Mindfulness at Work: Evidence-Based Methods for Handling Stress and Burnout

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Holly Rogers: What is the cost of not investing in wellbeing? Uh, you're either paying on the front end to build resilience and sustainability, or you're paying on the back end in fragmented, expensive ways.

Anne Sparaco: In today's fast paced world of work, you're likely juggling those deadlines, moving projects to the finish line, and feeling the pressure to always be on while you're burning the candle at both ends. It's easy to overlook your own personal wellbeing [00:01:00] until that exhaustion starts to take a toll. Of course, there's no one size fits all way to solve stress or burnouts.

Why we're here. If it were a simple solution, we wouldn't be here talking about it. Every individual, every team, every organization faces unique demands, but there are proven strategies that can really help, and one of them gaining traction. Mindfulness and today we're joined by Holly Rogers, a psychiatrist who spent over two decades at Duke University's counseling services.

Holly also co-founded the Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults, where she has developed a proven evidence-based mindfulness curriculum. She'll guide us through the impact of mindfulness in the workplace, along with some frameworks you can start using today. So Holly, welcome to All Things Work.

Holly Rogers: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.

Anne Sparaco: We're so happy to have you. And, uh, we know this is going to be a really [00:02:00] great episode, almost like therapeutic, as I like to say it with some of our guests. So Holly, we have some interesting data here with us, um, from a recent SHRM research report. It's a highly anticipated 2026 State of the Workplace report.

It was just launched in January, workers. Who were surveyed in this specifically identified stress and burnout among the top workplace needs demanding attention from leaders. We'll, so we'll explore how mindfulness can really make a difference in just a moment. But first, let's use another statistic from the report to discuss what happens when wellbeing is not adequately supported by the workplace.

So for those surveyed workers who felt their organization is really not effective at addressing workplace needs. 24% stated there are likely or very likely to leave. Now, this isn't super surprising. You know, a burnout can lead to people not wanting to stay at their position. So, Holly, besides [00:03:00] losing talented workers, what are some of the other serious consequences organizations might face when worker wellbeing is overlooked or, or just not being prioritized?

Holly Rogers: I'm not at all surprised about your shroom data. I know that Deloitte does a similar workplace wellbeing study each year, and they look at, uh, gen Z and millennials. The younger folks in the workforce and Gen Z in particular, is demanding that their workplaces take this seriously, and many of them are saying they're not willing to work somewhere where their wellbeing is not considered.

So it is really important, and I think the consequences of not attending to wellbeing are, are more dramatic, uh, and problematic for workplaces than perhaps most people realize. So for one, the productivity [00:04:00] drain is, is just enormous. When people are chronically stressed or burnt out. They're physically present, that they're cognitively elsewhere.

We call this presenteeism as opposed to absenteeism. Their body is present, but their mind may not be. So you've got employees sitting at their desk for hours, but maybe operating on 60% capacity. They're making more errors, takes them longer to complete task. They need more supervision. Another thing that happens when our wellbeing is not attended to is our decision making deteriorates.

Stress narrows our cognitive bandwidth. When people are overwhelmed, they default to reactive. So in mindfulness we talk about being reactive versus being responsive and reactive is when you're like emotionally triggered and you just do or say. The first thing that comes to mind without taking a pause and responding more [00:05:00] thoughtfully.

We make better decisions when we're responsive and not reactive. And this is so important for frontline employees, but also managers and executives. Team dynamics suffer when the workplace is stressed, right? Stressed people, they don't collaborate well. They're irritable, they're snippy. They take things personally.

And of course, you know, all the data shows us that healthcare costs climb. When workplace wellbeing is ignored. Chronic stress is linked to cardiovascular disease. We get immune systems, anxiety, depression. I mean, the list goes on and, uh. There's a lot of data showing that organizations with poor wellbeing have higher insurance premiums and increased claims, more medical leave.

But one of the things that I see that I, you know, it's really insidious and I think it's [00:06:00] really important. It's like. Normalized dysfunction, right?

Anne Sparaco: Yes.

Holly Rogers: So when wellbeing is just chronically ignored or deprioritized, the organizations just kind of lower their standards. Like, well, this is just how it is here.

And that becomes the reality. So people stop speaking up about their problems, they stop expecting things to improve, and you get this culture of resignation that that makes meaningful change harder, and, uh. You really lose the energy and optimism that you need to have a thriving organization. So, you know, I think for HR leaders, business leaders, like the question is what is the, what is the cost of not investing in wellbeing?

