Tired Employees Create Risks for Employers
Posted on Monday, April 29, 2019
ShareThe evidence keeps piling up. Too few employees are getting enough sleep. Too many employees are sleep-deprived and fatigued at work.
And these fatigued employees are producing below par, getting involved in more Workers' Compensation incidents, and causing higher costs for employers.
Thirty-eight of 100 employees are experiencing fatigue during their workday, according to a study that appeared in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. A "natural nap period" is in mid-afternoon when a person's alertness drops.
The report suggests that napping during an employee's lunch break "may provide the maximum benefit, if there is a place to properly nap."
Drinking a caffeinated beverage just before taking a nap is a no-no because "the stimulating effect of the caffeine or the need to use the bathroom may prevent you from falling asleep or interrupt your nap prematurely."
Best Times for Napping
You might want to share the following information about naps with your associates and employees:
According to the Transportation Research Board's Toolbox for Transit Operator Fatigue report the period from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. is a "no nap zone." Better to nap before or after those times, according to this report sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration.
A "natural nap period" is in mid-afternoon when a person's alertness naturally drops.
The report suggests that napping during an employee's lunch break "may provide the maximum benefit, if there is a place to properly nap."
Drinking a caffeinated beverage just before taking a nap is a no-no because "the stimulating effect of the caffeine or the need to use the bathroom may prevent you from falling asleep or interrupt your nap prematurely."
The finding resulted from interviews with 29,000 adults in the U.S., with 38 percent of them saying they experienced "low levels of energy, poor sleep, or a feeling of fatigue" in the last two weeks.
Who is experiencing the most fatigue at work?
Women employees.
Employees under age 50.
White employees rather than minorities.
And employees in high-control positions (better-paid positions with decision-making responsibilities).
What's a major impact of having so many fatigued employees? Lower productivity. The study found the rate of lowered productivity associated with health-related causes was substantially higher for fatigued employees: 65.7 percent for fatigued employees compared to 26.4 percent for non-fatigued employees. Nine percent of employees experiencing fatigue while at work reported non-productive time caused by fatigue.
Specifically, fatigued employees reported losing an average of 5.6 hours per week of productive time... in contrast to non-fatigued employees who reported losing 3.3 hours of productive time for health-related causes. This would mean fatigued employees are losing 70 percent more hours of productivity than non-fatigued employees due to health-related causes.
Coming to work without enough rest negatively affects the fatigued employee's concentration and prolongs the time the employee needs to complete work tasks.
More about women lacking enough sleep: Sixty out of 100 American women report not getting enough sleep a few nights each week. And 67 out of 100 U.S. women report they often are experiencing a lack of sleep. In addition, 43 out of 100 women report their drowsiness is interfering with their daily activities. These findings stem from a Sleep in America poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).
The lack of sufficient sleep is affecting the work attendance of the female employees who participated in the poll. Sixty-eight of 100 women said they worked outside the home during the previous month, and 46 out of 100 women said they worked in full-time employment. And eight out of 100 employed women said they miss work at least once a month because of a lack of sleep or a sleep problem. And 20 out of 100 of the employed women said they reported to work late more than once in the previous month because of a sleep problem or because they were too tired.
The Sleep in America poll of women found that employed, single females get the least amount of sleep, less than six hours per night. (Medical experts in sleep recommend that adults sleep from seven to eight hours each night.)
Workers' Compensation and lack of sleep. The Shiftwork Practices Survey findings issued by Circadian Technologies, Inc., found that Workers' Compensation incidents are 15 times higher at workplaces and on work shifts where employees are experiencing severe fatigue problems, compared to workplaces and shifts where employees do not report fatigue problems.
And the Shiftwork Practices Survey also discovered that workplaces where napping by employees is banned had Workers' Comp costs 400 percent higher than workplaces that did not ban napping by employees.
Napping has health benefits. Another study published in the Archives of Internal Medicinereported on the health benefits of napping among 23,681 Greek adults.
The study tracked participants over a period of about six years.
The conclusion? Adults who napped about 30 minutes, at least three times a week, experienced 37 percent less risk of death from heart attacks or other heart problems compared to adults who did not nap. When the survey began, the participants, all living in Greece, had no history of heart disease, stroke or cancer. This was the first major research project of its kind that looked at adults who were healthy.
The positive results for napping were strongest among working men. (There were too few deaths among working women in the study to permit conclusions regarding the affects of napping on working women.)
What's an employer to do? Following are things an employer can consider doing to encourage employees to get sufficient sleep so they are most productive while at work:
Encourage fatigued employees to consult with a health professional about the condition, because fatigue can be caused by medical conditions (for example, depression, flu, heart disease) and not just lack of sleep.
Inform employees of the necessity, for most people, of getting seven to eight hours of sleep daily.
Encourage employees to consult with a health professional of their choice to learn how much sleep they should get daily.
Permit employees to take brief (10 to 15-minute) naps during each four-hour work shift, or to take a brief (15- to 20-minute) nap once in an eight-hour work shift. (Employees can nap at their workstation, in a break room, in a nap room [a room dedicated to resting], or in their vehicle in the parking lot.)
These nap breaks could replace the coffee breaks, smoking breaks, socializing breaks, or other breaks from work that are permitted in most workplaces. Research by James Mass, at Cornell University, (the man credited with coining the term power nap) showed that 38 percent of all U.S. employees napped at work, whether the employer permitted napping or not. These napping employees get their naps in at their desks or workstations, in the rest room, and in their vehicles.
Set up a nap room, a dedicated break room furnished to make nap-taking comfortable.
Nike has a nap room that's called a "relaxation room." BNSF Railway (formerly Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad) allows train conductors and engineers to nap for up to 45 minutes long when the train is stopped. Gould Evans Associates, Kansas City, has "spent tents" in its offices where employees can take short naps. Yarde Metals, of Southington, CT, provides employees with a quiet room for napping and even a high-tech vibrating chair.
Encourage employees who have a one-hour meal break to use the last 20- to 25-minutes to take a nap.
Restructure work schedules to reduce overtime work.
Restructure work schedules to permit flexible work schedules that make time for more sleep at home or for naps during the workday.
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