Taking a Mindful Approach to Business can Improve Performance
Deborah Hecker
Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, Sodexo
There is an enormous payoff when employees bring their whole selves to work. A culture where employees are fully engaged drives productivity and performance. But what happens when stress, anxiety and lack of focus interfere with work?
According to research by Dr. Ruth Wolever, Ph.D., Director of Research at Duke University School of Medicine, stress negatively affects the human body by suppressing the immune system and contributing to chronic disease. Not only is elevated stress a common and expensive part of corporate life, highly stressed employees are subject to greater health risks, which contribute to productivity loss and considerably higher medical costs than those with lower stress levels. To make matters worse, highly stressed people tend to make unhealthy diet choices dramatically increasing their risk of obesity and chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and musculoskeletal pain.