And, uh, you're either paying on the front end to build resilience and sustainability, or you're paying on the back end in fragmented, expensive ways. [00:07:00]

Anne Sparaco: So let, let's say an audience member is tuning into this episode and they have that pit in their stomach knowing, like you said, their colleagues or their teammates are struggling.

'cause like you said, you feel it, you see it, you experience it yourself. It often, maybe you're feeling the same way. So, and, and let's say you're, you're that. Person in the workplace who doesn't feel like they don't have a lot of power in their situation to create change. I know there are some days where maybe I feel like, oh, I, I don't have a enough, you know, power to move mountains, but is it possible for anyone, regardless of their role in the organization to influence that workplace culture and advocate for that change?

Holly Rogers: So I would say absolutely yes. And. Individuals can help shift workplace culture. And it's really empowering to know this, like, uh, obviously folks in authority have a bigger lever to push, [00:08:00] but anybody can influence their culture and their microculture. And the, the reason that's true is that culture doesn't exist separately from the people who are in it.

It's created moment to moment. It's created by how individuals interact with each other, what behaviors get modeled that is really important and, and what becomes normalized through repetition. So every employee is participating in creating culture, whether they realize it or not. Um. You have a, what I would call a microculture in your team, so your colleagues, your one-to-ones, your project groups.

If you can consistently bring presence and come to your meetings, ask thoughtful questions instead of reactive questions, openly acknowledge mistakes, [00:09:00] you're modeling behaviors that others can mirror. Culture change frequently starts in these little pockets. I like the term positive deviance. I don't know who, I don't know who started that, but that term is I, I think is really helpful.

So start doing things differently, like. Take your lunch away from your desk.

Anne Sparaco: Yes.

Holly Rogers: Step boundaries. Set boundaries about after hours communication. Right? Start singletasking instead of multitasking and, and, and make these behaviors visible so that others start to see them and start to recognize, okay, it's possible for things to be different now.

Of course, advocating with folks who have authority is also, I think, an important part. The languaging is important and you have to be strategic, but you can, [00:10:00] you know, start with experiments,

Anne Sparaco: right?

Holly Rogers: Like not mandates. Start with asking for small change, not big change. Um. You know, instead of saying we need to be more mindful, which is something I might say, uh uh, you know, you could say, golly, I think on a burnout issue might be connected to how we're working.

What if we tried this, you know, and then come up with something simple that can be tried or integrated and, uh, you know, people are more receptive to that language. Uh. My unit would like to like experiment with a small pilot. Do you think, uh, maybe a mindfulness training my unit would like to try mindfulness training?

Do you think something like that would be possible?

Anne Sparaco: I love that you brought that up. And so I'd love to get into how employees can build a case for wellbeing that could pos positively [00:11:00] impact their organization. But first, let's take a quick pause for a brief message about some exciting bonus content for this episode.

Hey everyone. We'll get right back to the conversation, but first, for sure, members tuning in, we have an exclusive resource to share. Earlier in the episode, I mentioned data from the 2026 State of the Workplace Report by SHRM. That insight was just one small piece of this comprehensive report, which is packed with information and strategies for tackling today's challenges.

Informs how you can shape a future of adaptability, foresight, and employee wellbeing. If you're watching on YouTube, just simply click the link above for Instant Access or find the link in this episode's description. This is just one of the many advantages of being assure member, so be sure to make the most of this valuable resource.

All right, now back to the episode. So Holly, you, you mentioned so [00:12:00] much about mindfulness, but let's, let's define it a little bit more and specifically what distinguishes evidence-based approaches for more of those general wellness workplace initiatives?

Holly Rogers: Interesting question. There are so many wellness initiatives.

Uh, a lot of them aren't evidence-based and. Uh, a lot of them, it's hard to get employees engaged in, like, there's not a lot of acceptance and uptake. So first of all, I'm gonna take a tiny step backwards and define mindfulness. I talk about mindfulness so much. I, I forget that some people have never heard of it.

So when I'm talking about mindfulness, what I'm talking about is this capacity that anybody can learn. So that's what's really important. It's a capacity that all of us can develop and it's this capacity to stay really present [00:13:00] in the moment, focused on just the task at hand. That means, uh, I'm not worrying about what I'm gonna have to do later or all the things on my to-do list.

I'm not constantly replaying something that already happened. Oh, that email I sent, I can't believe I did. Or what I said in the meeting, I can't believe I said that or what that person said to me. You know, that sort of unhelpful rehashing that causes stress, worrying about what's coming in the future causes stress.

So mindfulness is just this capacity to kind of settle in, be present in the moment. But what's really important is bringing with that presence, this quality of. Kind, curiosity like, I'm here, it's good. Let's see what's happening. Our culture is an anti mindfulness culture. We're all about multitasking, doing all these different things, but with just, it is so interesting.

