Improving the efficiency of an organization’s workforce can now be achieved with NeU‘s advanced brain science programs.
Visualizing the vitality of an organization from the perspective of brain activity can provide “human oriented” solutions to improve an organization’s workforce and increase competitive performance.
NeU’s workforce efficiency program can strategically assess the health of employees.
There are many aspects that can affect the decline in a company’s overall business performance, which may include: a rise in employees’ stress levels that could result in poor mental heath and increase work absence. Take for example Japan: the number of patients with mental illness exceeds 3 million and is still on the rise. As a result, in December 2015, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare made it mandatory for companies to perform workplace stress checks, with a focus on the employees’ mental care and to provide better working environments. Under these circumstances, companies are now required to take measures to improve the mental and physical health of workers, including finding ways to actively prevent health disorders of employees.
Healthy workforce = Good corporate performance:Recent studies suggest that companies with a ‘Culture of Health’ could outperform others in the marketplace. Companies with strong health, wellness, and safety programs outperformed S&P 500’s average rate of return in investment simulations. Companies that build a culture of health by focusing on the well-being and safety of their workforce may yield greater value for their investors, according to a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM), official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
CASE STUDY 1
Study Suggests Companies with a ‘Culture of Health’ May Outperform Others in the Marketplace.
*Citation — Fabius R, Thayer RD, Konicki DL, et al.The link between workforce health and safety and the health of the bottom line: tracking market performance of companies that nurture a “culture of health.”J Occup Environ Med. 2013;55(9):993-1000.
Loss due to increase in employee absence:The percentage of employees in Japan (scale of 500 to 999 people) who have been absent for more than a month consecutively due to mental health problems is 0.6% (Occupational Safety and Health Survey of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare). Increasing number of people taking a leave of absence can cause severe damage to corporate management, for example: increase in medical expense, cost of substitute personnel, opportunity costs, and so forth.
Mandatory stress-check questionnaire:In conventional assessments such as questionnaires, there are many cases where it is difficult to get genuine responses because some participants may think “Is there a point to answer seriously?”, “Will my responses affect me in any way?” and so forth. Therefore, a more reliable method is needed for accurate assessment.
CASE STUDY 3
NeU’s vitality improvement program:
1. Using brain science to determine the vitality of an organization, which is difficult to do with a standard questionnaire.
2. Utilizing the latest in brain activity measurement devices (optical topography).
3. Performing a simple 5 minute memory game.
4. Proposing a plan-of-action to improve an organization based on analysis.Example of vitality analysis
Based on brain activity measurements, we can determine the degree of vitality of the employees. The data can then be compared to the general average for each industry in areas such as gender correlation, age, work position, overtime hours and so forth.
1) Demographic analysis
Understanding the current situation, implementing a plan-of-action for improvement, then confirming the results.2) Subjective VS brain activity distribution analysis
Showing the proportional difference between subjective (feelings) and objective analysis.3) Cluster analysis
Performing cluster analysis by workplace, work position, job category, gender, age, and so forth.4) Overtime hours VS brain activity distribution analysis
Visualizing the correlation with overtime hours.
Brain vitality measurement method using HOT-1000:
1) Objective evaluation method based on advanced brain science.
2) Performing mood assessments through a simple memory game.
3) Each session takes only about 5 minutes.
4) Assessment can be performed in almost any environment.
SERVICE FLOW
NeU’s Service Flow
NeU can provide your organization with total support, TODAY. Our general service flow includes:
Brain activity measurement and “mindfulness” at Yahoo Japan.
How is “mindfulness” achieved in the workplace?
Mindfulness is the psychological process of calming one’s state of mind, which can have positive impacts in the workplace by reducing stress, improving concentration, creativity, productivity and so forth. Mindfulness is being adopted in industries all over the world, especially in the United States where we see similar activities in IT, finance, consulting, government agencies and even in schools. Companies in Japan are also actively adopting “mindfulness” such as Yahoo Japan, who offer periodic “mindfulness” courses (referred as Meta-Cognitive Training) from an early stage.
How is Yahoo Japan using “mindfulness”?
According to Mr. Satoru Nakamura, who is in charge of Yahoo’s Good Condition Promotion Office, “I took a mindfulness training course at GOOGLE back in October 2014, and I realized that not only did my concentration increase, but my judgment as well, which improved both my mental and physical self. I realized that “mindfulness” training is really useful, so I decided to create a training system here in Japan. So far, we’ve provided guidance to over 1,500 participants and not only in the Yahoo group of companies, but others as well”.
