Sufficient slumber and what it can achieve

Posted 13 months ago by Sarah Glover 5 Minute(s) to read

We made mention of the USA’s Sleep Awareness Week on our social media channels recently, and it’s a topic we hold close to our hearts here at Emendas. Both because WE love to sleep, and because we think that sleep is vital to wellbeing and work capacity.

From a business perspective, sleep can make a big impact on workplace productivity and safety. Here are the details, the evidence, and our best tips for making sure your people are well-rested and ready to rock.

Why is sleep important?

Most people will have firsthand experience with how a good night’s sleep will leave you feeling much more ready to face the world. However, you might be interested to know that scientists have validated this over and over again. This medical journal article does a good job of reviewing and summarising many of the studies in the field. It goes into the mechanisms behind sleep loss effects, including:

• Decrease in attention and working memory.
• Impairment of visuomotor performance (hand-eye coordination).
• Reduction in reasoning ability for those experiencing long-term sleep deprivation.
• A possible adverse effect on motivation with severe sleep deprivation.

And for business owners and managers, here is a study of both blue and white-collar construction/civil engineering workers in Japan that looked specifically into how sleep is linked with workplace productivity. Three different insomnia symptoms (difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, and early morning awakening) were associated with poor work performance. It concluded that insomnia “could cause economic loss as well as possible accidents at the building site.”

 

The risks of sleep deprivation at work

A lack of sleep has cascading effects—it impairs a person’s cognitive function, which then impairs their real-world function, which then impairs their work. Personal effects aside, there are many potential risks for a company with sleep-deprived employees:

• Lost profit due to lack of productivity.
• Subpar customer service.
• The possibility of burnout that comes with turnover costs.
• Safety issues; the possibility of an incident caused by impaired function which could lead to lost profit, extra costs, injury, or worse.

While many imagine that risks are relevant only to physical roles in industries like construction or manufacturing, sleep deprivation will affect performance significantly in roles that are more mentally than physically taxing. Cognitive loading and decision-making are huge fatigue drivers. So if you’re in a more office-based role, don’t feel you can skip out on your slumber. 

The benefits of good sleep

Having a workplace full of employees getting sufficient and quality sleep will reduce the risks we outlined in the last section—and that’s reason enough to promote it!

Well-rested people are also more likely to have the energy to contribute to an enjoyable, nurturing workplace culture, resulting in a more engaged and happier workforce. We’ve probably mentioned before that Gallup has linked employee engagement with improvements to 11 performance outcomes including productivity and profitability.

Happier, healthier, more focused, and more productive people. That’s what you want as an employer, and that’s what good sleep can help to achieve.

How can I as an employer encourage good sleep?

You know the business benefits of well-rested people. How can you facilitate good sleep for your employees?

Largely, this is out of your control and depends on the lifestyle of the individual in question. However, there are work-related factors that can impact a person’s ability to get enough slumber. Here’s how you can make a difference:

1. Keep stress to a minimum. This is a major factor, as stress can disrupt sleep. Check in with your people and make adjustments to their workload as required. Find out about any conflicts or other stressors within the workplace and address them.
2. When attempting to reduce stress, take into account the individual needs of each person. As an example, some people draw energy from being around people, while others recharge by being alone. Our profiling services can help you to ensure that you have people in roles where they are happy and fulfilled.
3. Encourage regular screen breaks for those who stare at them every day. Too much screen time (and limited natural light) can interrupt sleep cycles.
4. Educate shift workers on the importance of sufficient sleep and how they can get it: eye masks, regular sleep schedules, and good sleep hygiene. If you have people working varied schedules that include both day and night shifts, ensure they are not working too many night shifts in a row and not too many hours overall.
5. Be proactive about daylight savings; talk about it and prepare people in advance. Consider taking mitigating action where relevant, i.e night shifts that may be made longer due to the time change.
6. Look at how the tasks of each position align and whether they are putting too much load on an employee. For example, an elite athlete doesn’t compete, learn, and train on the same day. Are your people having to do the equivalent? Is there a better way to arrange tasks?

 

TL;DR: why workers need good sleep and how to help them get it

Attention wandering trying to get through all that text? You might be lacking sleep—but that’s OK, we’ve cut it down into a quick summary.

Many studies have shown that sleep deprivation adversely affects several of your brain functions, and this medical journal article does a good job of summarising some of the research on this. When your employees aren’t sleeping enough, their attention, working memory, coordination, and reasoning ability can be reduced.

Well-rested employees are a benefit to your business. They are more productive, more focused, and present less of a safety risk. Here are a few quick pointers for employers that might help them ensure their people are getting enough shuteye:

• Reduce stress where possible: adjust workloads, check in regularly, address conflict, and ensure that your people are well-suited to their roles.
• Encourage screen breaks.
• Educate workers, particularly shift workers, on the importance of sleep and make sure their schedules allow for it.
• Be proactive about the possible effects of daylight savings.
• Be strategic about how tasks are scheduled and how you are loading each individual with them, to avoid high-load days as much as possible.

If you need help with work design, HR, and other aspects of workplace wellness, get in touch with the Emendas team!