Just a little bit of practice, a few minutes [00:14:00] a day, people can really shift, learn to be grounded, present, curious, interested, and when they do that. There is so much data that many things change, many things that affect, uh, the individual personally. But what's important for employers to know is that if you are, if your managers in your workforce are able to experience these changes, it's gonna benefit the organization.

Anne Sparaco: It reminds me of, you know, the meditation apps like Headspace or Calm. Um, I know I've downloaded a few of them, and a lot of what it tells you in just like a three minute exercise is maybe the box breathing, the feeling the ground. Underneath your feet or feeling, um, your hands along the chair you're sitting in to bring you into that present moment of your physical body.

Um, and that slows your mind down to, like you said, [00:15:00] respond, not react. And I, I was just curious if that's kind of like the small ways maybe the individual in their personal life can, you know, be more mindful or create mindfulness so that it translates well into the workplace.

Holly Rogers: That's exactly right Anne.

So you just mentioned one of, uh, the really great strategies and supports for starting to learn to be more mindfulness in your, in your own life. So there's all these apps, there's great apps, Headspace Kong, you mentioned another one and they're really helpful. Now I will say that, uh. Those apps are great and when people use them, they are incredibly helpful.

There's so much data about that, and also the, uh, the uptake and utilization of those apps over time for long numbers of people [00:16:00] is not as high as I would like it to be. And the, the research that we've done in our organization. And is supported in other places is, and this is important for folks thinking about their workplace, right?

If you just give people an app and tell 'em to do it, the vast majority of them won't do it. Or they'll do it once or twice. No, it's like a huge resolution.

Anne Sparaco: What makes a huge

Holly Rogers: yes, but what makes a huge difference is if you have a live teacher.

Anne Sparaco: Yeah.

Holly Rogers: Who is working with a relatively small team. Over the course of several weeks that their teacher is meeting with the team, helping them, supporting them, checking in with them between meetings, the team develops.

The group develops this dynamic of accountability and support. They talk about how it's helping them. They talk about, well, this is how I'm working it into my day. This is how I'm remembering to do it. This is what I've discovered. The teacher, uh, pulls them along, brings them along, [00:17:00] supports them, so. I love those apps, and also it makes a huge difference if an organization can create an opportunity for there to be a live human supporting the.

The workers or leaders to work in groups together to learn these skills, because that's a really important thing about mindfulness compared to a lot of other wellness initiatives. We're talking about learning skills that you have in your pocket, and you actually use them day after day after day to manage difficult situations at work.

Anne Sparaco: Yeah, I love that. 'cause it's, well, it, it makes me think of, you know, like the physical, like the workout, YouTube videos. You're not gonna have a trainer or anybody there to really motivate you. And eventually, if you're like me, you're gonna get the yoga mat, you're gonna get a couple weights at home, you're gonna do, I'm gonna do this workout program.

And then nobody's really pushing you, nobody's really. Watching it go through it and uh, you kind of just go, [00:18:00] oh, but I could just take a nap instead. And so you gotta exercise your mindfulness like you're exercising your physical body. And sometimes it takes a coach, sometimes it takes somebody who maybe is used to doing this who can motivate you a little bit more.

Um, some YouTube videos, some apps can be helpful, but. In the long term, would you say this is kind of part of like your, like what you talked about, would you say is part of the curriculum you developed for evidence-based mindfulness, um, that we, we, we mentioned it earlier, but is that kind of what the curriculum entails?

Can you tell us more about that part?

Holly Rogers: Yeah, and so my journey with this. Has been really interesting and very long and I've learned so much and it, it has actually translated into a really effective, effective curriculum. So if we can take a moment into my backstory. So I'm a psychiatrist, which you mentioned at the beginning, and I worked for many years at the Duke Student Counseling Center.

So I was working with college students [00:19:00] and I myself have been a mindfulness and meditation practitioner for many years. When I started learning mindfulness, one of the thoughts that kept popping into my head over and over was, why didn't anyone teach me this when I was a medical student? Like, this would've been so useful.

How come nobody taught me this when I was a medical student?

Anne Sparaco: Mm-hmm.

Holly Rogers: Because, you know, it's really super stressful being a medical student and a medical resident. Healthcare has, uh, some of the highest burnout rates in the industry, right? So. Not surprising. So I was like, okay, I'm just gonna teach mindfulness to all these Duke students and we're not even gonna need a counseling center anymore 'cause we're just gonna change everything.

