Mindfulness helps us to focus our thoughts, let go of unhelpful ones, and respond to challenges rationally and calmly. From a business perspective, this means teams and individuals can work together more seamlessly and productively — and make better decisions all around. It’s on this basis that you’ve sold the idea of implementing mindfulness into your workplace.

But what happens next? How do you turn this momentum into a culture-wide reality in your workplace? The next step is demonstrating the business case to your organization’s decision-makers and getting their full buy-in. Given mindfulness’s relatively new status in the business world, successfully articulating the value to those in charge is crucial to embedding it within your workplace culture.

When making the case for mindfulness, it’s important to outline the following areas: 

Now is the perfect time

As with almost everything these days, the pandemic has hugely impacted the timing. Following the almost overnight shift to remote working at the start of lockdown, we’ve seen mindfulness become a permanent fixture across many industries. With increased flexibility and the opportunity for a better work-life balance, what’s not to like about remote working? Remote working can be a double-edged sword, however. Research has shown that during lockdown, remote workers were largely working longer hours and facing larger workloads than before the pandemic. 

With longer hours and larger workloads come increased levels of dissatisfaction among workers. The ramifications of this can be widespread and complex. 

It’s a necessity 

The pandemic impacted different industries in different ways, and few were left unscathed. For many, this meant lost profits and revenue, causing organizations across the board to slash their budgets. Therefore, it’s understandable that leaders would question the necessity of placing precious resources into (what could be considered) unnecessary initiatives. To put it plainly, the shockwaves of the pandemic have hit employees hard, and the long-term impacts of not addressing these issues could be far more damaging. 

Research from our Fifth Annual Workforce Attitudes Toward Mental Health report demonstrated that nearly half (49%) of employees report feeling a sense of dread at work at least once a week. Survey respondents say what drives this dread the most is rising expectations to take on more responsibilities (45%) and a lack of stability at work (45%).

With rounds of layoffs, employees who remain on the job are dealing with additional roles and responsibilities to compensate for a loss of their teammates – while also processing the emotions of saying goodbye to coworkers and worries that they could be the next to be laid off. For these employees, a sense of dread can result in reduced productivity, mental health challenges, and negative impacts on work relationships. By investing in mindfulness tools for your teams, you can help them feel more present and engaged at work and help them to better manage moments of stress.

It creates healthier cultures 

The good news is, it’s not all doom and gloom. Implementing mindfulness initiatives is not just about avoiding potentially negative consequences, but implementing positive change with real and tangible benefits. 

Businesses around the world are starting to see the benefits of promoting a supportive, inclusive work environment. By creating opportunities for employees to invest in and find support for their mental well-being, employers can ensure that their employees have the tools at their disposal to care for their mind and bring their best selves to work. Leaders can also model how to prioritize mental health, by demonstrating how they create time to look after themselves. By taking these steps, organizations create ways for teams to build compassion and empathy, be more present, and be better collaborators. 

Other companies are prioritizing it

In addition to keeping existing employees content, organizations aiming to attract top talent need to understand and acknowledge that the priorities of job seekers are slowly shifting towards a new reality. As well as greater flexibility, employees are looking for an employer who takes their mental well-being seriously. 

Interestingly, we’re seeing organizations also shifting their priorities. For example, many companies are rapidly ramping up activity around their ESG initiatives. Though employee mental health and well-being are not often top of mind when it comes to ESG, they are absolutely key to it. Mindfulness is a great place to start and an opportunity to properly embed these new ideas into how a business thinks and operates.