Combat work fatigue and procrastination with Hassl’s wellness feature which promotes mindfulness at work.
There’s no denying that we’re all a little guilty of ignoring that little thing we like to call a work-life balance, ever since COVID hit. At Hassl, the founders noticed that quite a few colleagues were putting in more hours of work beyond regular working hours (thanks to Hassl’s handy project report and time tracking features! Shameless plug, we know). When asked, a few said that switching off mentally while working from home was harder, while some stated that their productivity had just dropped.
Hassl was built to help get shit done — so it only made sense to build a feature that tackled this newfound obstacle that the pandemic had brought on. The feature needed to be something that helped support Hassl users, but to avoid the notion of it being built solely to enhance productivity. It just needed to help users simply be more mindful while at work.
As a start, daily stretch sessions were tried out at work to hold a level of engagement, movement and general interaction with staff daily. This helped encourage them to take some time out of their day to actively focus on themselves. While this was successful, Hassl needed to be able to encourage or remind users to take more frequent microbreaks throughout the day.
Thus, the Hassl Wellness feature came to fruition, with the help of Dr Stephen McKenzie who backed Hassl’s technology with some good ol’ psychology.
How to use Hassl’s Wellness Feature
Currently, the Wellness feature can be found on a user’s dashboard. It is customised to offer each user a series of different tasks through the day, ranging from doing simple desk stretches, to taking on more mindful tasks. This way, both physical and mental wellness are tackled through Hassl’s microbreaks.
Examples of tasks include going on a quick 30-second walk to stretch out your legs, taking a minute to mindfully eat during your lunch break, practising mindful breathing, and lots more.
To use it, all you have to do is click on the button that prompts you to do the activity and it’ll pop up, actively blocking out the rest of your dashboard till the timer runs out for the respective task.
Meet Dr Stephen McKenzie
For too long, the business world has made ‘work breaks’ seem like a bad thing. From lunch breaks to days off, this unfair reality on hand needs to change. Wellness means too much to us here at Hassl, which is why when we finally decided on building a feature that catered to the same, we decided to collaborate with someone who knew their way around mindfulness i.e. Dr Stephen McKenzie.
Dr Stephen McKenzie is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Psychological Sciences, at the University of Melbourne, and a mindfulness researcher, course developer and author.
His complete wellbeing related offerings so far include a series of free short online courses for University of Melbourne students and staff – Wellbeing in the time of COVID, including Mindfulness Techniques for Improving well-being, and resilience Techniques for improving wellbeing. Dr Stephen has recently completed a series of six mindfulness podcasts for the University of Melbourne’s new Virtual Campus – A Walk on the Wise Side.
His books on mindfulness so far include – Mindfulness for Life (2012) with Associate Prof. Craig Hassed, Mindfulness at Work (2013), and Heartfulness: beyond mindfulness, finding your real life (2016).
Does it really work?
Well, we did try the feature with a few organisations who actively use Hassl, first. Playgroup Victoria was one of our trial organisations. Marketing Manager, Mylie Nauendorf, said, “Hassl has been the key to our team staying productive and motivated over our seven months of working at home. The chat function has allowed my team to stay connected as if we were speaking in the same room. The new wellness module has really given us a new way to work, making mindfulness easy and accessible for myself and my team.”
“Since the transition to working from home, I’ve found that Hassl’s wellness module has acted as a personal wellness guide. As a new manager, having wellness incorporated into my team’s workflow tool lets them know we, as an organisation, prioritise wellbeing throughout lockdown and in the new normal.”
“The home life and work-life has been so blurred. I’ve enjoyed pressing the button and taking a breath,” Ms Nauendorf ended.
The Benefits of Hassl’s Wellness Feature
Boost employee productivity
When you encourage employees to take frequent micro-breaks, you’re benefiting the company as a whole. A survey by Tork indicated that employees felt more engaged and productive post a mandatory lunch break, instead of an ‘eat at your desk’ mentality. At a time where companies are struggling to keep motivation and productivity levels up, what have you got to lose by trying something new?
Facilitate conversations around wellness
Often, we find that some workplaces struggle to have a conversation about wellness. With Hassl Wellness, hopefully, it’ll make starting that conversation a lot easier — it’ll show your employees that the company cares about their mental and physical health. It might even encourage suggestions or new opportunities to do team activities!
Encouraging mental wellness
Of course, the biggest benefit is the most direct one. When you encourage your employees to take the time out to focus on themselves, you’re encouraging overall wellness. Not only does this affect general work etiquette, but it also helps their outlook on life in general.
Do I have to use the Wellness feature?
While we do highly recommend taking time out in the day for yourself, it isn’t necessary. You can choose to ignore the Wellness prompts on your dashboard.
Like what you see? Start your free trial on Hassl today or join our standard plan.