Insight #213
That’s me before getting older taught me to sleep in my chair. (Created with Microsoft Copilot). . .
Oh, these lazy, hazy days of summer. The perfect time to sleep at work. You’ve never done that? Not even while working from home?
Well, learn from me. In the good old days, back when I had a normal job, I often napped at work. I used to lie under my desk, the one in my own office, the one with a door, the one not at home. I was a bachelor then, but that’s not why I needed sleep. Even back then, I was wise enough to know that napping improved productivity.
Research backs up what I knew instinctively. Taking a nap does indeed increase your performance. It’s good for you and good for your employer. Even for your boss.
Note this. Companies don’t need to spend money on frills like nap-rooms or sleep-pods to get the benefits. If I could nap on the floor, then so can you. But that was before getting older taught me to fall asleep in my chair. At my desk. Staring at the screen. With eyes closed.
Yes, I know there is another reason companies need not spend many on sleep aides at work. Because your office is your bedroom. Or vice versa. How convenient. Or maybe your office is a room not too far from your bed. Still convenient.
So, the only thing that companies need to change is the attitude to sleeping on the job. Your boss’s attitude, if you are the one doing the napping. Your attitude if you are the wakeful boss.
People will always sleep on the job. It’s up to you whether they waste their creativity on napping surreptitiously for their own benefit. Or whether you benefit from their recharged energy because you support napping at work.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
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