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Sleeping on the Job
Because of increased workloads, growing numbers of employees don't get enough sleep -- which hurts productivity and can lead to danger when a tired employee is behind the wheel, a new study has found. Many employers, however, fail to see a problem.
Move over, smoking and obesity. The next big health problem in the workplace may be right before your droopy eyes -- sleep deprivation. More than one-fourth of all workers say that a lack of sleep hurts their performance at work at least a few days each month, according to a new study by the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation. And about the same number also say they are drowsy as they drive to and from work at least once a month. Five percent say it happens regularly while they're driving on company business. The problem, according to the Washington-based foundation, is that as companies have scaled back their workforces, the employees who remain are being asked to work longer days and on weekends. As a result, they're not getting enough sleep. Many companies don't realize the extent to which workers' sleep deprivation hurts productivity, says Mark Rosekind, a member of the study's task force and a former sleep foundation board member. Managers may see that employees are getting the job done, and conclude that nothing is wrong. But if the workers were getting more sleep, says Rosekind, performance would improve beyond expectation. For example, he says, employees may be working twice as slowly as they would if they weren't sleep-deprived. This is a form of "presenteeism," which Rosekind calls a hidden cost to businesses. Rosekind, the president and chief scientist of Alertness Solutions, a scientific consulting firm in Cupertino, Calif., says a lack of sleep can have serious consequences. The lack of two hours of sleep can impair performance in ways similar to drinking two or three beers -- when measuring reaction time, thinking ability and communication skills. Adding to the problem is that most people are not aware of the impact sleep deprivation is having on them, he says. Rosekind cites a separate study that looked at a group of business travelers on a three-day domestic trip. Despite a lack of sleep, the travelers said they were operating at peak productivity -- 5 on a scale of 1 to 5. But tests showed their productivity was down 20 percent, without them realizing it. "When people lose a little sleep, they think it's no big deal," says Rosekind. One way companies can help workers is to provide "nap rooms," where employees can grab a few supervisor-sanctioned winks (40 minutes or less -- any more, the sleeper goes into REM and can wake up groggy). In the sleep foundation study, more than one-third of those polled said their workplace permits napping during breaks, and 16 percent said their employer provides a place to do it. One organization that is experimenting with on-the-job naps is the Veterans Administration. In a pilot program at VA hospitals in Portland, Ore., and Palo Alto, Calif., intensive-care-unit doctors and nurses have been allowed to take naps of up to 40 minutes if needed, says James Bagian, the VA's chief patient safety officer. The program has successfully reduced people's fatigue and will be expanded to the entire VA system, he says. Bagian, a physician and astronaut who has flown on two space shuttle missions, acknowledges that some doctors and nurses may not want to take naps at work because they believe that carries a certain stigma. Those leading the napping program have had to persuade doctors and nurses that sleep deprivation "is not a badge of honor, but a badge of stupidity and pig-headedness," he says. The new sleep foundation study targeted a random sample of 1,000 American workers. Those surveyed worked an average of 9.5 hours a day, and spent nearly 4.5 additional hours each week working from home. Almost one-fourth of all respondents said they did job-related work in the hour before going to bed at least a few nights a week. Not surprisingly, a casualty of all this was a good night's sleep. On average, people said they needed to get 7 hours, 18 minutes of sleep to be their best at work. But they only slept an average of 6 hours, 40 minutes on weeknights. So when did they catch up? Often, during unsanctioned naps on company time. Nearly 30 percent of those polled said that in the past month they fell asleep, or became very sleepy, at work. The study's authors believe sleep deprivation may help explain why many of those surveyed said they often become impatient with co-workers, find it difficult to concentrate at work and believe they are less productive than they expect to be. Typically, says Rosekind, employees blame their bosses for giving them too much work. At the same time, the bosses say it's up to the employees to make sure they get enough sleep. "Everybody's pointing at everybody else," he says. In addition to nap rooms, Rosekind says, businesses can help employees head off sleep deprivation by providing information about how much sleep they should be getting and the consequences of sleeping too little. Employers can also adjust employees' schedules to help them get a good night's sleep, he says. .
March 12, 2008 Copyright 2008© LRP Publications |
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