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Americans are stressed out. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, a great resignation and growing political unrest. It’s unprecedented, so to say. But the increase of stress and anxiety isn’t. Stress and anxiety among adults in the U.S. have been on an incline for quite some time, even before the pandemic hit. According to the American Physiological Association, “Most Americans are suffering from moderate to high stress, with 44 percent reporting that their stress levels have increased over the past five years.” The main areas of stress include money, work and job stability. So what do our bosses have to say about all this? Look no further than the art of corporate mindfulness.
The original practice of mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism and Hinduism. Buddhist monks practiced mindfulness as a way to achieve enlightenment through discipline and introspection. In Hindu cultures, members of the religion practiced mindfulness through yoga to unify themselves with Brahman, also known as the Ultimate Reality or divine consciousness. Different concepts of mindfulness show up in many cultures. Its origins are truly beautiful, but adding “corporate” to the beginning adds a distinctly capitalist flare. Many Buddist and Hindu traditions that have been commodified and appropriated by the West. Of course, the corporate world has found a way to make money off of mindfulness as well.
A Gallup survey on the American workplace showed that “more than 50% of workers are not engaged at work as a result of stress, leading to a loss of productivity.” Loss of productivity means loss of revenue for these companies. Luckily for them, corporate mindfulness provides a way to squeeze more productivity out of their workers without changing anything for the better. It’s about the theater of a good workplace environment — not the actual practice of it. Corporations don’t want to implement change as a way to improve their employees’ lives, like better benefits, a four day work week or the option to work from home. In truth, these companies hide behind the promises of self-improvement, but only care about their bottom line.
According to the Niagara Institute, mindfulness increases focus, reduces conflict and improves communication. Notably, they mentioned the benefits of reduced burnout and an increase in productivity backed up by a study done by the National Library of Medicine. “The study was able to calculate that the organization could save up to $22,000 per employee as a result of reduced burnout and increased productivity.” At face value, these benefits are fantastic, but it’s important to look at their intent. The only purpose of these programs is to make money off of their employees, not to improve their mental health. These programs are meant to reduce stress that is brought on by the corporations themselves, because of poor employee-boss relationships, lack of autonomy or harassment. Instead of fixing the core problem with why these workers are so stressed, companies use mindfulness programs for selfish purposes and brand them as a part of their positive work culture.
These programs have been successful, but corporate mindfulness isn’t just about practicing mindfulness. It pops up in sneaky ways as well. On top of mindfulness programs, some of the biggest conglomerates in the world have implemented “perks,” the allure of a company that cares about its employees. At its core, corporate mindfulness has the top earners’ interest in mind, so they find ways to “improve” the work environment without losing money on actually supporting their workers. Silicon Valley is the best example of this. Amazon will let you bring your dog to work so you don’t have to go home to take care of it. Google offers fine dining every day, but you have to stay until 6:30 p.m. to get dinner. Facebook has an on-site fitness center. There are even shuttles to and from work in the Valley, complete with WiFi and chargers, so you can keep working to and from work. Corporate mindfulness is a way for companies to reduce the work-life balance and keep you in the office. The worst part is that these corporations use these perks as replacements for better wages. Major corporations like Amazon, Google and Facebook have the means to treat their employees right, especially at the lowest levels, but they use mindfulness as a scapegoat instead. These programs and perks prevent workers from realizing they’re being taken advantage of.
For the most part, this only applies to white collar jobs in the corporate sphere. To the rest of the working world, this type of labor manipulation seems like a dream come true, and in many ways, it is. Corporate mindfulness is not the worst thing in the world. It is a privilege to have these kinds of problems. It is, however, important to be aware of all of the ways in which corporations can manipulate their employees. It’s much more subtle than union busting or underpaying workers. When corporations offer these programs and benefits, they are not providing these services for their employees. They’re doing it to ensure constant work, to proliferate their own business and to hide less savory business models behind a seemingly positive one. Next time you find yourself applauding a major conglomerate on a seemingly good policy or program, think about why they’re implementing it. In our current state of late stage capitalism, what we actually need are policies that hold corporations accountable and make sure they give a fair portion of their earnings to their workers. Clearly, Americans are still stressed out, and the theater of corporate mindfulness is merely a bandaid on a stab wound.