The “mindfulness” course at Yahoo is a 7-week program, and most notice positive changes in the third to fourth week of the training. Mr. Nakamura further states that “it has been around 2 years since I started the “mindfulness” course at Yahoo, and participants’ work efficiency seem to be increasing as the course helps them to organize their thoughts, in turn, helping them to set proprieties, manage tasks, and relieve stress. Overall, for Yahoo, we can expect better performance demonstrated as an individual or a team, which has led to an overall improvement in the company’s productivity”.*The Good Condition Promotion Office was newly established by the CCO (Chief Conditioning Officer) in October 2016. The purpose of the department is to promote the “rejuvenation” of employees’ mental and physical, ultimately for Yahoo’s employees as a wholesome and healthy unit to tackle everyday business challenges in good mental and physical condition.
How does “mindfulness” training change the state of the brain?
NeU’s verification procedures in collaboration with employees of Yahoo Japan utilized the HOT-1000, which is a portable brain measurement device that can be used in various environments that can show fast data results.
Implementation Field
Participants: A total of 16 random employees from Yahoo Japan.
8 experienced participants with “mindfulness’ experience vs. 8 novices participants beginning the “mindfulness” program.Verification Method
At this time, NeU conducted a total of 8 (before and after) brain activity measurements on the fourth week (half-way point) into the “mindfulness” program to estimate the participants’ mood. The specifics of the program involved:
1st week = Mindfulness focus and breathing activities.
2nd week = Body scanning, turning consciousness from head to the feet area.
3nd week = Composition focus on writing activities.
4th week = Mindfulness focus on breathing activities.Verification Points
1. How effective is continuing the “mindfulness” course?
2. What is the difference between beginners and experienced participants?RESULT: Verification Point 1
How effective is continuing the “mindfulness” course?
For beginners, only slight improvements were felt during the first week of the “mindfulness” course, but after the course was repeated, participants felt drastically better each week, reflected by the increase in brain vitality. Over the period of four weeks, participants expressed that they were able to cope easily with intense negative emotions by using steps learned during the program such as focusing on deep breathing to calm the mind and body. Others expressed that doing challenging tasks became easier when they applied thought-organization processes to their work.RESULT: Verification Point 2
What is the difference between beginners and experienced participants?
Experienced participants on the other hand showed less change in the four week period, but compared with beginner participants, their brain’s vitality before and after showed significant changes in the fourth week. Thus, “mindfulness” training showed positive overall brain vitality results, even for beginners in just a month. The corporate work environment when combined with “mindfulness” can help employees “reset” their brain to achieve a stress-free state of mind that can help them to be more efficient, benefiting the company or organization as a whole.Introducing work way reform through brain science in the IT industry.
Employees in IT related jobs tend to face accumulated stress that can possibly lead to a decrease in work performance.
In order to maintain employee health and increase work productivity, NeU and NSD (an IT service management company), proposed a cerebral checkup and training service to increase stress tolerance and concentration ability by training and revitalizing the brain.
1) Brain training, validating its effects and contents of implementation:
a. Introduction of check and training terminals based on brain science.
Three brain checking & training terminals as pictured on the right were installed in the “refresh space” at NSD.
b. “Train anywhere” by smartphone (pilot experiment).
Some training is offered by smartphone applications so that training can be performed while commuting or when at home.
c. Lecture by Ryuta Kawashima (CTO of NeU).
Prior to beginning the training programs, a lecture was given by Professor Ryuta Kawashima, NeU’s CTO and the Director of IDAC (Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University) on “Working Reform with Brain Science” so that participants can grasp the importance of brain training.2) Training content:
a. 1 day a week: checking the brain’s activeness in around 5 minutes through a language memory game.
b. 3 days or more per week: stress coping, neurofeedback and biofeedback to enhance stress reduction and stress tolerance.
· Brain training with neurofeedback function (background color changes according to the state of brain activity).
· Respiratory training is scored whether deep breathing is made rhythmically without changing the heart rate.3) Verification method:
In order to consider a company-wide implementation of the program, 50 individuals were chosen for a training period of 1.5 months, where brain activity was measured before and after. In the end, NeU analysed the improvement effects.
4) Points of verification and results:
Verification point 1
Does brain training blend into company life? Three types of training were asked to be performed for more than three days a week, and the average number of days of implementation was 3.95 days aggressively.
Verification point 2
Is brain training beneficial to individuals? In the group that conducted training for more than 2 days a week, the brain was found to be healthy, especially stress coping showed a statistically significant difference. Continuous brain training on a regular basis was found to make a positive difference on the health of the brain.
