Companies are adding yoga at workplace to boost productivity: ASSOCHAM survey

by Shrutee K/DNS 

Over 53% of the corporate companies are opting for yoga sessions in workplace to boost productivity, reduce sick days, increase mental clarity, combat fatigue, improve memory, fight stress and increase workplace satisfaction, an ASSOCHAM paper coinciding with the “International Yoga Day” (June 21) noted.

As per the ASSOCHAM recent estimates, there is about a 35 percent annual increase in demand for yoga learning in India with a growing publicity and health awareness. This demand trend will accelerate further to become multi-billion dollar market in the form of health clinics, ayurveda resorts, holiday camps, corporate training etc, conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) paper on “International Yoga Day”.

The number of employee from the corporate world who seek yoga classes have gone up by about 35-40% this year compared with last year (20%), said Dr. B K Rao, Chairman of ASSOCHAM Health Committee Council. Many B-Schools are also taking the lead from corporate to have compulsory yoga modules to minimize the stress of the candidates.

According to the findings, nearly 53% of corporate companies are participating in yoga sessions in their offices as stress management activities and many individuals are also opting for personalized yoga classes at home. The corporate industry is looking to promote healthier practices for their employees to boost productivity, adds the survey.

Increasingly demanding schedules and high stress levels are leading to depression or general anxiety disorders in individual lives and have wide ranging effects like daytime fatigue, physical discomfort, psychological stress, performance deterioration and increased absenteeism. Almost 60 to 65% of executives are suffering from stress-related diseases, said Mr. D S Rawat, Secretary General ASSOCHAM while releasing the survey.
  
ASSOCHAM Co-Chairman of Health Committee Council Dr. H K Chopra said, “Yoga helps people to think clearly, sharpens intelligence, improves learning ability, helps cope with problems and produces better job performance”. Having yoga in the workplace offers a convenient way for employees to have a balanced life and to fit a workout in, without having to leave the premises.

As per ASSOCHAM’s corporate employees’ survey result, around 45.5% of the sample population are suffering from depression or general anxiety.  Obesity is the second hard hit disease that was observed among the respondents, with 23% of the sample corporate employees suffering from obesity alone can modify occupational morbidity, mortality and injury risks that can further affect workplace absence, disability, productivity and healthcare costs. High blood pressure (B.P) and diabetes are the third and fourth largest disease with a share of 9 per cent and 8 per cent respectively as suffered among the corporate employees. Spondolysis (5.5 per cent), heart disease (4 per cent), cervical (3.0 per cent), asthma (2.5 per cent), slip disk (1 per cent) and arthritis (1.5 per cent) are the diseases that are mostly suffered by corporate employees.


The following statistics are sad and shocking, nearly 40.5% of corporate employees sleep  less than 6 hours in a day due to  high stressed levels that arise out of tough targets set for themselves by employers and cause diseases like depression, hypertension, sugar etc., The demand for yoga instructors has increased in the last one year. The increase in awareness on yoga is helping the market grow. In India, a yoga instructor, can earn between Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 60,000 a month, adds the paper.  Yoga is not only the greatest stress buster, but it is also an effective therapy option.  It prevents and cures diseases and promotes general good health as it imparts mental, spiritual, and physical well being, said Dr. Rao.

As per the findings, Yoga sessions are introduced for an hour daily, from Monday to Friday, or for three days a week, depending on the employees’ requirements. The benefits of a workplace wellness program, improve presenteeism, Control/reduces escalating health care costs, improve productivity, increases employee loyalty and reduces attrition rate, employees leading healthy lifestyles tend to take lower sick leaves with improved work performance and increased productivity that reduces overall costs of the organisation.The report is based on the views of 1,500 corporate employees from 250 companies across 18 broad sectors like media, telecom and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) etc.

The report included the major cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabd, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun etc. A little over 200 employee were selected from each city on an average. Around 55 per cent of the survey respondents’ fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed by 30-39 years (26 per cent), 40-49 years (16 per cent), 50-59 years (2 per cent) and 60-69 years (approximately 1 per cent). The survey was able to target corporate employees from 18 broad sectors, with maximum share contributed by employees from IT/ITes sector (17 per cent).

Employees working in engineering and telecom sector contributed 9 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in the questionnaire. Nearly 6 per cent of the employees belonged from market research/KPO and media background each. Management, FMCG and Infrastructure sector employees share is 5 per cent each, in the total survey. Respondents from power and real estate sector contributed 4 per cent each. Employees from education and food & beverages sector provided a share of 3 per cent each. Advertising, manufacturing and textiles employees offered a share of 2 per cent each in the survey results.

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