Author: Emily Bonzi

Workplace burnout is a pervasive issue that affects employees across all industries and sectors. Burnout can arise from a variety of factors, including heavy workloads, long hours, and stressful work environments. When left unchecked, burnout can lead to decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, and an endless void of physical and mental health problems.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Today, employers have more resources than ever before to help manage stress levels around the office. Read on to explore coping strategies for dealing with workplace burnout, particularly through workplace massage and the benefits it brings. By incorporating these coping mechanisms into the workday, you can help your team improve overall well being, as well as maintain job satisfaction and performance!

Recognizing the Signs of Workplace Burnout

Just like any other issue, the first step in addressing workplace burnout is recognizing it exists. This means understanding the signs and symptoms.

Burnout can manifest in a variety of ways, including physical, emotional, and cognitive symptoms. Physical symptoms can include exhaustion, headaches, and muscle tension, while emotional symptoms can include feelings of cynicism and detachment from work, as well as reduced job satisfaction. Cognitive symptoms can include difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, and impaired decision-making abilities.

By recognizing these signs early on, you can take steps to prevent burnout from becoming increasingly severe. If you’re unsure of how to gauge how employees are feeling, try sending out an internal form where they can anonymously give feedback or – at the very least – rate their stress levels and workloads to start the conversation.

How to Help Employees Avoid Burnout

The signs of workplace burnout may seem obvious, but helping employees cope is another story. There are a variety of coping strategies that can be effective in managing burnout.

• Self-care. These strategies can include taking breaks throughout the workday, engaging in stress-reducing activities like yoga or meditation, and getting enough sleep and exercise.
• Time management. Try setting realistic goals and prioritizing tasks to prevent feeling overwhelmed by a heavy workload.
• Seeking support. Be it colleagues or supervisors, or both; encourage your team to reach out for help with specific tasks or projects, or to discuss the sources of stress and workload concerns.

These coping strategies can be used in combination to help manage and reduce workplace burnout. The key is to remember that each employee is different and thus, has different needs. This is where having a custom stress management program can be helpful to ensure everyone is set up for success, specifically one that includes workplace massage.

Incorporating Workplace Massage as a Coping Strategy

One of the most effective coping strategies for dealing with burnout is workplace massage (aka corporate massage). Workplace massage is a form of massage therapy that is offered in the office during business hours, usually in a chair or table set up specifically for massage. This type of massage typically focuses on the upper body, such as the neck, shoulders, back, and arms, and can be done with or without the use of massage oils or lotions. Workplace massage can be a practical way to reduce muscle tension and stress, improve circulation, and boost mood and productivity. Incorporating workplace massage into the workday can also help create a more relaxed and positive work environment, which can contribute to better overall job satisfaction and performance!

Hear from our massage therapists and learn how to prepare your office for a workplace massage event.

Other Workplace Strategies to Help Employees Thrive

While massage is a great tool to reduce employee burnout, there are many ways to stay ahead here! Flexible work arrangements, such as telecommuting or hybrid scheduling, can give employees greater control over their work and personal lives, which reduces stress and burnout. Stress-reducing activities, such as employer-sponsored virtual exercise programs or taking mental health breaks to walk outside, can also help prevent burnout by promoting physical and mental wellbeing.

Establishing clear boundaries between work and personal time can also help prevent employees from feeling overwhelmed by their workload and responsibilities. By combining workplace massage with other effective strategies, employees can take a more holistic approach to managing and preventing workplace burnout.

Custom Stress Management Programs Curb Workplace Burnout

Employers have a responsibility to create a safe and healthy work environment for their employees. By understanding the signs of workplace burnout and taking steps to prevent and manage it, businesses can sustain a more productive and positive workplace. One effective strategy that could be implemented is a stress management program featuring workplace massage. By offering massage therapy to their employees, employers can promote physical and mental wellbeing, reduce stress and burnout, and improve job satisfaction and performance!

If you’re an employer looking to build your own stress management program, consider incorporating workplace massage as a key component. Your employees will thank you for it. Body Techniques partners with brands across the country to create healthy work environments. Start building your own program today!

With 2023 comes a wave of new expectations from employers. Decision makers can get ahead with new employee appreciation tactics (hello stress management programs) that motivate staff to do their best work. As the corporate world slowly adopts hybrid work models, finding ways to manage stress levels for remote and in-office staff alike will only improve workplace culture and the attitude employees bring to work everyday.

