Office massage therapy has a lot of benefits and perks, we understand how important employee wellness is. We’ve seen this trend playing out over the last few years. While the pandemic halted employee wellness programs across the world, we’re now starting to see companies once again focus on employee wellness.

In this study, HR.com reported that mental and emotional well-being have surpassed physical well-being as a critical focus for employer wellness programs. In fact, several respondents weighted the most important well-being initiatives as follows:

• Mental and emotional (78%)
• Work environment (70%)
• Physical (66%)
• Financial (56%)
• Social (48%)

In a similar vein, over 64% of companies listed employee mental health as one of their top five HR priorities in WellRight’s survey.

As you can see from the survey, mental health, emotional health, and work environment top the list. Thanks to research and studies, we know that massage can help reduce stress and anxiety. A one-hour massage lowers cortisol in your body while also releasing serotonin. This hormone neurotransmitter is sometimes called the “happy chemical” because it reduces feelings of depression and carries signals between nerves and your body. By lowering cortisol and increasing serotonin, you’re boosting your body’s ability to fight off pain, anxiety and feelings of sadness.

A massage does more than just feel good. It can lower the amount of cortisol in your body. This hormone is produced when your body is stressed. It increases glucose in your bloodstream, enhances your brain’s use of glucose and curbs functions that are nonessential in a fight-or-flight situation.

If you’re thinking about adding massage to your employee wellness program or considering launching a new program, it can be very beneficial.

What Is Office Massage?

Office massage generally refers to massage services that are provided for employees at their place of work. This can include both chair massage or table massage. Depending on the massage company you use, a wide variety of different massages may be offered, such as;

• Swedish Massage
• Deep Tissue Massage
• Sports Massage

In some scenarios, office massage events are a one-time occurrence, employers will scheduled them with a spring or summer employee event. Over the last few years, we’ve seen trends moving toward hosting multiple massage events per year. Corporate massage events can occur on a regular basis, they’re usually part of a corporate massage program or some type of wellness initiative offered to employees.

When it comes to hosting corporate massage programs for your employees, these events can occur as many times necessary, or what ever frequency that makes sense for the size of your company. You could have anywhere from one massage therapist once a month, to several massage therapists daily. Or you could fall somewhere in between: a few massage therapists in your office once or twice a week.

Massage programs allow participants to receive regular massage services, which helps them experience the cumulative benefits of massage. Typically, a massage program will be set up with a schedule so employees know when they’ll be getting their massage.

Companies will start a massage program because they want to see an improvement in employee wellness, lowered stress levels, increased concentration at work, and reduced injuries or muscle strain at work.

Why Employers Should Offer Massage To Employees

Companies don’t invest in massage without wanting to achieve specific goals, there’s a reason employers want to offer massage to employees.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons why companies use corporate massage programs.

Massage Shows Your Employees You Care: While companies can offer a number of different amenities and perks to employees, massage is one of those that stand out. Massage therapy has many benefits and a large percentage of employees don’t recognize at first because they’ve never had a professional massage before.

When Employees Feel Appreciated, They Work Harder: Appreciation can go a long way, all of us want to feel appreciated for the work we do. 

A study by online career site Glassdoor revealed that more than 80 percent of employees say they’re motivated to work harder when their boss shows appreciation for their work, compared to less than 40 percent who are inspired to work harder when their boss is demanding or because they fear losing their job.

Positive ROI: Investment in perks like massage, reflexology or yoga does have return on investment – if it succeeds in making workers feel supported. At Google, employee satisfaction rose 37% as a result of investing in non-financial employee support initiatives.

Employee Retention: Employees are the heart and soul of your company. In 2022, it’s a lot tougher to keep talent. 57% of workers are open to looking for a new job. That’s nearly 6 out of 10 workers. Employee initiatives can play a role here, massage may help your employees feel more appreciated and less stressed.

Reduce Stress At Work: Another recent study shows that 60 percent of Americans say work is a significant source of stress, a service like onsite massage is an effective way to lower employee stress. You can see the study here.

Is An Office Massage Program Right For Your Company?

Some of the biggest companies in the world that offer employee massage events have something in common – they felt massage was a great initiative and well worth the investment. These are some of the most successful companies of the past century, why would they invest in corporate massage programs and events?

While we’ll never fully understand why, we do know a major majority of employees love working for them. These companies are highly regarded as some of the top companies to work for according to employees. Is it because employees feel that the company has their best interest at heart? Is it because they feel less stress due to massage and health initiatives being offered? Is it because they feel appreciated?

Your employees are your greatest assets and countless studies prove that when employees are happy, they’re more productive. When employees are more productive, more work gets done. Corporate wellness programs can help reduce healthcare costs, you can see what the CDC had to say about this here.

If you’re considering adding additional wellness initiatives to your wellness program, massage can be a great addition. In fact, some companies are implementing corporate massage programs to offer to employees. Either way, Soothe is here to help. We’ve worked with some of the biggest companies in the world, helping them bring massage programs to employees.

Reach out today to learn more about how we can help your company – here’s the link.

If you’re interested in hosting a massage event for a birthday, wedding, bachelorette party, or for the holiday, you can book your private massage event here.

The post In Office Massage Therapy: Thinking About Offering “Massage” To Employees? appeared first on Soothe.

