Employers find that massage breaks are a cost-effective way to boost productivity and offer employees relief from stress. You’ve been hearing a lot from employees lately that they’re feeling stressed out and stretched thin. Managers in several departments note that morale is down, tension is up, and people are struggling to keep the smile in their voices when they talk to customers. And maybe the HR department is a bit stressed out, too. What can you do? Employee surveys or workload and staffing re-evaluations may come to mind, and those are good long-term approaches. But for a quicker solution, have you considered massage breaks?
” I found this 1998 article, put I find it still quite accurate. I just saw a multinational company providing massages in their corporate benefit plan. This was the trigger to make some research about this topic”
During the past decade, many businesses have made massage therapy a part of the wellness program. And they’ve found massage to be a cost-effective benefit that’s either fully or partially employee paid. Rates range from $12 to $15 for a 10- to 15-minute chair massage and from $50 to $60 for a full hour of massage therapy. The actual costs may be lower than those given, because companies can often negotiate volume discounts.
Forget about the old connotations associated with massage; today’s massage therapists are trained to help relieve stress and improve alertness. A study in the International Journal of Neuroscience reported that adults who received two 15-minute massages each week showed signs of marked relaxation and increased speed and accuracy in math computations over the control group members, who didn’t have massages.
In addition, those receiving massages reported less depression and reduced anxiety levels. “Our employees seem rejuvenated after the massage. They are invigorated, ” says Patricia Bucaccio, assistant director of the Working Well program at Cigna Corp. in Philadelphia, which has 3,800 employees. “The feedback we get from people is, `This is the best thing that has happened to me today, and I’m ready to go back and tackle the day.’ That’s why we have kept the program going.”
A growing corporate benefit
“massage was something we wanted to incorporate in our HR list of benefits that we could offer to employees,” explains Leslie Orlando, HR specialist with Intuit in Mountain View, Calif. “My manager was familiar with other companies that had a message therapist and believed it would be good for us. So we tried it out, and it was quite popular. We have more than 3,800 employees and have had no problem filling every available appointment each week.” Intuit began using a therapist last November, but other companies have a longer history with massage. Cigna began its program five years ago, first by bringing in a masseuse for special events, then later on a weekly basis when it saw how well-received it was by employees. For StorageTek, the decision came six years ago when the firm expanded its facilities in Louisville, Colo. “It was one piece of a series of wellness programs we wanted,” says Jane Wilkinson, manager of the company’s corporate Wellness Independent Care Program. “I had been researching massage therapy, and it just seemed to fit with our stress management curriculum.” Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., looked at massage therapy as a component of healing.
“We wanted our work environment to be more conducive to relaxation in order to take the edge off of the hectic pace in a hospital environment,” says Tracy Smith, Wellspring program coordinator for the hospital. “We wanted our hospital to be as sensitive to the needs of our 2,000 employees as we were to needs of patients.” While looking for a way to help reduce stress for their personnel, Memorial realized that one of the biggest problems was that many employees could not take off 30 to 40 minutes or longer to go someplace and relax.
“Nurses, in particular, have a difficult time coming off the floors even for classes or lunch,” Smith says. “That’s why having a massage therapist come to them right where they work seemed like a wonderful way to give them a break and help them reduce stress.” The typical on-site massage is performed in a portable “chair,” which places the employee in a sitting position, leaning forward. No clothing is removed and no privacy is required for the massage. Therapists can set up just about any place that is convenient for the employees and the company. Memorial even has a massage chair in the emergency room. The typical chair massage lasts from 10 to 20 minutes, “about the same amount of time an employee would take for a cigarette break,” says Robin Egal, president of New York-based Back to Work Inc., a company that provides massage therapists for businesses. “The employee gets a neck and shoulder massage without having to leave the building. You don’t have to do anything but come in, sit down and relax. So, there’s not much wasted time.”
Smith finds that hospital employees work together to arrange time for the massages. “They cover for each other so they can take advantage of this service. It’s worth it to them to find the time to help each other.” At Intuit, StorageTek and Cigna, exempt employees are allowed time off for a chair massage but are encouraged to use lunch time or other breaks for the service. At Cigna, which also offers full- body massages taking up to an hour, employees must use their own time.