Why Show Appreciation In The Workplace?

Employee recognition is a must if businesses wish to see success in 2023. Before identifying worthwhile ideas to implement, we must first understand how management has evolved over the years. “Old school” managerial styles are rooted in loyalty to the company. For example, success in our professional lives once correlated with success in our personal lives. People lived to work, rather than work to live. Data shows that 66% of people left their job because employee appreciation was next to none. If the last few years have taught us anything it’s that this approach is, not in the least bit, effective. Insert: the fallout of The Great Resignation.  

Before 2020, many employers failed to recognize that happiness comes from within, not from the positions or titles we hold. People are more than dollar signs and should be treated as such. In order to keep employees engaged and fulfilled in their daily roles, we must provide them with resources and outlets that promote healthy work-life balance practices. By assessing internal processes, businesses can dissect how policies enhance (or hinder) the wellbeing of their staff, customers, and so on. Experience is everything here. Bad experiences lead to quiet quitting, poor performance, and negative energy. Finding new ways to show gratitude for your employees is a giant step towards cultivating a workplace culture that sustains productivity and keeps employees dedicated because they want to contribute, rather than feeling obligated to earn a paycheck.

Recognizing the hard work people put into your company is the tip of the iceberg. If you want to maintain healthy workplace relationships, it is your responsibility to explore avenues of employee appreciation that support both people and operations. 

Employee Appreciation Ideas Every Industry Can Benefit From

Showing employees you value them is priceless. Prioritizing workplace culture in 2023 means you’re doing your part as a leader to help your team succeed and truly love their jobs – all while decreasing turnover!

Prepaid Corporate Massage Sessions

Whether it be monthly or quarterly, introducing company-sponsored corporate massage to your employees boosts morale across the board. This gives everyone something to look forward to and rewards them for their hard work. A benefit to booking your 2023 corporate massage sessions in advance is saving up to 25% on bonus credits when you partner with Body Techniques. We hand select massage therapists (or Certified Massage Practitioners for Canadian clients), that best match your workplace. By prepaying now, you can shift focus towards other business endeavors knowing corporate wellness is already scheduled and ready to go! Not to mention that the savings towards extra in-office massage sessions means more opportunities to help employees unplug for a little while and relax. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Virtual Wellness Classes For Hybrid Work Models

You know the saying: health is wealth. With many businesses transitioning to hybrid working models, leaders are challenged to introduce benefits that support those working in-office and/or remotely various days of the week. Virtual wellness classes provide an opportunity to get employees out of their heads and into their bodies to disconnect from daily stresses or big projects they may be working on. Not to mention our catalog of ranges from yoga to self massage and of course online fitness classes! Choosing the right package for your needs is easy with online scheduling, class durations, and series. This is ideal for hybrid work models looking to show extra appreciation for employees because no physical office space is needed on your part. Simply give your team access to the dashboard and they choose classes that work best for them. 

Plan Ahead & Save On 2023 Employee Appreciation Tactics

The time is now to get a head start on improving workplace culture in the new year. Healthy employees are happy employees. Ditch the overdone pizza party and show your team you really care with fresh appreciation ideas like corporate massage and/or virtual wellness classes they can take when their schedule allows. You’ll quickly notice the ripple effect of improved morale, productivity, and job satisfaction all from a genuine effort to say “thank you”. 

Learn more about how you can save up to 25% on bonus massage credits when booking 2023 sessions before December 31!

As Canada adapts to life post-Covid, many companies are finding themselves at a crossroads with creating a supportive culture that empowers employees. From Montreal, Quebec to Toronto, Ontario and even all the way to Vancouver, British Columbia – businesses in every industry are looking for new ways to promote wellness best practices.

One of the most effective ways to show employees you care about their mental health and wellbeing? By equipping them with stress management programs. More specifically, corporate massage. 

It is with great excitement that we announce Body Techniques now offers onsite corporate massage services for Canadian companies. Read on to learn why offering wellness benefits such as this can keep employees motivated and connected to their careers.

Why Are Employee Wellness Programs Important? 

As humans, we’re not meant to be at a desk all day – whether it’s sitting or standing. By having wellness programs accessible to your employees, they can catch the mental break they need to reset and gain some clarity in between projects. The benefits of corporate massage help us manage stress levels that can hinder overall production levels. The goal of implementing wellness programs throughout the workplace is to show employees you care and want them to have a healthy outlook on life and more importantly – their jobs. This reduces turnover rates, increases productivity, and even boosts immune systems to help your employees be the best version of themselves. 

