The Key To Successful DEI Wellness Initiatives

Diversity and inclusion are essential components of any corporate wellness program. This means considering the needs and preferences of all employees and offering a range of wellness activities and resources that cater to a diverse workforce. Learn essential keys for successful DEI wellness initiatives.

Transcript

The Key to Successful DEI Wellness Initiatives Hello,

My name is Sura.

I'm a meditation coach and founder of SuraFlow.

Previously,

I worked on Wall Street as Vice President of Institutional Sales,

Working mostly with hedge funds.

I started my career at Goldman Sachs as an analyst and transitioned to teaching meditation after having a personal emotional breakdown.

During that time,

I had been suffering from severe back pain,

Which led me to learn yoga to help manage my body pain,

And eventually meditation,

Which really saved my life and helped me discover true health.

When I worked on Wall Street,

As a minority,

I was often the only woman in a predominantly male field.

At the young age of 24,

I attended meetings where I was often the only person of color who was young and also a woman.

This was both intimidating and stressful,

Even though I wasn't really conscious of it at that time.

When I met with management teams,

They often asked if I was an assistant and they were waiting for my quote unquote boss to show up to those meetings because they assumed that I was in a much lower role than I actually was,

Which was helping to manage millions of dollars of tech assets at that time.

Then when I worked as an institutional salesperson,

Again,

I was often the only woman and person of color.

I felt like I had to constantly prove myself,

Work really hard,

Overdo,

And I know that this led to the high amount of stress that I felt.

At that time,

I didn't have the courage to admit this openly because there was no platform or safety of expression at that time,

But I am aware that it affected my performance,

My mental health,

And well-being.

Thank you for coming here today to learn about DEI wellness and how meditation practices can support you and your employees in their health and their well-being.

Diversity and inclusion are essential to being a competitive organization in an increasingly global market,

Especially since a pandemic where people experienced high amounts of stress,

Anxiety,

Isolation.

Strong wellness initiatives are needed now more than ever.

People need calm.

They want to connect.

They want to feel included.

Meditation is leading the way toward finding greater solutions for better health,

Less stress,

And greater productivity.

So let's talk about DEI and what it means,

Diversity,

Equity,

And inclusion.

Diversity is defined as having a group of people that represent different races and cultural backgrounds.

And this also includes a diversity of gender,

Age,

Disability,

Sexual orientation,

And marital status.

Equity looks to ensure fair treatment,

Access,

And equality of opportunity and advancement for all people of all backgrounds.

Inclusion means having a diverse workforce where everyone feels included as an active participant,

Especially those who have been previously excluded.

Evidence has shown us that DEI is instrumental to company success.

It's been shown that companies that are diverse have diverse management teams outperform those that aren't.

This is because diversity expands critical thinking,

Problem solving,

And also creates a more balanced and holistic work environment.

So diversity and wellness are intimately connected and go hand in hand.

One feeds the other and vice versa.

Diversity and equitable work environments foster well-being,

Growth,

And health.

It sets you up for success and the ability to thrive as a whole company.

If an employee feels that they're not receiving equal treatment,

If they don't have a voice or that their perspective doesn't matter,

And they feel isolated as a minority,

This is really stressful.

This doesn't feel good.

It's like being invited to a party where no one actually speaks to you or includes you in a conversation.

This clearly leads to increased stress,

Isolation,

Decreased health,

And well-being.

This also leads to increased health care costs,

Absenteeism,

And employee attrition.

And this hurts not just minorities,

But for everyone who engages in an environment that's exclusive and homogenous.

Diversity truly supports the whole and supports health.

These qualities are essential for any corporate wellness program.

This means that you need to consider the needs and preferences of all your employees,

Offering them a range of wellness activities and resources that cater to a diverse work environment.

This can include providing accommodations for employees that have disabilities,

Offering wellness activities in different languages,

And ensuring that all employees feel welcome and included.

Meditation is one way that companies are promoting a more inclusive work environment.

It's a practice that's been shown to have many benefits,

Including reducing stress,

Increasing focus and productivity.

It also nurtures problem solving and creativity.

It's a form of mindfulness,

Which involves paying attention to the present moment and accepting it fully without judgment.

This is especially helpful in a workplace where stress and distractions are often common.

However,

It's important to ensure that meditation is inclusive and accessible to all employees,

Regardless of their background,

Gender,

Or beliefs.

