Thriving at work is something you can influence. At Pleaz we help companies ensure that their employees thrive at work, mentally and physically alike. We recently asked some of our customers when they feel like doing something other than work actually makes them more productive.

Inspired by our customers we wanted to share these learnings with you. We hope that you will keep this guide in mind next time you or a colleague feels a little off at work.

Starting a work meeting with a clean slate.

It’s been a long day and there’s another meeting coming up. You are already out of energy, and frankly – quite annoyed, and the meeting hasn’t even started yet. What if all of your teammates had a chance to connect with each other, re-energize each other and loosen up with some laughs? Wouldn’t your energy spike up and your opinion about the coming up meeting change? Lowering the stress levels of everyone and therefore reducing the risk of unnecessary tensions or reactivity.

At Pleaz we’re seeing that customers often choose to kick off meetings with a short mindfulness session. This helps ground the meeting participants, ease tension and increases mental capacity for the upcoming tasks.

Taking a 5’ mid-meeting. Literally.

How often do you find yourself being so foggy at the meeting that you forget what you wanted to say or simply can’t follow what your colleagues are presenting? You want to be THAT person coming up with the most brilliant ideas and hear everyone’s jaws crashing on the floor while admiring your genius.

But you’re half asleep instead…

What if you had a chance to regroup in the middle of the intense meeting and top up your energy together with the rest of the participants? Close your eyes and connect with your body. Collecting your thoughts. Just to find yourself finally be that one person you always aspired to be. Coming back after a short meditation and letting your brain fire with ideas. Letting you and others reflect on the agenda with the fresh eyes and maybe even finishing the meeting earlier, because you solved everything faster?

At Pleaz we recommend office yoga for this as it keeps the pulse down and gives your body and mind a short break to reset and finish the meeting on a high.

Endorphines instead of an afternoon snack.

We all know the ‘after lunch’ state when you are slow and with a sleepy mind. If you hadn’t been at work you might have taken an afternoon nap. All this is perfectly natural and scientists has named the phenomenon the post lunch.

Instead of grabbing another coffee, you could try to get your pulse up by going for a walk or doing some light exercise. By doing this your body releases endorphins and you get the energy you need to get through the final hours of your work day.

Pleaz users prefer coordination videos, where you and your colleagues are guided through various exercises that increase your heart beat and make you smile.

When your mind starts to drift

A typical work day for an office worker usually involves two things:

a) Sitting down

b) Looking at a screen

Doing this for hours at an end makes it easy for us to lose our focus, thereby getting less done and perhaps feeling physical pain such as headaches or back pain.

To minimize the negative effect of to much chair or screen time you can take a few minutes a couple of times per day to get a good stretch and move your body. This increases your blood flow and looses up your stiff neck.

Among Pleaz customers the preferred Pleazers are the “computer head ache” series, which are a series of stretches aimed at solve these issues.

Welcoming new team members

Do you recall your first day at a new job? Figuring out how to use the coffee machine and praying not to confuse the name of your boss? Even worse, if you’re an introvert. Surviving the curious stare of the new colleagues just makes you want to run very far away, or at least hide in the bathroom. Well.. It doesn’t need to be so stressful.

How about making it fun and easy instead?

Doing mindfulness, office yoga or physical exercise together breaks down barriers between people and helps for new bonds. This makes it easier for you to welcome new team members and to integrate them into your team.

Self care on your own terms.

Coming in handy when you didn’t have a good night’s sleep and your neck is sore. Or you have a presentation with an external client and want to focus your energy before getting ready for the meeting.

Or maybe you feel stressed and anxious because of the deadlines and need a quick booster to continue with the day. Pleaz’s Wellbeing Calendar includes covers 12 areas of wellbeing. One for each month: eg. mental health, healthy heart, etc. That way there’s always an overarching theme to help employees pick an active break and ensure full attention to all areas throughout the year.

Wellbeing at work doesn’t need to be complicated. Simple solutions usually work best. Try below one of the Pleazers, and keep an eye on upcoming webinars on LinkedIn.

Want to start using Pleaz?

Book a free consultation with one of our experts and learn how you can start having a healthier workday