In 2024, several incidents in India highlighted the severe consequences of workplace stress and overwork, leading to tragic outcomes. Two notable cases involved employees from Ernst & Young (EY) and HDFC.

Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old Chartered Accountant working at EY in Pune, passed away in July 2024, allegedly due to excessive work pressure. Her parents revealed that she faced long working hours, unreasonable deadlines, and relentless demands from her managers, leading to extreme stress and anxiety. In another case, an employee of HDFC Bank also died in September 2024, reportedly due to overwhelming work pressure.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you are talking about a high-profile corporate life? Six figures (or more) pay package, an expensive car, fashionable and branded wardrobe and STRESS to earn all of them. Stress has become a growing concern in the Corporate world. One of the factors may be because the fast-paced changes taking place almost on daily basis. In the fast-moving world, everything is time bound and the stress is on the employees to complete the work within a specific time. It may result in long working hours without appropriate breaks, hectic and routine tasks in shift works, lack of proper employee skill utilization. Another factor could be the mismatch of responsibility and the pay package.

When an individual perceives stress, the brain triggers an alarm which prepares the body to defend from the stressful situation. It does so by releasing hormones making our senses more alert, increasing the pulse rate, deepening respiration and making our muscle tense for “fight or flight” response. When the stressful situation is going to remain unresolved and continues for longer duration, it causes havoc in our biological system causing irreparable wear and tear. Eventually it results in exhaustion stage and weakens our immune system. Externally the symptoms could be sleep disturbances, hypertension, stomach upset, headache, irritation, depression, loss of appetite etc.

Big corporates understand that employees are an important asset. A balanced employee contributes much more than a stressful employee. There are many means to overcome stress like talking with your peer, proper sleep and taking proper food, exercising etc.  One of the means to overcome the stress and to maintain the healthy work life balance is MEDITATION. It was observed that meditation and mindful practices are becoming more prevalent in the Corporate world simply because they have proven to significantly combat stress and enhance individual well being and productivity. In fact, corporate meditation has been introduced by many corporates to enhance the productivity of employees.

• Apple has introduced “Mind Technology” and introduced Zen mindfulness meditation to the Corporate Structure at Apple.
• Google has “Search Inside Yourself” and it also offers on-site meditation space and meditation courses.
• Yahoo offers meditation rooms and free meditation classes for employees to reduce stress at work
• Nike employs mindfulness and meditation coach
• HBO has a gym, yoga classes and weekly meditation sessions
• At least 5 US airports feature yoga studios and non-denominational meditation rooms – welcoming both religious and non-religious visitors.

In fact, Aetna reports that since introducing its mindfulness program in the corporate culture it has saved $2000. per employee in health care costs, and gained about $3000. per employee in productivity. With steady practice meditation has an immediate impact on how you feel and choices that you make. When it comes to meditation and mindfulness, there is a huge body of peer-reviewed research, available online that verifies the many benefits of meditation… how it reduces anxiety, depression, lowers blood pressure and increases relaxation etc. It is from this place of inner calm that an attitude of mindfulness comes into play and this is why mindfulness training is now being embraced by organizations of all sizes and types, not just larger corporations.