This is one of the most turbulent emotional and psychological times that we are living in.  With the onset of the current pandemic, employees (at least those lucky enough to have gainful employment) are forced to social distance and work remotely.  In light of this there are certain realities that come with remote work and several mechanisms that can be used to cope with these realities.

First and foremost, as employees work remotely, employers have to make certain that they are provided with the tools to perform their jobs adequately.  Hence, issues of computer availability, phone, internet connectivity, data security (i.e. accessing work related documents) all have to be addressed.  Arguably, this is the easiest part of the employer employee relationship and is the one that companies have focused on during Covid-19. 

The larger and more difficult issue to address is the mental and psychological well-being of employees during this pandemic.  Put another way, the emotional stressors of the pandemic can lead to sub-par remote work performance.  There are several inherent distractors to remote work including but not limited to crowded households, home schooling of kids and distance learning, the barking dogs etc.  How many Zoom, Skype or Teams meetings have we been on where we have witnessed this?

It is clear that employees are faced with stress during these difficult times. Having said the above, by providing employees with an avenue to reduce and relieve the stress associated with remote work, employers will yield some great benefits.  This is where music and providing employer sponsored and or subsidized music lessons can help.

Benefits of Learning An Instrument

When an individual learns an instrument, they are acquiring focus, discipline, spatial thinking, creativity, patience, collaboration and the list goes on. Additionally, music improves the quality of life of older individuals; individuals who study music do better on verbal ability, visual pattern completion and have higher math scores.

ALL of the attributes referenced above can help produce a more engaged and better situated employee. Whether it be relearning that long-lost passion of strumming a guitar, or finally learning to play a piano, or just banging away the day’s frustration on a snare drum music helps relieve stress.

At minor7thb5 we make it easy for companies to connect with reputable music teachers and will work with you to develop a virtual music lesson program for your employees and their families.  In the end, by leveraging music as part of an employee centric benefits solution, companies will have a more productive and engaged work force.