Yoga as a means of increasing job satisfaction in the workplace

Abstract

Employees are the backbone of all organizations. The success or failure of an organization often depends on the behavior of its employees (Tsai, 2011). For this reason, it is important that organizations invest in keeping their employees satisfied with their jobs. Many organizations choose to implement wellness initiatives to boost their employees' job satisfaction (Blake & Lloyd, 2008; Schröer, Haupt, & Pieper, 2014). One popular exercise, yoga, has not yet been studied as a way of increasing job satisfaction, though it appears to have great health benefits (Adhia, Nagendra, & Mahadevan, 2010). The purpose of this study was to look at the difference in job satisfaction between those who had practiced yoga and those who had not. A sample of 32 yoga students was surveyed on yoga practice, exercise habits, past yoga experience, and levels of job satisfaction. It was predicted that students who had practiced yoga would have increased levels of job satisfaction. Results of an independent samples t test did not support the proposed hypothesis. Future studies should focus on controlling for the many variables involved in this research.