4 reasons to start a company yoga class

1. Improve employee health

Yoga increases blood flow, builds strength, and improves your posture. For workers who sit at a computer all day, this is really valuable, and can quickly improve common complaints like back pain and neck pain.

Regular yoga also boosts the immune systems, which means that staff will be less likely to get sick during cold season. For large communal offices where illness often spreads quickly, this is a massive benefit. Practising yoga can also help staff to sleep better at night, which means they’ll come to work feeling relaxed, refreshed, and ready to focus.

2. Reduce workplace conflict

Got a team who just can’t get on? Or is there a culture of conflict in your workplace? It’s easy to invest in new tools and pieces of tech to try and solve the problem, but even the best conference call services in the world can’t fix a team that doesn’t get on.

Yoga, however, is proven to reduce hostility and aggression in workers. This means that even when your staff don’t see eye to eye, they’ll be more able to resolve things in a calm, civil manner. As yoga also increases overall feelings of well-being, your employees will be more likely to adopt a positive attitude during times of conflict.

3. Help minimize stress

Workplace stress is a massive issue that can mean your employees struggle to focus, take regular days off, and burn out more quickly. Even just a few minutes of yoga every day can massively reduce stress, help employees get back in balance, and put things into perspective. Taking a break from an important project to do a few simple stretches often triggers ‘light bulb’ moments and helps staff to solve problems in innovative ways.

The meditative and spiritual aspects of yoga can help employees to see that a small mistake at work doesn’t need to be the cause of tons of stress - which makes them less likely to make mistakes in the future. When your employees are calm, they feel better and work better - it’s a win-win.

4. Improve employee loyalty

When you put time, money, and effort into organizing a company yoga class, you send out a clear message that you care about your employees. When your staff feel that they’re supported by you, they’re much more likely to stay loyal to your company. Having a strong focus on employee wellbeing will help you attract new talent and hold onto it for longer.

Many companies are now realizing the importance of offering classes and activities that help employees to stay healthy, so if you don’t get onboard then you could quickly lose your best employees to businesses with better offerings. Putting on a company yoga class is a great first step towards a new wellbeing policy, which you could gradually develop by offering meditation, healthy cooking classes, and more.

Starting a company yoga class is more than just a gimmick - it’s an effective way to boost employee loyalty, reduce absenteeism, and minimize workplace stress and conflict.