How To Implement Corporate Massage Into Employee Benefits

Managing daily business operations is difficult enough without throwing a new benefit into the mix. A core perk of partnering with our Certified Massage Practitioners (CMPs) is that we create custom programs designed to meet the unique needs of your business. We’re working with local CMPs in your area to not only improve your workplace, but the local economy as a whole. When mapping out what your corporate massage program will look like, your contact here at Body Techniques becomes an extension of your own team. Working alongside you to find solutions that make the most sense and helping you implement this fresh wellness program to employees. In other words – we do the heavy lifting so you can focus on the big picture.

Mental Health Matters

Mental health has never been a more important topic for business leaders to keep top of mind. Corporate massage plays a bigger role in supporting your employees’ mental health than one may think. Our programs are an effective way to show your team you care about their wellbeing. When employees know you want them to have a healthy work-life balance, morale increases across the board.

Preparing Your Office For Corporate Massage

Introducing a one-time or recurring corporate massage event requires a little preparation – not to worry though. Our onboarding process is a breeze. As we already mentioned, your contact here at Body Techniques will help you plan ahead. We’ve seen the best results when employers have a designated space for the CMPs to set up ahead of time. The safety of your staff and ours is always our highest priority. With that being said, our clean wellness policy breaks down our six-point approach to provide a positive, relaxing environment for all. 

Booking

When booking your upcoming corporate massage event, keep in mind a minimum of 2-weeks is required to ensure you get the most out of your investment. This gives everyone the breathing room they need to set up an agenda and inform employees of what’s to come.

Set Employees Up For Success With Corporate Massage

The idea of adding a new benefit into your benefits package can be daunting. Body Techniques makes it easy to not only introduce corporate massage to employees, but keep them engaged and most importantly – healthy. By hiring the best CMPs throughout Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, your employees can access a stress management outlet that empowers them both on the job and in everyday life. Explore how corporate massage can promote wellness for your own team and contact a local representative today!

There’s never been a more confusing time for business leaders regarding the “right” way to encourage office-based employees to return to work. Some are experimenting with hybrid work models while others are looking for 100% participation in returning to the office.

The catch? What’s best for one business may not apply to another. This is why companies must expand their horizons and introduce fun incentives and meaningful benefits to get employees back into the office.

But first, let’s dive into the pros and cons of hybrid versus traditional (5-days/week) work models.

Hybrid vs. Full Return Work Models

When COVID-19 had us locked in our homes, we had no choice but to find new norms in every aspect of life: family, friends, school, and work. But now we’ve established new normals, and many business leaders are considering resuming a traditional workweek – or something relatively close. The last few years have been particularly hard to create and maintain workplace culture. Zoom meetings can only go so far, especially when you’re onboarding new employees or introducing fresh policies. As a result, many employers want to entice teams back to the office and provide a space for connection and collaboration.

Most employees on the other hand have come to know and love working from home, so much in fact that they’re seeking hybrid schedules to continue this take on work-life balance. And who can blame them? This ongoing struggle of not wanting to return to the office, but needing to have a designated space for collaboration has employees and employers seeking common ground to find a win-win solution.

4 Ways To Get Your Team Excited About Returning To The Office

It’s ultimately up to business leaders if they want to implement either a hybrid or 100% in-office model. We encourage all leaders to listen to their team and consider the true cost of completely eliminating a hybrid model. If your business allows for it, work towards finding that sweet spot that supports work-life balance through days at home and in the office. With that said, encouraging employees to return to the office has more opportunities than one may think. Morale can be boosted across the board when there’s something to gain for coming to work. If you find yourself at a crossroads, consider these unique ways to get everyone excited about coming into the office.

Host A Welcome Back Party

Even workplaces adopting hybrid schedules can benefit from a welcome back party. Hosting this event in your office’s conference or break room is a great way to bring employees together. Send out a poll prior to the event and get a group vote on catering or any games you have planned to break the ice.

Provide Peace Of Mind With Safety & Cleaning Procedures

Sanitation and cleanliness is top of mind for most of us nowadays. Make sure employees know they’re in-office working environments are being cleaned with commercial-grade products to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

Revisit Company Goals & Objectives

WFH life showed us the majority of meetings can be summarized just fine via email. However, holding a meeting to revisit company goals and objectives should be done in-person. You can use the current climate to draw parallels on how you plan to move your company in the right direction. Most importantly – how your employees and their presence in the office contribute to the bigger picture.

