“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”
― Charles Darwin, The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809–82
Corporate Wellness Programs for Stress Reduction and Burnout Prevention
Stress in the workplace is a growing concern for employees and employers in Australia.
Figures show that while compensation claims made by Australian employees fell significantly between 1996 and 2004, the number of stress related claims almost doubled [1].
Workplace stress can also impact employee productivity through increased absenteeism and presenteeism[2] ; imposing a direct economic cost on employers.
In 2005, Medibank-commissioned research found that:
• healthy employees are three times more productive than unhealthy employees;
• unhealthy employees take nine times more sick leave than healthy employees.
The cost of absenteeism in Australia is estimated at $7 billion each year, while presenteeism — defined as not fully functioning at work because of a medical condition — was recently estimated to cost the economy more than $34 billion a year.
And burnout has become a major issue in many workplaces as pressure for increased efficiency targets take their toll on workers frequently putting in more than their required 37.5 or 40 hour weeks, or working in high stress environments.
So, what is a good, cost effective wellness activity for corporate workers, that:
- is engaging
- reduces stress and promotes wellness
- is suitable for all fitness levels
- doesn’t require sweating away for hours in a gym
- and avoids additional lost time due to showering and changing
Of course, it’s group recreational music making with drums and percussion.
A groundbreaking 2005 study showed that playing a musical instrument can reverse multiple components of the human stress response at the genomic level, and demonstrated not only a reduction in stress, but a reversal in 19 genetic switches that turn on the stress response, believed responsible in the development of many common diseases.
But why drums and percussion? — Because they are so much easier than Violins! And no musical experience, nor aptitude required.
A study by the Royal College of Music in London has found that a 10-week programme of group drumming reduces depression by as much as 38% and anxiety by 20%.
And a preliminary study, published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, and a controlled study, published in PLOS ONE, also revealed that a 10-week programme of group drumming can improve social resilience by 23% and mental well-being by 16%.
Our Corporate Wellness programmes use the evidence based HealthRHYTHMS protocol.
HealthRHYTHMS has been shown to strengthen and sustain our innate immune system (by increasing Natural Killer cells) and to decrease levels of the stress hormone, Cortisol [3].
A study using the HealthRHYTHMS protocol over six weekly sessions in a large teaching hospital, found a reduction in burnout in student nurses by 46%, saving the hospital $185,000 per year (by independent assessment). Think what it could do for your organisation.
We offer weekly stress reducing HealthRHYTHMS sessions for Corporate Wellness, at your site, for groups of 5 to 20 people, all instruments provided.
A HealthRHYTHMS session typically incorporates:
- simple wellness exercises
- a team building ice-breaker, for connection and laughter
- basic drum instruction, rhythm play and making in-the-moment rhythms
- connection to the group consciousness through entrainment drumming
- the opportunity to wordlessly express frustrations and motivations on the drum, and be heard
- mindfulness through a guided imagery drumming
Elements of the Rhythm2Recovery protocol may also be blended into a Burnout Prevention session, to help process stressors and relationship issues in the workplace.
Call us now to discuss a Corporate Wellness program suited to your workplace needs.
Corporate Programmes for Team Building
Our team building programmes draw on techniques and rhythm games from Village Music Circles and the psycho-social learning protocols from Rhythm2Recovery and DRUMBEAT , to produce an experiential investigation of metaphors for leading and following, listening and interpreting, cooperation and support, relationships, respect and motivation, and dealing with change.
Or we can design a programme to deliver your chosen business metaphors.
Programmes for Corporate Celebration
Some times it’s good just to let your hair down, and get your “Ya-Ya’s” out and celebrate your successes.
Our Corporate Celebration Drum Circle can accommodate 100 players (or more) on mixed drums and percussion, requires no prior drumming experience, and is ideal for celebrating successful sales quarters, end of year parties, or anything.
The facilitator will take your group on a journey from noisy rabble to an ensemble making their own in-the-moment group rhythms with a series of fun and entertaining rhythm games and interventions. No set rhythms to learn, no stress, just loads of fun.
A great team bonding activity.
Contact us now, to discuss your Corporate Team-Building or Celebration event needs.
References
- Australian Safety and Compensation Council (2007).
- Presenteeism is defined as the lost productivity that occurs when employees come to work but, as a consequence of illness or other conditions, are not fully functioning. In comparison, absenteeism occurs when employees do not come to work.
- Bittman, M.D., Barry, Karl T. Bruhn, Christine Stevens, MSW, MT-BC, James Westengard, Paul O Umbach, MA, “Recreational Music-Making, A Cost-Effective Group Interdisciplinary Strategy for Reducing Burnout and Improving Mood States in Long-Term Care Workers,” Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, Fall/Winter 2003, Vol. 19 No. 3/4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14686266
Sustaining Rhythms Music Circles 