Reducing absenteeism through mindfulness

Meghana Millin TechIOSH, founder of Wellness-me, on how mindfulness techniques can build a better workplace culture and reduce costly episodes of stress, anxiety and depression.

The impact of absenteeism in the workplace is enormous. Poor mental health among employees costs UK employers £42bn to £45bn each year. This includes absence costs of around £7bn (Deloitte, 2020). If your organisation contributes to this statistic, mindfulness could help reduce the burden.

You may have heard about mindfulness on the television, or heard influencers and star athletes talk about it. But what has mindfulness got to do with health and safety professionals? 

More than half of days lost in Great Britain because of work-related illness were due to stress, depression or anxiety (SDA), with SDA sufferers taking the longest time away from the workplace (GB Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 2022a). 

As health and safety professionals, it falls within our remit to bring the number of working days lost due to SDA down. The more tools we have in our repertoire the better – and mindfulness is a powerful tool.

Let’s consider how mindfulness can help drive SDA absences down and reinforce the safety culture within an organisation. 

Take time to be more aware

Mindfulness is about being present in the moment. It's about taking the time to be aware of your senses, environment, and experiences. When we practise mindfulness, we consciously draw our attention to the present moment, to be completely engaged with our object of focus at that moment. It entails approaching each moment with kindness, compassion and without judgement.  

This aligns well with safe working practices, which include being fully engaged and focused on the task at hand, being aware of one’s surroundings, and using the appropriate tools for the job. 

Safe working also requires the confidence to apply the necessary training to carry out the job safely and prevent injuries or ill health caused by a lack of focus or concentration.

While we ensure that the proper mechanical and electrical tools are provided, as well as on-the-job training, what about the tools for mental and emotional wellbeing? These include the ability to concentrate, be aware of one's surroundings, and have the confidence to put job instructions into practice. When working with electricity, for instance, the ability to maintain focus is critical. We must maintain our attention on the task at hand, or we risk becoming a statistic for all the wrong reasons. Being able to focus also allows us to be more aware of our surroundings, which is important when our own and others’ lives may be at risk. 

Breaking the cycle of negative habits

According to the HSE, 822,000 workers were impacted by work-related SDA in 2020/21. This equates to 2480 workers per 100,000 (HSE, 2021a). SDA has well-documented physical and emotional consequences, including sleeplessness, weariness, lack of attention, difficulty making decisions and feeling overwhelmed (NHS, 2022).

While there are still many studies to be done on the effects of mindfulness on mental health, research has shown that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) may help enhance the psychological functioning of employees (Janssen et al, 2018).

Mindfulness is a learned skill that can be used to mitigate SDA-associated risks. We can empower SDA sufferers to observe and recognise the situations and individuals that trigger these emotions and feelings through mindfulness practice. Early detection of the triggers and the implementation of an action plan can assist sufferers in better managing the negative effects. Mindfulness practice equips individuals with the ability to make decisions that benefit them and breaks the cycle of negative mental habits.

Mindfulness not only improves our ability to manage our mental health, but also fosters present moment awareness. When we are in this state of awareness, our senses of seeing, smelling, tasting and touching are all heightened, and we are fully involved with our surroundings. 

We are not stressed or apprehensive about past or future occurrences; instead, we are focused on the experience we are enjoying at that time. Focus is an antidote to a lack of concentration, and we’re more efficient and we perform better when focused on the task at hand and our surroundings. 

Creating a sound mental health culture

Slips, trips and same-level falls were the leading cause of non-fatal injuries to British employees in 2020/21 (HSE, 2021b). What if we could better focus our attention on conducting more effective risk assessments of our surroundings or be more conscious of where we step? This would certainly contribute to improving our safety performance.

To create a good mental health culture, we must first address the stigma that surrounds mental health disorders. A company dedicated to making the workplace better will provide a safe space for employees to address their mental health concerns. In a workplace where discussing mental health difficulties is treated the same as discussing any other work-related illness or physical disorder, there is no stigma attached. This entails an equal number of ‘physical’ first aiders and mental first aid responders on hand, holding toolbox presentations, or introducing ‘wellness nuggets’ to talk about safety issues especially relevant to mental health.

An organisation should not hesitate to include a one-minute mindful breath meditation as part of the toolbox talk or ‘wellness nugget’ discussion to help staff focus on the present moment, thus preparing them to focus more effectively on their tasks.

Mindfulness can help us strengthen the safety culture within an organisation by promoting a greater degree of awareness within the workplace. It can help us become more aware of our own emotions and reactions, allowing us to respond in a more responsible way towards people and situations that trigger stress in the work environment. 

It can help us to be more mindful in our interactions with others, which in turn can create a more supportive and compassionate work environment. Mindfulness can also help us to become more aware of the impact that our decisions and actions have on others. Mindful actions help reduce workplace SDA and can therefore contribute to reducing SDA-related absenteeism.