Although our bodies are really great at informing us when we’re dealing with periods of extreme stress, it can actually be incredibly easy to ignore day-to-day stress or even periods of moderately heightened stress. When we live busy or stressful lives, we can often find ourselves downplaying or ignoring the symptoms that pop up, because we think it isn’t that big of a deal.

What is Stress?

Stress is the body’s automatic response to changes in a situation. When we find ourselves in a new place or facing new circumstances, our brain tells our autonomic nervous system how to regulate the body to keep us alert. Our heart rate speeds up, our vision becomes more aware, and our body enters fight or flight mode until we can become more comfortable and feel more secure in our environment.

Typically, this short-term response is great! It can help keep us safe when we find ourselves in tricky or dangerous situations. But when the short term becomes long term and temporary stress becomes chronic, we start to run into major problems.

Symptoms

During periods of extreme stress, it can be incredibly easy to identify what’s happening in our bodies because it feels so vastly different from how we normally feel. When we experience lower levels of stress over long periods of time, it can be much harder to identify physical and mental symptoms.

Physical symptoms of stress can include:

• Aches and pains like muscular tension, joint pains, inflammation
• Chest pains or feeling like your heart is racing
• Exhaustion and difficulty sleeping
• Clenching your jaw or neck
• Indigestion or other signs of an upset stomach
• Getting sick more frequently as a result of a weakened immune system

Mental and emotional symptoms can include:

• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Depression
• Feelings of sadness or hopelessness
• Executive dysfunction

These less subtle symptoms can creep up on us over time if we’re not careful and can damage our long-term health goals. It can even result in attempting to manage it with unhealthy coping mechanisms like drugs and alcohol.

Diagnosis

There’s no singular diagnosis for stress. Only you can evaluate how you feel and decide when it’s time to get some help, which is often easier said than done. Chatting with your doctor or other healthcare providers can be a great first step toward healing and reducing stress.

How to Cope

Ready to make a change and live a healthier stress-free life? The good news is that it’s easier than you probably even realize and it doesn’t require too many difficult lifestyle changes!

Mindfulness

Learning how to stay present in the current moment is one of our biggest mental defenses against stress. This can seem like a tricky habit to develop, but practices for putting it into place are actually pretty small and simple. Writing down a few things that you feel grateful for, reflecting on the best parts of your day, or listing out the names of people who love you are just three small mindfulness practices that can have a huge impact in helping you refocus and destress.

Exercise

Moving our bodies is a wonderful way to reduce stress and recenter. You don’t need to be an Olympic track star to see results, either. A quick walk around the block or doing a few simple stretches at home can be a great way to get your blood moving and release your pent-up stress.

Set Attainable Goals

Visualizing exactly what you’ve got on your plate can be a wonderful tool for mitigating stress. When we see our goals broken down into realistic, bite-sized chunks, it becomes much easier to focus on managing one thing at a time, instead of becoming overwhelmed by the long list of to-dos.

Meditation

Quieting your mind for less than five minutes a day has been proven to lower blood pressure and reduce stress. If you’re interested in learning how to meditate, there are many phone apps, youtube videos, and even podcasts that can help you learn to re-center and breathe, for free!

Dedicated Self-Care Time

Self-care can take many forms. It’s an individualized habit that we learn to build over time by figuring out what feels good to us. Some people like to read a book or take a hot bath while others might go out to a coffee shop or take in a movie. But, if you’ve been living with stress for a while, it can be tough to know where to start. We’ve gathered up a few go-to suggestions to help get the ball rolling.

• Curate a quiet space: Dim the lights, turn on some soothing music, and light a scented candle.
• Make a healthy snack: Set aside time to sip a light, refreshing beverage while munching on your favorite sliced fruit or veggie
• Bring the spa to you: Getting a massage or scheduling salon services are perfect for reducing stress while caring for your body. With Soothe, we can bring those services right to your door with no extra stress.

Spa, at Home

If you’re interested in bringing a spa-quality massage or salon experience but unsure which service is right for you, we’ve put together a list of our favorite stress-busting options offered here at Soothe.

• Swedish massage: This massage technique combines soft, long, kneading strokes and shorter tapping strokes to help reduce muscle pressure and ease tension in the body. 60 minutes, once a week can have huge long-term benefits to your overall stress levels.
• Deep Tissue massage: Working the body at a slightly higher intensity, deep tissue massage pinpoints precise areas of muscle tension in order to relieve pain
• Anti-stress facial: Reduces inflammation and helps repair skin from the damage done by environmental stressors, all while helping you relax and rejuvenate
• Hydrating facial: Uncomfortable, dry skin can lead to breakouts or stiffness in the face, making it difficult to settle down and feel your best. A hydrating facial is perfect for replenishing your skin’s moisture and reducing discomfort
• Haircut at home: Instead of trying to cram a visit to the stylist into your busy schedule, bring the stylist to you! They’ll help keep you looking and feeling fresh without adding any new stress to your plate.
• CBD add-on: CBD works to penetrate the skin’s surface and naturally reduce muscular inflammation and tension, making it easier to get the most out of any massage service you book.

Download the Soothe app or check out the Soothe website for more booking options. Plus, when you book, your provider can meet you wherever is most convenient: home, work, or even a hotel if you’re a regular road warrior! They’ll bring everything they need to provide you with a spa-quality service, so you can relax and focus on feeling less stressed.

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Soothe is proud to have landed on the 2022 edition of The Marketplace 100 list published by Future from a16z.  The list ranks the largest consumer-facing marketplace startups, highlighting the next generation of marketplace giants.

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