Yoga at Work

Yoga at Work

The benefits of a Yoga class at the office are manifold.

Yoga has a wide variety of benefits in itself, including improved concentration and efficiency, better immune function, increased energy and vitality, and immense improvements of the most common office health concerns like back pain and better resistance to and release of stress.

Bringing Yoga to the Work place, however, means you don’t have to make yourself go after a long workday – Yoga comes to you, either to start the day or to give you a second wind after lunch instead of midday fatigue. On top of this, practicing with your colleagues proves to be very beneficial for the social climate at work.

Another reason to have a teacher come to your office is that classes will be geared specifically towards the needs of your workers, e.g. counteracting the effects of hours of sitting on a desk.

Yoga at work benefits everyone:

Benefits for Employers

Happy, healthy and focused employees will do the best work. I am sure we are all in agreement about that. The corporate world is just waking up to the importance of taking care of their employees’ health and wellbeing – and finds that it actually saves them a lot of money.

“Workplace stress has been dubbed the ‘health epidemic of the 21st century’—costing American business $300 billion annually. Employers spend 200 to 300 percent more for the indirect costs of healthcare—absenteeism, sick days, lower productivity, and even staff turnover—than they do on actual health care payments.”

Corporate Yoga decrases the number of sick days and the general rate of absenteeism, while at the same time increasing the employee’s productivity. This obviously benefits the employer double. In addition, however, employees will feel more connected to their work and be more committed to the company’s wellbeing if they feel that this is a mutually giving relationship.

“[Bringing exercise to the office] allows them [employees] the flexibility to get a workout in without going out of their way, which is great for us all. We understand just how important exercise is, especially within the office environment. It’s a lot of fun, too.”

My suggestion:

If you are considering to start a Yoga Programme at your office, here are some points to consider:

Make sure you inform your employees of this offer! This cannot be overstated. Many employees are unaware of the options they have, because they are not sufficiently advertised.

Pick a teacher carefully! For general suggestions on this point see my FAQs on how to pick a teacher, but specifically to the corporate world, be sure to pick a Yoga Teacher who is relatively level-headed and pragmatic, whilst being open, warm and friendly, of course. Have an audition and talk directly about the needs of your employees. Any good teacher will offer you a few approaches and inform you on their respective benefits so you can participate in tailoring your courses. Keep in touch about developments and adjust the focus of the classes if need be.

Benefits for Employees

Most employees want to do good work. The sense of delivering a real contribution is in itself a major factor in wellbeing. All the benefits for employers are therefore also in the interest of employees.

In addition to that, however, the personal increase in life satisfaction that comes along with increased mobility, deeper breathing, improved posture and stress release will let employees forget about profits and schedules for a moment and just be with themselves.

 

My suggestion:

If you are ready to ask for Yoga options at your workplace you may consider doing a little research up front to have a certain style, modus or even teacher to suggest.

If your employer just hears that there is an interest for Yoga that is still quite vague. Hearing “At least five people are definitely interested in 45 min. of beginner-friendly Yoga practice in the lunchbreak to counteract the detrimental effects of sitting – and the rest of us are undecided or haven’t heard of this yet, but would be willing to give this a go” is much more tangible.

If you can already suggest a teacher, who you know to be capable and willing to do this kind of work, you are making it easier and easier for your HR Manager to say Yes.

Yoga at Work

The benefits of a Yoga class at the office are manifold.

Yoga has a wide variety of benefits in itself, including improved concentration and efficiency, better immune function, increased energy and vitality, and immense improvements of the most common office health concerns like back pain and better resistance to and release of stress.

Bringing Yoga to the Work place, however, means you don’t have to make yourself go after a long workday – Yoga comes to you, either to start the day or to give you a second wind after lunch instead of midday fatigue. On top of this, practicing with your colleagues proves to be very beneficial for the social climate at work.

Another reason to have a teacher come to your office is that classes will be geared specifically towards the needs of your workers, e.g. counteracting the effects of hours of sitting on a desk.

Yoga at work benefits everyone:

Benefits for Employers

Happy, healthy and focused employees will do the best work. I am sure we are all in agreement about that. The corporate world is just waking up to the importance of taking care of their employees’ health and wellbeing – and finds that it actually saves them a lot of money.

“Workplace stress has been dubbed the ‘health epidemic of the 21st century’—costing American business $300 billion annually. Employers spend 200 to 300 percent more for the indirect costs of healthcare—absenteeism, sick days, lower productivity, and even staff turnover—than they do on actual health care payments.”

Corporate Yoga decrases the number of sick days and the general rate of absenteeism, while at the same time increasing the employee’s productivity. This obviously benefits the employer double. In addition, however, employees will feel more connected to their work and be more committed to the company’s wellbeing if they feel that this is a mutually giving relationship.

“[Bringing exercise to the office] allows them [employees] the flexibility to get a workout in without going out of their way, which is great for us all. We understand just how important exercise is, especially within the office environment. It’s a lot of fun, too.”

My suggestion:

If you are considering to start a Yoga Programme at your office, here are some points to consider:

Make sure you inform your employees of this offer! This cannot be overstated. Many employees are unaware of the options they have, because they are not sufficiently advertised.

Pick a teacher carefully! For general suggestions on this point see my FAQs on how to pick a teacher, but specifically to the corporate world, be sure to pick a Yoga Teacher who is relatively level-headed and pragmatic, whilst being open, warm and friendly, of course. Have an audition and talk directly about the needs of your employees. Any good teacher will offer you a few approaches and inform you on their respective benefits so you can participate in tailoring your courses. Keep in touch about developments and adjust the focus of the classes if need be.

Benefits for Employees

Most employees want to do good work. The sense of delivering a real contribution is in itself a major factor in wellbeing. All the benefits for employers are therefore also in the interest of employees.

In addition to that, however, the personal increase in life satisfaction that comes along with increased mobility, deeper breathing, improved posture and stress release will let employees forget about profits and schedules for a moment and just be with themselves.

 

My suggestion:

If you are ready to ask for Yoga options at your workplace you may consider doing a little research up front to have a certain style, modus or even teacher to suggest.

If your employer just hears that there is an interest for Yoga that is still quite vague. Hearing “At least five people are definitely interested in 45 min. of beginner-friendly Yoga practice in the lunchbreak to counteract the detrimental effects of sitting – and the rest of us are undecided or haven’t heard of this yet, but would be willing to give this a go” is much more tangible.

If you can already suggest a teacher, who you know to be capable and willing to do this kind of work, you are making it easier and easier for your HR Manager to say Yes.