Expand Your Employee Benefits To Include Wellness Packages

Many of our clients see major employee participation when they upgrade their benefits package in the form of a return to the office incentive. Incorporating wellness packages that aid stress management are one of the top benefits employees are looking for. Corporate massage is huge when it comes to keeping stress levels at an all time low. It not only gives your team a well deserved break, but communicates that you – their employer – see them as people who deserve benefits that prioritize their mental (and physical) health.

Implementing corporate massage is a breeze for any kind of office or corporate setting. Our process is designed to work with hybrid, virtual, and complete in-office environments. Never worry about safety, cleanliness, or professionalism. We use the best massage therapists in the country to ensure your experience is one-of-a-kind.

Help Your Employees Grow With Your Company, Not Against

Today’s business leaders are finding themselves in uncharted waters. When deciding how to return to the office, keep in mind that there are pros and cons to both hybrid and 100% in-office work models. Should you decide to transition employees back to work, consider welcoming them with a company-sponsored party and use that time to bring them up to speed on new goals/objectives, as well as incentivize new work models with benefit upgrades that promote overall wellness.

Body Techniques is well-versed in preparing businesses just like yours to come back to the office. Get a customized return to work plan when you schedule a call today.

Moms truly do it all. On top of being full-time caregivers and teachers, they also have to factor in how to support their children and make ends meet. The pressure COVID-19 added to working moms made it nearly impossible to be fully present at work, home, and in their childrens’ lives.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that the time is now to introduce supportive practices that set working moms up for success. Some may argue that we should leave our personal life at the door when we start our work day… And to that we say: there is no clocking in and out as a parent. It’s a full-time, 24/7/365 role that has zero breaks. Because of this, employers must implement progressive benefits to set moms up for success.

Avoid Burnout With Supportive Employee Benefits

Factoring in the amount of pressure on working moms already, failure to introduce benefits that help working moms could result in burnout. This doesn’t require you to create a special program specifically for moms only. Think about new perks or incentives that benefit everyone – including working moms. You’ll find that when employees see you’re doing your part to create a healthy work-life balance, morale is higher and productivity levels rise across every department.

Give Employees Some Breathing Room With Progressive Working Norms

So, what programs can benefit all employees and give moms some time to catch their breath? How are employers supposed to keep operations humming in a way that keeps everyone sane? It all starts with taking a step back (and a deep breath) to look at the bigger picture:

Hybrid Work Schedules

Hybrid work models are quickly becoming an optimal solution to offer employees the work-life balance they need – especially for working moms. Some days are reserved for remote focus work and others are spent in the office to collaborate and move the company forward. This model replaces the corporate norms we once knew and gives us opportunities throughout the day to tune in with our personal lives, be it catching up on some laundry in between tasks or making lunch for the little ones at home.

Finding a win-win hybrid work schedule gives workers the space they need to put their heads down and knock out tasks, while creating a supportive workplace culture at the same time.

PTO: Paid Time Off aka Prepare The Others

Depending on who you ask, PTO can mean a few different things. While universally understood as “paid time off” younger generations like millennials and Gen Z joke that it stands for “prepare the others”.

And they have a point…

It’s not so much about what PTO stands for, rather the principle of employees giving proper notice that they will be out of the office and employers should do their part to equip their team for said employee’s absence. This falls into the work-life balance mentioned earlier. Working moms need PTO just as much as the rest of your staff and how they choose to use their PTO is entirely their prerogative. Instead of finding yourself amid the thousands of businesses suffering from the ongoing Great Resignation try implementing a reformed PTO policy and set expectations that make sense with today’s working norms.

Workplace Amenities For New Moms

If a hybrid work model isn’t feasible with your operations, consider providing resources at work for new moms. Designating a private lactation room new moms can reserve for 30-minute time slots would go a long way in creating a supportive work environment for new moms on your team.

Another way to bridge the gap between family and work life is access to childcare. Progressive businesses have found that employer-sponsored childcare has helped not only attract, but retain the best workers out there. Interestingly enough, ​​55% of parents said they would accept a lower salary if childcare were to be offered as an employee benefit.

Offering workplace amenities like these not only helps working mothers, but shows your entire staff you care about their wellbeing and lives outside of the office.

