Yoga Classes for Overwhelmed Employees are Only a Bad Joke

Workers are not stupid anymore to believe in corporate merchandise

The Silicon Valley companies presented years ago an excellent strategy to make the work environment more relaxed. Ping-pong tables, comfortables couches, foosball, beers on the fridge, and free massages created the good fame of tech environment corporate making them look the end of exploitation at work. A lot of smaller companies copied them.

It sounded a message like “We understand that people under pressure get sick and we care about the health of our employees. Have fun and relax is important”.

As time has passed, it proved to be only a smokescreen.

When the pandemic came, more companies invested in the “positive vibrations” work style.

Yoga classes and mindfulness training became part of the corporate activities more than ever before.

However, in practice, nothing improved so much. Maybe I can say that it got worse.

Now Suzanna needs to solve her inner problems to be a better employee

I started writing this paragraph laughing, but nervously.

Suzanna, a US citizen, shared a claim in a social media group about work experiences. She was furious. During the last company online workshop, the panelist said that beyond all problems people were facing due to Covid-19, keep positive thoughts was an important idea to keep in mind. And it was complemented by “Who feed negative energies can’t complain when bad results come, so…”.

Of course, it’s not necessary to complete the phrase above. I know you got the point. Coaches try to move the system's problem to the individual.

Spread this type of fake health care in the work environment should be considered a serious infraction.

After the lecture Suzanna attended was over, a yoga teacher joined the event and invited the whole team to practice some asanas.

Suzanna disconnected since it was not a mandatory activity. The last time she joined, she needed to put off her tasks and because of it, she needed to work till late to accomplish a short deadline. She hates working extra hours so regularly.

What’s the point of having a yoga class in the middle of the day if processes are not well established and deadlines are not fairly defined making people work for so much more time?

Suzanna is not alone. Suzanna represents a big group.

Entrepreneurs and leaders need to rethink what they are doing urgently

According to the World Health Organization, working long hours is killing thousands of people per year. Stroke and heart disease due to overwork are the most common causes of death.

The study says that working more than 55 hours per week is related to a 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of fatal heart disease, comparing to 35–40 hours a week.

The number of people working long hours is increasing, and this trend puts even more people at risk of disabilities and early death.

Also, the American Psychological Association declares that studies have noted that mindfulness could also have a "dark side".

"Building on prior studies that have found that mindfulness leads to lower levels of surface acting, we investigate the possibility that when mindful employees engage in surface acting, it may contribute to greater self-control depletion, which in turn, results in undesirable performance outcomes." — The costs of mindfulness at work: The moderating role of mindfulness in surface acting, self-control depletion, and performance outcomes.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel

Do you want to know a real act to try helping people to be more productive and happy to live their lives that companies are investing in?

Shorter working week.

Reports of many experiments carried out around the world, the four-day working week should be the new normal. Relevant declarations came from Iceland.

“Workers reported feeling less stressed and at risk of burnout, and said their health and work-life balance had improved.” — Four-day week ‘overwhelming success in Iceland

In Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s article about companies in different countries that had moved to shorter workweeks, he highlighted the positive effects this change brought to all people involved and how they achieved it.

“Before the pandemic, hundreds of companies around the world, including in Korea and Japan, two countries whose languages have invented words for “death by overwork”, had moved to four-day weeks, six-hour days or other shorter workweeks. (…) The key to unlocking a shorter workweek without reducing productivity lies in three areas: 1) tightening meetings; 2) introducing “focus time” when everyone can concentrate on their key tasks; and 3) using technology more mindfully.” — Why we need to consider switching to a 4-day workweek — now

Hey boss, change your strategy — now

People’s general necessities didn’t change. And they haven’t started to need to practice yoga at work in recent years.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing any specific practice the companies promote. Personally, I love yoga, massages, and foosball (although I play poorly). But, when people receive better salaries and work a healthy working time, each person can decide which nice activity they will do, surrounded by people they want, in the environment they prefer.

Employees need to feel valued for real. Without their effort, there is no successful company anywhere.

They deserve freedom. These superficial advice programs and activities fostered by companies only prolong the time workers stay in the cage.

Thinking positively to get better results for the company. Feeling more relaxed to deal with the company’s hard work. Playing ping pong to give yourself a break so you can handle the next extra hours of the company’s project.

I’m sure there are great professionals aligned with the company culture and its goals. These people work focused to deliver results with quality, but they have family, friends, hobbies, side hustles, personal problems, not only work.

Work, while also important, should not consume all the time of this finite existence we have.

Source: Four-day week ‘an overwhelming success’ in Iceland Why we need to consider switching to a 4-day workweek — now ‘I can’t see myself going back to a five-day week’ Unilever explores four-day working week