As per a survey conducted by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India), it has been found that approx. 53% of corporate firms have enrolled for yoga sessions to increase productivity of their employees and reduce the attrition rate. Apart from these two attributes, workplace wellness programs also increase the employees’ loyalty and overall work performance.
These days, companies are spending a good amount of money on buying the best health insurance policy for their employees; however, by signing up for a wellness program, they can significantly reduce the cost involved in health insurance premiums.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a small business owner, self-employed, or a corporate mogul, your business as well as your employees will benefit from yoga if incorporated into the organization’s wellness programs and daily work culture.
If you still don’t think that yoga is important for your business, these 5 benefits of yoga will definitely change your thoughts:
- Beats Stress:
The ASSOCHAM survey has also revealed that more than 40.5% of the employees sleep less than for 6 hours a day. The reason for so is mostly recognized as high stress levels.
Both mental and emotional stresses are considered as the top factors affecting employees’ health and productivity for the obvious reason. They are also responsible for aggravating ailments and several medical conditions, such as cold, allergies, heart diseases and diabetes.
You might haven’t thought about it but the stress factor alone accounts for a loss of billions of dollars every year due to absenteeism, reduced productivity, employee turnover, medical fees, etc.
Following yoga routine can be helpful in regulating your stress level by gently releasing tension and hence, it can be of paramount help to both employers as well as employees.
- Reduces Fatigue
As per a study, sitting in the same position for more than 5 hours can easily make you feel fatigued and result in reduced productivity. Also, working non-stop can easily lead to stress. Just standing up from your seat or doing some physical activity, such as stretching, etc., every thirty minutes or so can increase the blood circulation in your body and efficiently avoid fatigue.
- Alleviates Physical Ailments
Any form of pains or aches can easily affect your productivity in the workplace. If you are suffering from any type of ache, it’s quite natural that your work concentration and productivity will be affected, as you would be constantly thinking about the physical discomfort you are facing.
You would be surprised to know how effective yoga can be to help you relieve even the most severe aches like those related to traumatic brain injury. Now, if it can be so effective in dealing with such severe aches, just imagine how effective it is going to be for regular headaches, neck strain, arthritis, shoulder stiffness, etc.
- Improves Focus & Concentration
Endless meetings, stressful deadlines and the general harshness of a workplace create mental chaos that affects your power to make good decisions and your concentration power as well. Meditation activities in yoga along with breathing exercises help employees clear their mental clutter and silence the surroundings, making them more alert and focused.
With better concentration and focus, your creative energy flows in a better way, eventually blessing you with creativity to think outside the box.
- Promotes Team-Building Capabilities
Regular yoga sessions are a great way to increase team building as well as capabilities of individual employees.
Due to a stressful lifestyle and long commuting hours, one hardly gets time to engage in any personal wellness program, which results in stressed workers at different level affecting the overall productivity of your organization.
You can conduct special Yoga training programs in your workplace or any other venue and help your employees get a productive break from their hectic lifestyle.
Final Thoughts!
If you are feeling physically, emotionally and mentally well, your morale will automatically be high. As a matter of fact, healthy and relaxed employees are always better to work with rather than a lethargic and demotivated bunch of people. Being an employer, it’s your duty to keep your employees motivated, and then you can easily do the job by encouraging your teammates to take just 10 minutes of break every day and follow some simple yoga exercises.
One can easily perform stretches and breathing exercises at her/his working desk, in the fresh air or in a conference room. Thus, providing your employees with free yoga classes is certainly one of the most cost-effective ways to get them motivated and achieve productivity from them.
