How to Instantly Improve Morale in the Workplace

Do you ever wonder if your employees feel appreciated—really appreciated rather than feeling they are just given lip service by the company? Do your employees feel you care about them?

A Harvard Business Review article published the results of a poll of 1,000 workers, and the most frequent complaints employees had about their companies involved not feeling their efforts were adequately recognized or appreciated by management.¹

What better way to tell your coworkers that “I see you and I appreciate you,” than to give them an employee benefit that will relax them, help relieve their stress and their pain, and have the added advantage of also making them more productive?

How do your coworkers feel after hours hunched over computer keyboards, pressured by workloads and deadlines? Sometimes people just go to get a coffee or to the bathroom just to stretch their sore, stiff bodies. Wouldn’t they appreciate having a professional give them a directed, therapeutic massage to relieve those aches? What would that do for morale in the company?

Our licensed massage therapists can give chair massages right there in the workplace or at company events in short 15 to 30 minute sessions conveniently worked into their break times without disruptions or having people disrobe or in any way feeling uncomfortable. We can schedule a visit as a one-time event or as periodic visits weekly or monthly as part of an ongoing employee wellness plan, according to your company’s needs.

The Science Behind Why It Works

If you have ever had a professional massage, you probably already know and have felt the benefits yourself. If you haven’t experienced professional massage yourself, here is what Danielle Gentile, PhD,² said recently in an interview:

“I find it impressive that massage therapy can help people with multiple symptoms at once. I’m interested in pain, but massage may also reduce anxiety, improve sleep quality, and improve overall quality of life with just one intervention. Oftentimes in health services research, there is a reductionist approach that aims to isolate each effect to find the best scientific evidence. However, the interconnectedness of the mind, body, and spirit can all be impacted by massage.”³

In a study published in the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, a respected Canadian peer-reviewed professional research publication, researchers found that 15-minute chair massage sessions significantly reduced chronic stress and pain in a subject group of oncology care nursing professionals prone to chronic stress.⁴

The study specifically studied oncology nurses because of the added stress that job implies.

“There are stressing characteristics common to the nursing category in all patient care settings; however, the oncology unit, especially in the hospital setting, presents elements which favor psychological overload due to complex and conflicting situations, prolonged hospitalizations of patients, mutilating surgeries, patient and family expectations, and the challenge of dealing with the constant terminality and threat to life, in addition to the need for making decisions in ethically complex situations.”⁵

Another study of 127 participants from various professions, including information technology professionals, bank accountants, textile workers, construction workers, business sector employees and secretaries, found that regular massage therapy significantly reduced participants’ pain intensity with only one or two massages per month.⁶

Call us to see how easy it is to give your personnel an employee benefit they will truly appreciate.