For example,

Many traditional meditation practices that are offered today require believing or working with a guru.

So it's worth mentioning that the meditation offerings you have are universal and secular and that anybody from any belief can practice meditation and still benefit from the practice.

Many of our traditions have all been authored by men and have masculine tendencies and qualities.

Some of these male perspectives include control,

Restriction,

Discipline,

And people think that meditation is about emptying or controlling the mind.

Meditation is even defined as a mental exercise and oftentimes our traditions encourage the transcendence of one's mind,

Body,

And emotions.

And some of these practices aren't actually conducive to helping people manage stress when they have really difficult emotions because trying to control your emotions or transcend even bypass them can lead to greater levels of stress and anxiety.

Traditions like yogic meditation were created 5,

000 years ago by men for other men called Brahmins,

Men of learning.

So finding meditation approaches that are universal,

Secular,

And inclusive are instrumental to including everyone and sharing practices that help to reduce stress,

Increase empathy,

And compassion and expand our ways of thinking.

Suraflow is a practice that emphasizes feminine qualities such as creativity,

Intuition,

Softness,

And gentleness.

It's an approach that consciously promotes balance between our feminine and masculine qualities.

So regardless of gender,

We all have feminine and masculine energy.

Instead of a mental focus,

The focus is in the heart,

Cultivating compassion and awareness through loving kindness.

The more compassionate we are toward ourself,

The less stress we experience.

We experience a lot of stress when we're hard on ourselves and we beat ourselves up.

Also,

Compassion benefits the workplace because we can understand more readily the different kinds of people we work with and learn how to release small microaggressions that can happen in stressful work environments.

Higher self-awareness also helps us connect to the people we work with,

Our clients,

And their experiences.

We can literally put ourselves in their shoes and this empowers workers to anticipate the needs and desires of their clients as well as the market they're in.

This means it's really important to provide a variety of meditation approaches,

Styles,

And techniques that promote balance and inclusivity.

This may include guided meditation,

Silent meditation,

Movement-based meditation,

Or meditations such as body scan or focus meditation.

This will help to accommodate the different needs and preferences of all the employees that you work with.

It also means providing meditation sessions at different times of the day to make it accessible to different people and in different platforms and locations so that they can enjoy and practice meditation online first thing in the morning or right before bed so that they can get a good night's rest.

Meditation has so many benefits from increased calm,

Focus,

Better sleep,

Less stress,

Less pain,

And inflammation.

You have more energy and it helps promote expression of one's true self,

Their true ideas,

Which a company can really benefit from.

In addition to offering a variety of wellness activities,

Companies should also consider the cultural sensitivity of their programs and also their health care offerings.

So ensuring that your health care programs are appropriate for all of your employees,

Avoiding any cultural stereotypes,

Being aware of different holidays that may be honored during cultural time off needs,

And ensuring that all employees feel safe and comfortable in participating and expressing their ideas and their opinions.

So take for example,

Some cultural practices may prohibit certain types of activities,

Physical contact,

Or certain types of food,

Or they may even engage in fasting.

So it's really important to be aware of all these cultural differences and nuances so that you can pivot and make changes as needed.

So in addition to providing a variety of meditation options,

It's important to create a really safe and welcoming space.

And this means going out of your way to ask questions to the right people,

Empowering managers to have culturally inclusive conversations,

And also including minorities as leaders for your wellness initiatives,

Especially given that many minorities might not have felt safe in the past to express their own views and insights as a way to ensure safety of their employment and personal safety.

So we must make a conscious effort to engage these conversations so that the whole of your organization can benefit from diversity.

By making meditation inclusive and accessible,

Companies can create more positive and supportive work environments that benefit all employees.

And this means making sure that the physical space is safe,

Comfortable,

Accessible,

And also promoting a whole environment of inclusivity and acceptance.

And you'll find that this will lead to greater success,

Productivity,

Creativity,

And overall job fulfillment.

And this will help you attract better talent and diversity and improve the success of your organization.

Thanks so much for taking the time to learn about DEI wellness initiatives.

If you'd like to take this a step further,

Please feel free to contact me for a workshop,

A speaking engagement,

Or even guided meditation practices.

Reviews

Excellent talk

Awesome! Thank you 🙏

This was very helpful. Thanks so much for sharing your experience and knowledge.
Namaste 🙏