Abstract
There is evidence that meditation is a powerful organisational tool for enhancing employee effectiveness, wellbeing, and job satisfaction; however, experimental studies on the effects of meditation on other organisational factors such as presenteeism and emotional intelligence are limited. This study investigated the impact of meditation on mindfulness, emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, and job stress-related presenteeism in an Australian workplace. Participants learned and practised an 'Auto Transcending Meditation Technique’ (ATMT) at their workplace. The study used the switching replications experimental design, comparing an intervention group with a control group. Quantitative data analysis used descriptive statistics and repeated measures to compare the mean pre-post intervention differences. Thematic analysis was completed on qualitative data gathered in focus groups and from the training evaluation. As a consequence of ATMT, participants showed significant improvements in their levels of mindfulness and emotional intelligence. Thematic analysis indicated that participants felt the meditation training and practice led to positive personal changes. In addition, the results showed that higher mindfulness buffers the effect of stress-related presenteeism on participants’ mental and physical health. Our results demonstrate that meditation training and practice enhances mindfulness and emotional intelligence, with benefits for employees’ physical and mental health.  Workplace meditation should be considered in health promoting work settings.
  
Highlights
Meditation is a popular tool to enhance employee effectiveness, health, and job satisfaction in many organisations (Goodson, 2013)
The current study explored the effects of meditation on EI, mindfulness, job satisfaction, and job stress-related presenteeism in an Australian corporate setting
The participants reported clear improvement in mindfulness and EI skills, with those with high levels of mindfulness potentially protected from the deleterious health effects of presenteeism
Summary
Meditation is a popular tool to enhance employee effectiveness, health, and job satisfaction in many organisations (Goodson, 2013). Different cultures have practised meditation in various forms to connect the mind, body and spirit for hundreds of years. Meditation techniques differ, but commonly include controlled breathing, repetitive phrases (mantra), and visualisations; all forms of meditation share mindfulness and self-awareness skills (Charoensukmongkola, 2014). A recent systematic review on the effects of mindfulness on stress measures and anxiety showed that meditation is associated with decreases in heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels, especially in those with more practice and strong focus on breathing (Pascoe & Crewther, 2016). Meditation has been promoted as effective management for stress and anxiety by various government and health ijps.ccsenet.org
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