Antanaitis, A. (2015). Mindfulness in the workplace benefits and strategies to integrate mindfulness-based programs in the workplace. Journal: The Official Publication of the Ontario Occupational Health Nurses Association, 34(2), 39. The author of this qualitative study examined mindfulness in the workplace, benefits, and strategies to integrate mindfulness-based programs in the workplace. This article presents stress in the workplace as a serious contributor to job dissatisfaction, employee turnover, reduced efficiency, illness and even death. Data was collected after 600 employees participated in a six- eek mindfulness-based program.
The results demonstrated that there was a significant decrease in their number of days off by 71% attributed to stress and depression. Additionally, the result of this research confirms that participating in mindfulness-based practices actually reduces the size of the amygdala, which is primarily responsible for activating “fight or flight” center in the brain. Rather than eliminating stress completely and altering the external conditions that induce stress, this article seeks to identify ways and methods of transforming how individuals relate to their stress.
Although the uthor of this article did not mention any study limitation, it was noted that this study was qualitative in nature. This allows researchers to understand the participant’s personal experiences however, it does not generalize to other people or other settings hence, the difficulty in making quantitative predictions. This study is valuable in informing and educating workplaces on healthy lifestyles. Additionally, Little or no attention has been paid to mindfulness in the individual level despite rising interest across several fields. Allen, T. D. , Eby, L. T. , Conley, K. M. , Williamson, R. L. , Mancini, V. S. , & Mitchell, M. E. (2015).
What do we really know about the effects of mindfulness-based training in the workplace? Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8(4), 652. doi:10. 1017/ iop. 2015. 95 The research objective of the authors of this study was to fully understand the benefits workplace mindfulness. Data was collected from 27 participants after participating in a mindfulness training which was developed specific to the occupational context and the most common occupational context was health care.
Results of this study concluded that mindfulness training was truly effective in reducing employee tress and strain. The study additionally indicated that there was a significant relationship between mindfulness training, job performance, and employee engagement but advised that further research needed to be conducted to make firm conclusions. Although the authors of this article did not mention any study limitation, it was noted that this study also reviewed extensive cross- sectional articles which may potentially create room for bias and also make pre-existing knowledge on workplace mindfulness unclear.
This study is valuable as it seeks to explain mindfulness and its relationship to employee stress nd strain which will generally contribute to the growing gap in workplace mindfulness. Dane, E. , & Brummel, B. J. (2014). Examining workplace mindfulness and its relations to job performance and turnover intention. Human Relations, 67(1), 105-128. doi: 10. 1177/0018726713487753 The authors of this cross- sectional study seeks to examine workplace mindfulness and its relation to job performance and turnover intention.
Data was collected from 102 participants working in a restaurant industry who had to be constantly aware of the customers seated in different sections, their food or drink orders and requests of the ustomers. The results of this study indicated that the relationship between workplace mindfulness and the job performance was positive. Collectively, the results of this study are of great important and should be further investigated. Several limitations identified by the researchers include that the results were based on cross-sectional data, however, it suggests the use of a longitudinal study to determine causality.
Secondly, although this research suggests that mindfulness fosters decision making which is ethical, there has been no significant research conducted to investigate the relationship and onnection between mindfulness and the outcomes in work settings. This study is of value as the findings can contribute to the proposed research in understanding the benefits of mindfulness in workplaces. This is vital as there is a significant research gap on workplace mindfulness compared to other areas of mindfulness-related investigation.
Additionally, this research study helps to reduce blind spots in the area of workplace mindfulness and also highlight the importance of conducting further research on mindfulness in work settings which will significantly close the gap and maintain pace with ther mindfulness research Hulsheger, U. R. , Alberts, H. J. E. M. , Feinholdt, A. , & Lang, J. W. B. (2013). Benefits of mindfulness at work: The role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 310-325. doi: 10. 037/a0031313
The authors of this observational diary study seek to investigate the role of mindfulness in the workplace and to also understand the impact of mindfulness on emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in interactive service work. Data collection consisted of a general survey which was completed nce before participants filled in their diary booklet. The study result suggests that employees working in a job that is mentally exhausting, mindfulness seeks to promote job satisfaction and significantly eliminate emotional exhaustion.
The results of the study additionally indicate that mindfulness may decrease emotional exhaustion which will significantly increase job satisfaction. Several limitations identified by the researchers include that the study was limited to employees holding interactive service jobs. This study was able to identify and demonstrate how mindfulness affects emotional exhaustion nd job satisfaction through emotion regulation strategy of surface acting. Future research may thus be advised to investigate whether findings generalize to other jobs that are not emotional labor intensive.
This study is of value as the findings can contribute to the proposed research in understanding the benefits of mindfulness in workplaces. This study additionally provides a wealth of evidence that demonstrates mindfulness as a very powerful trait/state which promotes mental and physical health for a large population of individuals with different experiences. Wolever, R. Q. , Bobinet, K. J. , McCabe, K. , Mackenzie, E. R. , Fekete, E. , Kusnick, C. A. , & Baime, M. (2012).
Effective and viable mind-body stress reduction in the workplace: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of occupational health psychology, 17(2), 246. This randomized controlled trial seeks to examine the effective and viable mind-body stress reduction in the workplace. Data was collected from 239 participants by conduction two mindfulness work programs. This program was identical in content except that one was provided in-person in a conventional classroom, while the second was provided through n online virtual classroom that created room for two-way communication.
Both the in-person classroom and online classroom versions were taught by the same experienced mindfulness meditation teacher. Results of this study demonstrated that compared with the control group, the mindfulness group showed a significant decrease in both perceived stress and difficulty in sleeping. It is evident that programs that teach techniques for managing stress can improve health and reduce risk. It is clear that programs that teach techniques for managing stress can improve health and reduce risk.
Emerging data also suggests that effective stress management programs may result in lower utilization of health care services and may also improve the efficiency of the workers. The limitation identified for this research article was that the results may generalize to similar corporate audiences, the study population is not representative of the nation as a whole. This study is valuable as it seeks to educate and emphasize the growing importance of mindfulness in workplaces. It is, therefore, imperative to find ways to involve the practice of mindfulness in workplaces.
