As employees face unprecedented rates of burnout due to workplace stress, companies and researchers are increasingly looking to prevent this from taking a toll on their workforce.
One such company is Exos, a performance coaching company, which partnered with psychologists at Hofstra University to conduct a study on how they can harness the concept of “flow,” a state of optimal and coveted consciousness, characterized by high performance and satisfaction often reported by high-level people. efficient in the workplace. They found that periodic short breaks dedicated to exercise, meditation, and goal setting can help increase workflow, which can prevent burnout.
The problem, according to Dr. Chris Bertram, Exos’ senior director of applied neuroscience, is that the choice employers often face between the well-being of their employees and the bottom line of their business is a false dichotomy. Bertram says that by using these interventions designed to create flow, employers can simultaneously increase productivity while reducing stress.
Flow reduces stress and increases engagement
For an entire month, 150 Exos employees were divided into two groups: One group continued to work as things were going, and the other group received what the researchers called flow-support interventions. These interventions included basic education about flow and how it could increase your productivity at work.
The intervention group was asked three times a day to take a goal-setting break during which they would clearly outline what they wanted to achieve during the next hour and 20 minutes of work. This is called a flow trigger.
“[Having clear goals] “Flow doesn’t necessarily put us directly into flow, but it’s one of those first steps that gets us focused on a task, and flow follows focus,” Bertram said. “Flow can be an intentional practice, but many people think of it as just this thing that magically happens, when all the stars and the universe align and we get this crazy performance out of ourselves.”
In addition to this, Flow Group employees were also encouraged to take 10-15 minute breaks spread two to three times throughout the day. During these strategic microbreaks, employees performed either mindfulness meditations or light exercises. The exercise was not necessarily a workout but enough to get the employee out of his chair and moving.
Everyone in the study was given a FitBit to wear so the researchers could track their heart rate and sleep quality, which they used to calculate heart rate variability, a physiological indicator of stress based on the participant’s bodily response. Throughout each day, participants were asked to rate the level of stress and flow they experienced that day and how engaged they felt in their work.
By the end of the month, Bertram and his team found that their interventions had doubled the amount of reported flows and quadrupled the amount of reported engagement in their work. This increase in flow resulted in a decrease in reported stress and stability in physiological symptoms.
On the other hand, employees in the control group reported having stable stress levels, but had increasing symptoms of stress in their bodies, similar to people going through periods of extreme physical or emotional duress. Participants in the Flow group left work feeling less exhausted and actually had time to rest and recover after work, preparing to tackle the next work day with even more focus and energy.
“Rest and recovery, even in micro-quantities, yields a huge return on investment,” says Bertram. “There’s this common expression that ‘stress + rest = success’, well we’re changing it a bit to ‘flow + rest = success.’
Rest is important for fluency
The study results suggest that incorporating these short “flow breaks” into the workday can help prevent burnout by giving employees a chance to recover from stress.
Bertram describes flow as part of a cycle that begins with a period of struggle. It’s like running, in which for the first few minutes your body struggles to keep up with energy expenditure until you reach a rhythm and feel relief from the struggle. Bertram says this point of relief is when you can let yourself fall into the flow.
“Flow is a high-energy state, so there is an energetic cost to being in flow,” says Bertram. “A very important part of the flow cycle is putting energy back into the system so that when the next fight comes, you hit it from a better base, from a more recovered place.” This period of rest and exercise puts depleted energy back into the system, allowing you to reengage in your work, says Bertram.
Exos was so pleased with the study results that they added flow interventions into their company culture and performance code. After seeing the importance of rest in this study, Bertram says they are now considering moving to a four-day work week, as they team up with Adam Grant and the Wharton School of Business to conduct a study on its efficiency.
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