Mindfulness Training Reduces Stress At Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Mindfulness-based interventions have been suggested as one way to improve employee well-being in the workplace. Despite these purported benefits, there have been few well-controlled randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating mindfulness training in the workplace. Here we conducted a two-arm RCT at work among employees of a digital marketing firm comparing the efficacy of a high dose six-week mindfulness training to a low dose single-day mindfulness training for improving multiple measures of employee well-being assessed using ecological momentary assessment. High dose mindfulness training reduced both perceived and momentary stress, and buffered employees against worsened affect and decreased coping efficacy compared to low dose mindfulness training. These results provide well-controlled evidence that mindfulness training programs can reduce momentary stress at work, suggesting that more intensive mindfulness training doses (i.e., 6-weeks) may be necessary for improving workplace well-being outcomes. This RCT utilizes a novel experience sampling approach to measure the effects of a mindfulness intervention on employee well-being and considers potential dose-response effects of mindfulness training at work.

Mindfulness training improves employee well-being: A randomized controlled trial.

Organizations are turning toward behavioral interventions with the aim of improving employee well-being and job performance. Mindfulness training has been suggested as one type of intervention that can achieve these goals, but few active treatment randomized controlled trials have been conducted. We conducted a randomized controlled trial among employees of a midwestern marketing firm (n = 60) that compared the effects of 6-week mindfulness training program with that of a half-day mindfulness training seminar comparison program on employee well-being outcomes. Although both groups improved comparably on job productivity, the 6-week mindfulness training group had significantly greater improvement in attentional focus at work and decreases in work-life conflict, as well as a marginal improvement in job satisfaction compared with the half-day seminar comparison group. These findings suggest that although small doses of mindfulness training may be sufficient to foster increased perceptions of job productivity, longer term mindfulness training programs are needed to improve focus, job satisfaction, and a positive relationship to work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).