A topic that’s starting to gain traction around board tables and certainly with our HR community is should a business care about the amount of sleep an employee is getting? At first glance, it may seem strange for an employer to even consider involvement in its workforces sleep schedules, however, sleep deprivation can have a serious impact on business.
Organisations often devote significant resources to upskill their workforce, through internal and external training opportunities. They also spend quite a lot of time, attention, and money trying to identify sources of competitive advantage. However, these organisations may be overlooking a powerful way to potentially upskill and gain competitive advantage, which could be accessed much more readily, and at far less expense, than broad-scale training and innovation initiatives: having a well-rested workforce.
In fact, a study carried out pre-covid by Rand Europe highlighted that sleep-deprived workers are costing the UK economy £40bn a year and employees not getting enough sleep even have a shorter life expectancy.
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The figure was estimated based on tired employees being less productive or absent from work altogether. The research used data from 62,000 people and said the loss equated to 1.86% of economic growth or 200,000 working days per year.
The main impact was on health, with those sleeping less than six hours a night 13% more likely to die earlier than those getting seven to nine hours.
The cost of sleep deprivation by country:
- US loses 1.2 million working days a year, costing $411bn (£328bn) or 2.28% of GDP
- Japan loses 600,000 working days a year, costing $138bn or 2.92% of GDP
- UK loses 200,000 working days a year, costing £40bn, or 1.86% of GDP
- Germany loses 200,000 working days a year, costing $60bn, or 1.56% of GDP
- Canada loses 80,000 working days a year, costing $21.4bn or 1.35% of GDP
According to the study, the “healthy daily sleep range” is between seven and nine hours per night.
The benefit of having well rested employees
In the short term, compromising sleep might help employees meet deadlines, but this is an unwise—and potentially dangerous—long-term strategy. Extensive research highlights the critical role of sleep in overall performance and well-being. Sleep deprivation negatively impacts the body, mind, and spirit, affecting emotions, temperament, and self-control. Additionally, chronic sleep deprivation is linked to serious health issues such as heart disease, obesity, dementia, diabetes, and cancer.
From an organisational perspective, sleep deprivation significantly impacts workplace performance. The ability to learn, concentrate, and retain information is heavily influenced by how well-rested individuals are. Insufficient sleep can lead to emotional instability, moodiness, aggression, and forgetfulness. Preliminary research also suggests that sleep-deprived individuals may be more prone to unethical behaviour. These factors can have negative consequences for teamwork and individual performance within an organisation.
What role do businesses play in this?
Your organisation may think that your employees’ life choices post 5pm are none of your business. Who are you to dictate if someone chooses to binge watch yet another episode of their favourite Netflix series or stay out with friends for one last drink. Whilst it’s a good idea to look at how you can support your employees to be the best, most productive versions of themselves, it’s important to consider the negative impact you might be having.
What might seem as one innocent late night email, or a request to complete some deadline urgent work before bed, this can have an incredibly detrimental effect on a person’s ability to sleep. Not only will a person’s brain be re-engaged and ready to work, whilst they should be ready to wind down, LED/the blue glow of screens can trick the mind that they aren’t ready to sleep. If emails and requests late into the night become common place, it will also hinder a person’s ability to fully turn off and relax, which in the long term may lead to burn out.
France passed a law requiring businesses with more than 50 employees to establish policies with hours during which employees can’t send or respond to emails. Other companies are following suit by limiting after-hours email use which may be something your organisation could benefit from.
For organisations, the issue extends beyond potential losses to the missed opportunities arising from a sleep-deprived workforce—the untapped potential of a well-rested team. Companies invest heavily in identifying high-performing candidates and training employees to think innovatively. While these initiatives aim to boost productivity, they can also help businesses develop new, competitive products and services. Although there is no magic solution to enhance employee performance, ensuring a well-rested workforce might be the next best approach.
