Npower employs meditation gurus to help staff relax after vast job cuts

Npower team uses Buddhist techniques to relax the mind and find inner peace

Npower employs seven 'meditation gurus' to help staff deal with stress after the energy firm announced it would axe 1,400 jobs as part of a major business overhaul.

The team uses Buddhist meditation techniques to help relax the mind and find inner peace. The positions are voluntary and unpaid.

A spokesperson for Npower said: "Like many large companies, npower offers helps with stress management for people based in our contact centres.

"Across the UK, we have a team of people who are fully trained and, in addition to their normal day jobs, offer voluntary, unpaid help to colleagues who request this kind of support."

Npower, which was fined £3.5 million last year after an investigation by energy regulator Ofgem found it had breached sales rules on the doorstep and over the phone for vulnerable customers, remains the most complained about of the big six energy firms.

The German-owned supplier received 202.5 complaints per 100,000 customers, compared with 38.3 per 100,000 for SSE, the lowest of the main energy providers, from the period April to June 2013.

Last month, Paul Massara, chief executive at RWE npower, defended the firm against accusations that it is profiteering after hiking dual-fuel bills 10.4 per cent in 2013, arguing that Britain's "old and draughty" houses waste too much energy and this translates into higher energy bills.