Well, guess what? That didn't work because I didn't know how to teach them. I didn't know, like I couldn't just tell 'em about it and they would go do it. I also couldn't learn the way I had learned, which was a more like traditional contemplative practice way, which was sit [00:20:00] still for an hour. Even if you wanna get up and you feel like your hair's on fire, don't, well, I'll tell you, college students, they were not gonna do that.

No. Right? No. So I spent years trying different things, trying to figure out, well, how do you teach college students mindfulness? Turns out there is a way. I feel a little bit dense because, you know, I was an expert in college. Student mental health took me years to figure out, but we ended up creating a curriculum that is extremely popular and effective with students.

It's been researched over and over. It's now taught in 300 campuses around the world, all the Ivy Leagues, many of the big state schools. It's like the gold standard for getting, uh, very busy young adults to learn mindfulness Well. This, of course, transit transitions to the work world too, right? You've got very [00:21:00] busy workers, they don't have a lot of time.

They're not gonna sit still for 45 minutes whether they want to or not, right? It's just not gonna work. So, uh, the things that turned out to be critical for getting busy people to stick with mindfulness was, one, having a teacher who cared. Two. Doing it in, in groups of around 15 to 20 people. If you try and teach a hundred people mindfulness, there's no glue, there's no connection, there's no conversation.

Uh, if it's only one or two people, there's not enough accountability and glue. So we found putting people in small groups with a teacher that cared. For only four weeks. Like it doesn't take that long.

Anne Sparaco: Mm-hmm.

Holly Rogers: And then importantly, we asked, we coached, we invited, we coddled, we cajoled people into meditating around [00:22:00] 10 minutes a day.

Anne Sparaco: Hmm.

Holly Rogers: And, uh, at the end of those four weeks, the data was, they were transformed. Their stress was much reduced. They were sleeping better, they were more mindful, they had more self-compassion. What those things translate into the work environment is decreased burnout, which increases employee engagement considerably.

Uh, employee health, happiness, productivity. And there's a fair amount of interesting data that if you. T if in workplaces where mindfulness has been introduced and engaged, uh, they measure the intention to quit, which I think is really interesting. There's an instrument that measures how likely are my employees to quit because they're so down and unhappy and intention to quit goes way down when you start teaching your employees about mindfulness.[00:23:00]

So our data, our experience says. It is more high touch, but it works. Like you could spend a gazillion dollars buying apps on mindfulness. And I, I'm not dissing the apps. I'm really not, but I'm just saying, uh, I think they're great. I listen to 'em, I use them. But if you don't have a way to get people feeling like this is important, I wanna do it.

My buddies are doing it, my colleagues are doing it, my manager is doing it with me, and here's a teacher who. Wow. They really know what they're talking about. And when I have a problem with it, they're like, Hey, that's really normal. I can help you with that. Because people have the same problems, like, and you've tried it.

Anne Sparaco: Mm-hmm.

Holly Rogers: You've tried mindfulness.

Anne Sparaco: Mm-hmm.

Holly Rogers: And you've found probably that. It's really frustrating. At first your mind really wanders. You're not sure it's helping.

Anne Sparaco: Oh, yeah. The, the box breathing, I'm like, I, this isn't working for me. I don't know what this is. Uh, I feel like my heart's pounding [00:24:00] faster and then, uh, the more I did it, the more in control I felt.

And honestly, uh, and, and I was raised by, you know, a medical professional. My parents, uh, my parent is in. In that field. And uh, I was always taught how it changes your brain chemistry. It goes down to the scientific level of how your brain is operating. And I always found that fascinating and I always found a power in that kind of control of your, of your self.

Holly Rogers: Right. I'm so glad you brought that up, Ann, because, you know, I'm a, a psychiatrist, so I'm really interested in like, uh, the neurophysiology of this. And with these types of mental trainings, we're really talking about retraining your nervous system, regulating your nervous system. And I think, you know, our nervous system is the most complicated system.[00:25:00]

But it can be trained just like your cardiovascular system and your muscular system, right? If you lift weights, you're gonna get stronger. If you run, you're gonna, your cardiovascular systems get stronger. If you do this mental training just a few minutes a day, your nervous system is gonna regulate. It's gonna come.

You are gonna have control over it. You're gonna be able to respond and not react. You're not gonna be so easily triggered. You're gonna know how to take a breath.

Anne Sparaco: So I'd love to wrap up with some simple steps our audience can take away today. Let's get some practical steps with some frameworks that, you know, everybody can integrate to start advocating for that cultural shift we mentioned earlier.

So, could you walk us through your top three P practical mindfulness exercises people can use today or tomorrow day after? Uh, in different scenarios, especially during a stressful work day.

