, is a product designed specifically for employers and their teams.

Headspace for Work gives teams access to a range of resources designed to manage stress and improve focus. It works like this:

Of course, Headspace is just one example, and there are many more besides. To become Buddhist another. Buddhify’s niche is mobile or on-the-go meditation, providing meditation practices that time-poor users can engage in anytime, anywhere.

There are guided meditations for ‘Walking’, ‘Stress and Difficult Emotions’, ‘Work Break’, ‘Falling Asleep’, ‘Waking Up’ and many other contexts and scenarios.

With so many mediating apps out there, it can be difficult to find the one that best suits your organization’s or individual’s needs. One Mind PsyberGuide is a non-profit project that prompts experts to review apps and resources based on four pillars: authenticity, user experience, and transparency of privacy practices.

There is a section that will help for employers search and compare apps for their jobs.

It is not an “equivalent substitute” for medication or therapy

While meditation apps can help employees manage stress in and out of the workplace, they’re just one of many tools employers can take advantage of.

That Harvard Business Review article According to John Torous and Elena Rodriguez-Villa, the “best thing employers can do” to help HR managers decide whether to provide employees with mental health apps is to “provide strong health care at a reasonable cost.”

“This coverage should include comprehensive mental health care that makes face-to-face therapy with a licensed clinician affordable and accessible,” the article explained. “The mental health app alone is not a substitute for it. This is because, to date, there is no evidence that self-help apps are as effective in treating mental illness as therapy or medication. But they can help some people cope better with stress and symptoms associated with anxiety or depression.”

In February, to coincide with Time to Talk Day, the restaurant chain Nando’s started a mental health service for its 18,000 UK employees. In collaboration with program provider Maximus, Nandos offers its workforce free access to the Mental Health Support Service.

Funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the scheme provides nine months of confidential, face-to-face support for people struggling with mental health, including coping skills and workplace adaptation, to enable them to return to or stay in work. .

Harvard Business School graduate Kayla Lebovits is the CEO and Founder of Digital employee benefits platform, Bundle.

“While meditation apps are great for guiding people to practice and giving them reminders, they lack the human element that we believe our people need to be well and thrive,” Lebovits told Allwork.Space. “Our company does not provide access to workplace meditation apps, as we offer our employees access to over 100 live, interactive, expert-led 1:1 wellness sessions with trained facilitators, wellness coaches and on-demand meditation journeys to help them. manage stress, anxiety and general well-being.”