This CEO Fought For Better Wages At His Company. Guess What Happened.

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, explained how he increased wages for his workers, arguing that taking better care of his employees would in turn lead to better care for Aetna’s customers.

Bertolini told HuffPost Live at Davos his company increased wages and adjusted benefits in order to give its employees a better quality of life.

“Not everybody should be at $16 an hour, there may be people who need to be higher,” Bertolini said, noting people’s lifestyles are directly impacted by how they are paid.

Bertolini’s company also implemented yoga and mindfulness practices at work and studied the effect they had on the employees.

“After we completed the [yoga] course, the results were amazing,” Bertolini said, saying in addition to weight loss and happier workers, there was an increase in productivity by 69 minutes a month.

“We think it’s about a $3,000 a year savings,” Bertolini said, noting his company’s health care costs actually went down after implementing mindfulness practices.

Below, live updates from the 2015 Davos Annual Meeting:

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“It’s pretty powerful to have access to anything, anytime,” Shlain said.

Shlain said she really tries “creatively” not to be on screens all the time. She observes Shabbat every week, which gives her one full day of unplugging.

Tiffany Shlain said she’s excited about the future of television and film on the Internet.

At @bcg bfast w @AshishJThakkar @amcafee & @nathanblec from @airbnb staying in a #Davos Airbnb w its own funicular! pic.twitter.com/yeOt1Gt2z9

— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) January 23, 2015

David Gelles said he devotes a chapter in his book to “McMindfulness,” or a watered-down version of mindfulness practices.

“Inasmuch as people are really practicing and doing the work, it’s still going to work its magic,” Gelles said.

Gelles said everyone should be able to make time for mindfulness practices.

“I think we all have time. If we all have time to check our smart phones and browse the web, we likely all have time for more virtuous activities,” Gelles said.

New York Times reporter David Gelles, who authored an upcoming book called Mindful Work: How Meditation Is Changing Business From The Inside Out, stopped by the HuffPost Live studio at Davos on Friday.

Gelles spoke on how mindfulness practices are able to reduce stress, increase focus and even make people more kind and compassionate.

“Our minds are totally inclined to race ahead and dwell in the past, but a lot of people would find that if we actually slow down and be in the present moment, a lot of good things will happen,” Gelles said.

“We’ve all got a responsibility to repair this broken world, to lift morale in a skeptical world that says, financial services and banking, you have overused the good will of the rest of the world,” Balkin said.

Jeremy Balkin at Davos

The Huffington Post