If you strongly believe in the right to snooze at work, you’re not alone.
Up to 86% of Indian employees want a dedicated nap room in their offices, which, they say, will immensely improve productivity. Over 40% of them also suffered from irregular sleep due to work-related stress or curtailed sleeping hours.
The results are part of a report titled Right to Work Naps, conducted by the online sleep-solutions startup Wakefit.co. The startup surveyed 1,500 respondents across Indian cities regarding irregular sleep patterns, most productive hours for working, and general levels of well-being at the workplace.
The results point to an awareness of wellness at the workplace and, ironically, a lack of its prevalence.
While companies like Godrej, Accenture, Google, Bharti Airtel, and Coca-Cola, have paid close attention to creating offices that promote an overall sense of contentment among employees, they seem to be exceptions rather than the rule.
For instance, 70% of those surveyed didn’t have a nap room in the office.
Work, sleep, repeat
Nearly a fifth of the respondents felt sleepy at work all the time. This validated Wakefit’s Great Indian Sleep Scorecard survey earlier this year, which found that 80% of the employees felt sleepy between one and three times a week.
The reason, according to the survey, is the rise in levels of stress among corporate employees. One in four respondents also said that long commutes to work added to the stress and disrupted sleep patterns.
“It is necessary for organisations and employees to prioritise sleep wellness,” said Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, co-founder and director of Wakefit.
Another revelation was that lunchtime, between 1 pm and 4 pm, was the drowsiest time of the day, with a whopping 68% respondents agreeing.
Issues resulting from the lack of work naps include persistent back pain, which 70% of the respondents experienced. Ergonomic chairs, the easiest answer to the problem, were seen as a solution by only 25% of the respondents.
Sleep for all
Solutions to the age-old problem, thus far, have all been old school.
Wakefit, though, feels it’s time for companies to adopt nap rooms. “Given the rising sleep-related issues in our country, we felt it was imperative for us to take action and encourage corporates and employees to rally for nap rooms at their workspaces,” said Ramalingegowda.
For employees, who are anyway fretting over the loss of jobs to automation, a nap room might be a happy, healthy distraction for the time being.
This article first appeared on Quartz.
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