NEW YORK, June 9, 2006: First it was massage and now it’s yoga classes. In an effort to keep qualified employees in a competitive marketplace, some companies are offering the additional perk of having a licensed masseuse or yoga instructor available during their work days. Tracy Cote, head of human resources at San Francisco-based Organic Inc., says, “We have to do whatever we can to keep our employees happy. There’s a lot of competition right now in our industry. There’s been an upswing in the market in the past 12 months. Business is better for us, but business also is better for our competitors. It’s all about recruiting and retaining.” Meredith Stem, partner at Infinite Massage in San Francisco, says, “Companies are digging deeper into their pockets to pay for such benefits. They’re trying to find ways to spend money on their employees to keep them, because it’s harder to replace somebody. My argument is, you’re going to do much better in terms of productivity if you allow your employees to get up and move around for a little bit, and it’s better than smoking a cigarette or even having a cup of coffee. But I don’t really have to make an argument these days.” A worker at one hedge fund in New York says, “It’s wonderful, it’s a stress reliever, it’s good for employee morale.” Michael Wald of Namaste New York, which offers anti-stress programs for offices, sums it up, “What I’m seeing is increased budgets. Each year it has increased. I don’t have a CEO saying we made X amount of dollars more because of this. It’s too hard to quantify. But morale and the atmosphere are better, and we’re seeing a decrease in absenteeism as well as attrition.”
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