Mindfulness and meditation were long considered rather esoteric, suitable only for a special kind of person – at least here in the West.
Read this article in Swedish on Arbeidsliv i Norden
Mindfulness, a definition
Mindfulness, or mindful awareness, is a method rooted in meditation. It is sometimes used in healthcare. It involves focusing on your experiences in the present moment, such as thoughts, feelings or sensory impressions.
Mindful awareness can help you gain some distance to your thoughts and instead focus on the present, your experiences and what you wish to do.
Many find that practicing mindful awareness in everyday life makes it easier to manage things such as anxiety, stress and pain.
Source: 1177.se – a hub for information and services relating to health and healthcare.
Serial entrepreneur Patrik Zalewski was one of those who remained sceptical to these methods for a long time. He now focuses on both technology and health.
“Meditate for three minutes every day. No more, no less.”
That was the advice he got from the therapist he had sought out when he began to worry about hitting the so-called wall. His business ventures had been moving at a frantic pace while he was also sleep deprived after becoming a father to a child with sleep problems.
“Despite being very critical, I tried every day to sit on a chair and focus on my breathing for three minutes. I thought that even I could spend a very short period of time not being active and try to solve problems.”
The experiment was a success. Today, Patrik Zalewski meditates every day.
A panel debate on the future of work
During this year’s Ystad Summit, one of the posts on the programme was called “How do we prepare young people for working life and working life for young people?”. The introduction read:
“Youth Barometer surveys show that young people are seeking a break from an increasingly fast-paced and digital everyday life, with its relentless stream of impressions and pressure to perform. They want space for human interaction, recovery and simpler values. At the same time, they are being challenged by a culture that highlights consumption, perfection and progress, which has made many long for a more sustainable life where practical work, rest and authenticity takes centre stage.”
From the stage, the panellists debated how a sustainable working life might look like with time and access to tools for recovery, like mindfulness.
The conversation was based on the 2025 Youth Barometer’s Generation Report which identifies three shifts in working life:
- from fast to slow
- from digital to human
- from superficial to authentic
Patrik Zalewski was on the panel. As an employer with his own experiences of what it can feel like when you do not have enough time to catch your breath, he is now a proponent of mindfulness.
He has founded Mindergy together with Marie Möller, a company that has developed a virtual reality tool designed to support recovery, relaxation and improved focus.
“The headsets that are needed can be found in our office reception and can be used whenever during the working day,” he says, and explains that the product’s customers include dental clinics and the paediatric department at Skåne University Hospital in Malmö.
In healthcare, they are used more as a tool for distraction. Here, VR has proven very efficient during all kinds of procedures where the patient does not need to be put under anaesthetic. It has even helped reduce the use of nitrous oxide and sedatives.
A need to be clear and flexible
Another of Möller’s and Zalewski’s companies, the staffing agency Best Staff, offers entry-level jobs that are sought by many young people leaving upper secondary education and heading towards further studies or other jobs.
One thing the owners have realised along the way is that they need to be very clear from the outset about what the job involves, right down to the smallest details.
They have also produced a staff handbook which all new workers are required to sign to confirm that they accept its terms. The handbook points out that all employees have equal value and also outlines how to treat each other and customers.
“We want our employees to try to step outside their comfort zones. That’s rarely where you have the most fun. So, dare to try things and feel free to come up with new ideas. It’s the people closest to the business who can see what needs to be developed.
“And if you’re not sure, ask for forgiveness, not for permission. That’s the approach we take. Everything is about freedom with responsibility. If you’ve been given someone’s trust, you should take care of it,” says Patrik Zalewski.
When he compares Generation Z with older generations, he sees a change in behaviour even when the age difference is not more than ten years.
“Young people are more driven by emotions. They often expect constant awards, but I can’t be there during their entire working day and give this to them. So we have now developed an app that will reward them when their tasks are completed and logged.”
But clarity is not enough. It is also important to accept that we all have good and bad days, as Patrik Zalewski puts it.
“In our culture, everything is expected to be perfect. You should be well dressed and smell good, and you have to perform. So it’s important to be able to say, ‘today I’m not feeling so good, but I will do what I can’.
“Perhaps that person on that day could be given a task without too much customer contact. This kind of flexibility is needed and valuable for employees,” he says.
As a manager, he also tries to communicate that if someone notices signs of mental ill health, they should talk to someone.
“It’s an investment in yourself to talk about how you feel and to ask for help.”
A major problem for the individual and society
Stress-related sick leave remains high in Sweden, although fell somewhat towards the end of last year, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency wrote in January this year. A possible reason for that, it said, was “the ongoing economic downturn, since sickness absence rates for all diagnoses normally fall during periods of higher unemployment”.
In its situation report on mental ill health in working life published in that same month, the Agency wrote that:
Stress-related sick leave has increased by 11 per cent since September 2019 and now stands at 35,800 people.
9.9 billion Swedish kronor (€880m) was paid out in sickness benefits for stress-related mental health in 2024.
“Stress-related mental ill health accounts for the majority of this sick leave, and nine in ten people on long-term sick leave say their work has contributed to their absence. High workloads and imbalance between demands and resources are the most common causes.”
A hub for collaboration
Malmö University opened a new knowledge hub in 2023, to create and share research-based knowledge around mindfulness, called Mindfulness – knowledge and practice. It is both digital and has a physical campus presence.
The target groups are schools and sports organisations, workplaces and the general public.
“Sick leave rates are rising and one of the main reasons why we do this at Malmö University is to improve people’s health and address issues that contribute to greater wellbeing.
“Mindfulness can be one of the solutions,” says Lovisa Broms, programme director for the bachelor’s degree in sports science and a project researcher at the hub.
“We collaborate with students and researchers in a range of fields at different higher education institutions, both nationally and internationally,” she says.
The hub offers a range of mindfulness activities for students, employees and the general public. They also have lectures where researchers talk about their studies.
“We want to expand our contact with students and reach even more of them. Right now, we’re talking to the student health service to see what we can do together.”
Lovisa Broms holds a PhD for her research on how participants in equestrian sport use social media to portray their sport and is well aware of the dual nature of digital technology.
“A lot becomes accessible, but at the same time, we’re also exposed to an incredible number of impressions and have a greater need to switch off and learn more about how to handle stress and pressure – be it within sport, in school or in the workplace,” she says.
A study published by researchers at the knowledge hub in collaboration with three companies showed that mindfulness could reduce employees’ stress.
Employees who wanted to take part were initially given a set of tools by Catharina Sjögren Froborg, an ICF-certified master-level leadership coach. They then practised mindfulness during working hours for 10 minutes every working day over eight weeks.
“The project has now been completed, and the conclusion was that employees need to feel that it is OK to take short breaks. If you want to build sustainable workplaces, you must think more about how this is communicated,” says Lovisa Broms.
The knowledge hub for mindfulness at Malmö University was established thanks to a donation from Agartha AB, a family-owned investment company based in Malmö.