Choosing a massage therapist
for most organizations, the first step is finding a qualified masseuse. Cheryl Hutcherson, membership assistant for the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), cautions employers to make sure the therapist has been state-certified. “This will tell you that they have met certain qualifications, such as graduating from an accredited school with at least 500 hours of training and passing the state certification.” AMTA has a list of qualified massage therapists throughout the United States, and they are glad to make recommendations or to put you in touch with a chapter located near your business. “Certification alone may not guarantee that you have found the best therapist,” cautions Tyler Watson, owner of Corporate Touch: Hands- On Stress Solution, a Cherry Hill, N.J., company providing certified masseuses for the workplace.
“Some people go into massage because they think they can make good money, and they might not be in touch with their own sense of hands-on ability. I have found through my years of interviewing people to work for our company that a lot of people get out of school but still don’t quite have what I consider to be quality talent.” Wilkinson suggests that after employers have verified certification, they inquire about the therapist’s specific corporate experiences. “Ask how long they have run corporate programs before-and ask for references,” she says. “Then you will also want to know about the types of massages they do. I wasn’t set on a particular type of massage; I left it open for them to convince me which method was best.”
Wilkinson also emphasized that she wanted someone with a wellness background, but, “I didn’t want someone into really extreme alternative medicines who would be prescribing things. I was really careful to explain to the masseuse that he was there to do massage. Certainly, we both realized that people might ask him questions about vitamins and exercise, but he should refer them to the nutritionists and exercise physiologists that we have in our wellness center. That was a concern of ours because of the issue of liability. He was not qualified to prescribe any medical treatments, although he certainly could frame answers as being his opinion and then refer the person to one of our professionals.”
Look at liability issues
Liability is a definite concern for companies considering a massage therapist. What if someone is injured during the massage? None of the companies interviewed had experienced a problem with employees being hurt or complaining about bad treatments, but all of their therapists are expected to carry their own liability insurance. Certified masseuses can buy up to $3 million worth of coverage through two national massage associations, or they can purchase their own coverage through an insurance company. One liability issue remains a big concern-possible sexual abuse. ” That was probably our biggest fear,” says Wilkinson. “What would happen if you got some shady character in there and somebody got abused or molested? You just can’t insure against that. What you do need to do is to be diligent on the screening. That’s also why we offer only chair massage. The employee stays completely dressed, and the massage can take place in a fairly public place.”
This type of liability issue and the connotations associated with massage lead some companies to fear that their employees will not be interested in using the benefit. “We have found that usually between 40 percent and 60 percent of the employees in any given workplace will jump at the chance to get a massage,” says Watson, “but there are always those who will shy away from it.” The group that tends to be the “shyest” are the executives. “We’ve had a few executives make appointments-but not too many,” Orlando says. “I think it’s mostly a time issue.” Wilkinson noticed the same thing with executives at her company. But she then added that they tend not to use many of the services and programs because they are either out of town or too busy when they return to the office. Bucaccio, on the other hand, has been pleasantly surprised by the number of people in upper management at her company who come for a massage.
“It really appeals to a broad range of employees of all ages and levels,” she says. Smith, too, has been pleased that several doctors have stopped by when they saw a massage chair in one area of the hospital. “We have some doctors who see it in a unit and take advantage of it,” she says. “We’ve even gone into the doctor’s lounge and offered head and neck massages there. We’ve also used massages in our family practice and residency program. I’ve had wonderful feedback from the doctors who have tried it.”
Massage touches the bottom line
The justification for any employee benefit tends to be, is it worth it? The answer, at least from these four companies, appears to be yes. Employees at StorageTek, Cigna and Intuit all pay for their own massages. Both StorageTek and Cigna have been able to negotiate discounted rates because of the volume they are offering the masseuse. But perhaps the biggest plus for many employees is that, at all three companies, massages are used as a reward for employees who have gone the extra mile.
“Our managers offer gift certificates to some employees as a reward for working on a project or working late to get some project finished, ” says Orlando. “It’s a nice way to tell them they are appreciated.” At Memorial, where the hospital pays on-staff massage therapists, Smith says, “I don’t have any studies or stats on the bottom line for the hospital, but I do believe it is cost-effective and very inexpensive in relation to other things that are supported at our hospital. And, quite honestly, it makes it all worthwhile when you see the faces of the employees who have been so tense. They take a 10-minute time- out, then they start to calm down and get in a better mood. When they go back to work and are dealing with patients and patients’ families, they are more pleasant and they do a better job. That’s the kind of bottom line we are interested in.” Nancy Hatch Woodward is a freelance writer based in Chattanooga, Tenn.
© Society for Human Resource Management
