By The Editor
After a week of vigorous voting, our poll on the benefits and feasibility of naps during office hours indicates that a nap-time revolution is still a long way from becoming a reality in the Australian work culture.
A substantial portion of the voters thought the implementation of workplace napping was a dream come true; while the rest fell in various camps ranging from cautiously optimistic to outright opposition. At the close of voting, the dream of some shut-eye at work was rudely awakened by the reality of this logistical nightmare.
Others went further, by making use of the “other” option of the poll to express their own take on the issue. This led to several insightful (and occasionally colourful) quotes worth mentioning:
- Only if I can build a make-shift bed under my desk
- I do it all the time. Have done for 40 years. But I am self employed
- A 60-second neck shoulder massage would do it for me
- I’d rather exercise
- Might look weird to customers coming in, but great benefit to our narcoleptic!
- What if you only have 1 employee on duty? How does it work then?
- Good for some but not for me… I feel dopey after a mid-afternoon sleep.
Although the majority aren’t too keen on naps during work time, voter feedback suggests that people are open to greater flexibility in regards to office hours – ranging from extended lunch times in order to run personal errands, to regular exercise breaks to increase healthy living.
At the end of the day, when it comes to the Australian working culture, it seems George Costanza is still relatively alone in his sentiment:
“I love a good nap. Sometimes, it’s the only thing getting me out of bed in the morning.”
[...] recent contributions to a poll about workplace naps was another way in which we considered whether flexible working practices could lead to improved [...]
Thanks for response to my queries and link article.
No problem. We also have a pretty active discussion going on about “chucking sickies” – would be interested to hear your views on this.
(http://blog.vecci.org.au/2009/10/19/australia-not-sick-of-sickies/)
Some queries on the workplace mid-afternoon nap concept:
- how much time is suggested for the nap to be of benefit in the workplace(ie a 15min power nap? Or a 1hour mini-sleep?)
- is the suggestion for the nap to be on company time or to be taken as part of/in addition to the employees allocated breaks (and would nap time mean a longer work day/later finish time to make it up?)
hey Elly, some answers:
- according to a study by NASA, a 26min nap can boost performance by 34%. Here’s an article with some interesting tips/benefits of napping (http://www.spine-health.com/blog/ergonomics/how-power-nap-work)
- as for how to implement workplace naps, it varies and seems to be up to a company’s discretion.