Holly Rogers: I love this question because I think it's really important that people [00:26:00] know even just little tiny things can be helpful.

So, a few ideas. Uh, there's a very popular acronym, I guess, uh, called Stop. Mm-hmm. So stop what you're doing. The s is just stop what you're doing. The T take three conscious breaths. Slowing down and counting three breaths. Oh my gosh. Regulates your nervous system.

Anne Sparaco: Absolutely.

Holly Rogers: Then observe what you're noticing, that co tension in your chest.

My thoughts are racing an urge to fire off an unhelpful email and then proceed with intention. So stop. Stop what you're doing. Take some breaths, observe what you're noticing, and then proceed. It takes 30 seconds, but it creates that space we were talking about between stimulus and response. Really helpful before you [00:27:00] hit send on that email.

Anne Sparaco: Oh yeah. And when you said, uh, uh, take a deep breath, or, uh, I literally breathed in when you said that. Yeah. I took a deep breath when you told me to.

Holly Rogers: Hey, just remembering to take a conscious breath. It, I won't go too much into the. Neurophysiology that, but that activates your calming nervous system. So if we just stop and take a deep breath, our stress hormones drop.

So just do that. That's like, just remember to do that. Okay? Another thing that is really helpful is this sensory grounding. So when your mind is spinning, it's really helpful to just ground in your senses. So notice five things using your senses right now. What can you see? What can you hear? What can you feel or smell and be specific.

I hear the hum of the ventilation system. I feel the weight of my feet on the floor. [00:28:00] I feel the cool smoothness of my water bottle. So five of them go through five of them, and this pulls you out of the thought spiral and into your direct experience. Remember, mindfulness is about being engaged. In your present moment experience, the number one easy, quickest way to get outta your head is to get into your physical senses.

What are my fingers touching? What do I see? What do I hear? So five things takes less than a minute. And then another super simple thing is to set your timer to go off, uh, every hour, every 45 minutes. Every 90 minutes if you're a super focuser. And when it goes off, just take a minute, stand up, stretch, scan your awareness through your body.

Are you clenching your jaw? Are your shoulders too tight? Take a few breaths [00:29:00] and then go back to it. Just set a timer, take a minute, break over and over throughout the day. It makes a difference 'cause you're checking in, you're reducing tension, you're taking those breaths. Uh, you may notice you're less tired at the end of the day 'cause you don't spend the whole day like this.

It takes a lot of energy to spend the whole day with every muscle contracted in your body. Exactly. So it's like, let's relax, let's just relax. So those are three simple things. And then the only thing I would add is like, if you're a manager, you have so much influence to model things differently and you don't have to like be a mindfulness teacher.

You don't even have to say the word mindfulness. You can say, okay, before this meeting starts, let's just take 30 seconds to go from getting here to being here. Maybe everybody take a couple deep breaths, such beautiful modeling. The other thing you can model is single tasking. So there's so much research on [00:30:00] multitasking.

We multitask to become more efficient. All the research on multitasking says it makes us less efficient. We make more errors, things take longer, and we are more stressed. So create some agreements that we're just gonna be single focused. We're gonna close our laptops during meetings, uh, during our one-to-ones no phones.

We're gonna put time on our calendar. That's just single focus time where we just work on a project that we can really get into it. So managers can just do these simple things and start to create that opportunity for presence and slowing things down. And in the long run. They're gonna feel better, their teams are gonna feel better, and their, their businesses are gonna be more productive.

Anne Sparaco: I feel like I just listened to one of the apps, like, you were wonderful and that, that was just such a great, uh, conversation. Thank you so much for, you know, walking us through such concrete steps people can take, you know, to just make a whole difference, not [00:31:00] just in their day, in their relationships, in their career and their environment.

It, it really is going to make a huge impact. I'm gonna remember the stop acronym and and try to do that as well myself. So thank you so much, Holly, for sharing your thoughts today and your guidance. I really hope our audience walks away feeling more mindful with themselves. So thank you so much.

Holly Rogers: Thanks Santa.

It was fun chatting with you.

Anne Sparaco: All right, that's all for this week. We'll catch you next time.

Holly Rogers: If you enjoyed our conversation today, be sure to subscribe

Anne Sparaco: wherever you enjoy your podcast, so you never miss a new episode. Also, did you know All Things Work is more than a podcast? That's right. We're also a weekly newsletter that includes in-depth articles and the latest research from SHRM To keep you in the know, just head to SHRM dot org slash all things work to sign up.

Plus follow SHRM on social media to view the latest clips and join the conversation on game changing topics that are redefining the world of work. [00:32:00]