Equal Maternity & Paternity Leave

New dads only get a small fraction of the time off from work that new moms do. And while that’s for a variety of physical reasons that doesn’t mean that paternity leave should be any less than maternity leave. New parents need some time to find their footing in this new chapter of life as they get used to the ebbs and flows of parenting. The benefits of extended paternity leave are not only personal, but also helps working moms ease back into the office successfully. With dad at home too, moms have more support behind the scenes to focus on their careers instead of a newborn 24/7.

Workplace Wellness Programs To Empower Mental Health

Implementing workplace wellness programs not only builds chemistry between your employees and their departments, but promotes long-term mental health. Stress management programs like corporate massage, yoga and meditation, and virtual wellness keep the creative juices flowing and productivity levels at an all time high. We all know moving bodies are happy bodies, which ultimately improve our mood, cognitive function, and communication as a whole, so why not explore how workplace wellness can empower your employees?

Working Moms (And Dads) Benefit From Employer-Sponsored Support

Corporate America is evolving right in front of us. Employers must learn that in order to attract the best talent out there, they must have programs in place that support work-life balance. This is imperative for new moms (and dads). Hybrid work models and amenities like lactation stations/rooms, employer-sponsored childcare, and stress management programs all play a huge role in supporting working parents so they can give their children the attention they need without getting behind on daily tasks. When we create environments that empower our employees, we retain people who move our company forward.

Is your workplace shifting? Body Techniques has helped thousands of brands implement progressive policies to support new moms and sustain healthy work-life balances. Talk to us today about your goals for 2022 and get professional insight on the best next step.

We live in a day and age where there is a new “business as usual” unfolding. Some companies are shifting to 100% remote work, while others are adopting a hybrid model to give employees the flexibility to choose where they work on a day-to-day basis. This can create a problem for business leaders as they continue to find their footing in this changing environment. A simple, yet effective way to unite all employees – no matter where they are – is virtual team building exercises for.

Read on to learn more about what you can do as an employer to keep all departments synchronized using tools such as Zoom, Google Meets, and virtual wellness platforms.

Hybrid Working Models Are Here To Stay

Hybrid work models are becoming increasingly popular in every industry, but what makes a work model “hybrid”? In short, it gives employees the option to either work from home completely, or for a few days a week and come into the office for more team-focused collaboration. Commercial environments from healthcare to tech and even small businesses are benefiting from hybrid work models as the dust settles from two plus years of button up shirts with pajama pants and making sure we’re not on mute before contributing to an online meeting. This not only offers employees some well-deserved work-life balance, but it also helps businesses cut on utility costs and other expenses that can add up from a managerial standpoint.

So, what’s the catch?

This may seem like a win-win, but working from home has its own set of consequences that often leave employees feeling disconnected from fellow colleagues and employers as a whole. Virtual team building exercises lay the foundation to help people connect and engage with one another. You can hire the best talent out there, but without internal trust between departments and team leaders, the outlook can be grim for most businesses.

Build Team Chemistry No Matter Where Your Employees Are

Designating a time and space for your team to come together is the first step towards virtual team building. Depending on the inner workings of your business structure, there may be certain activities that are more suitable for your employees over others.

Virtual Yoga & Meditation

Our clients have found the most effective methods for team building can be found through company-sponsored programs like virtual wellness. Online yoga and meditation classes equip employees with mental tools to keep stress levels low while connecting with their coworkers through a shared practice.

Company-Sponsored Online Fitness Classes

It’s no secret that working out boosts endorphins. By introducing virtual fitness classes, your employees can work on mind-body connection and bond with one another at the same time. Our virtual wellness program is designed to keep your team tuned in and active as they build team chemistry and motivate one another to persevere.

Keep Daily Communications Human

If your office uses instant messaging tools like Slack, try introducing Slack bots to keep remote and in-office staff connected. Slack bots can be programmed to humanize employee interactions and group channels. Use GIFs to celebrate employee birthdays, create automated messages for weekly data recaps, set up reward systems, and break the ice as you introduce new hires to the team.

Improve Trust, Productivity, & Morale With Unique Exercises For Team Building

Just because we don’t work like we used to doesn’t mean we can’t come together to empower one another. Don’t let changing work dynamics and hybrid models handicap your operations. Virtual team building exercises make these important get-togethers accessible for everyone and establish trust between departments, leaders, and new hires.

Body Techniques specializes in virtual team building exercises and can guide you in the right direction when it comes to designing a program unique to your business. Learn more about our approach to employee wellness and how we can help unify your team.