Veterinary Group
CVS Group plc
Reducing staff sickness absence by lowering stress levels and improving wellbeing through mindfulness.
The Situation
The rate of suicide in the veterinary profession has been pegged as close to twice that of the dental profession, and more than twice that of the medical profession.
CVS Group Health and Safety Manager recognised that “stress and wellbeing issues are as important as fire, radiation, or any other hazard.”
CVS decided to offer staff across the company mindfulness training. The Mindfulness Exchange delivered mindfulness training across the whole organisation for all UK staff.
The proposed approach included:
A two hour introductory session at our conference.
Three cohorts to attend 6 week Mindfulness training face to face on a voluntary basis.
Mindfulness consultancy to help us integrate mindfulness into our existing programmes.
External evaluation to be conducted by Surrey University.
The Approach
The Result
With the company cost for sickness absence for a veterinary surgeon over £400 per day, CVS estimated that they could see a return on investment of over 300%.
Their return on investment calculations did not factor in additional gains in attention, productivity, communications and team relationships which may also result from mindfulness training.
Statistically significant reductions in stress were measured and staff reported substantial improvements in their resilience following six weeks of training with a daily practice requirement of around 20 minutes.
A Practice Manager working for CVS had suffered from depression for most of her adult life. When she joined CVS she was offered mindfulness training.
In her own words
“I was sceptical; after all, if tablets and psychiatry hadn’t helped, why would concentrating on the here and now help?... I was so wrong; this course has helped me more than I could have imagined…
Another unexpected positive outcome of the course is the confidence it has given me. I am now happy to participate in meetings and actually have the confidence to put my ideas across."
* Taken from: Building the Case for Mindfulness in the Workplace, The Mindfulness Initiative, October 2016