Another area that can encourage wellness amongst your work force is ensuring that your employees feel well rested. One of the advantages to the work from home environment that has come into existence out of necessity recently is that people like the freedom of controlling their own work schedule. One major downside though is the inability to know when to turn off or disconnect from work. Who among us hasn’t experienced an email reply from a coworker that is time stamped from a time late at night or early in the morning and thought ‘my goodness, what is Biff doing working at that hour?
Looking at sleep in particular, we all know that the suggested amount is 7-8 hours a day but why? Have you ever considered what your body does during sleep? For example, getting enough sleep encourages your body’s immune system to function at peak levels. There are hormones and other compounds released while you sleep that help condition your body to fight off infection. Without enough sleep these compounds don’t circulate in your body and you don’t get the advantage of them. BY encouraging people to get enough sleep you reduce the potential for fatigue, cardiovascular problems and chronic health issues
As an employer you should also be interested in encouraging your employees to get their rest because it flat out improves productivity. It can do this in a couple of ways.
Getting enough rest improves morale. Lots of people have experienced an issue where they have dealt with someone who is sleep deprived and they are grumpy and irritable after a poor night of sleep. But what about if sleep deprivation is a chronic problem? There is information that shows that chronic sleep deprivation leads to increased risk of depression and this can be a major productivity killer.
Sleep deprivation is directly linked to someone’s ability to maintain focus and attention. They can have reduced cognitive abilities and problem solving abilities are compromised as well.
Getting quality sleep improves your employees’ life overall. A consistent good night of sleep is linked to your ability to problem solve, focus, learn and retain new information and manage your emotions. Think about this, in order to improve productivity some major companies have embraced sleeping on the job. Employees at Google have access to nap pods where they can catch a quick snooze to help maintain their proper amount of rest. Obviously this may not be possible at a small company but you can still take steps to encourage people to get enough rest outside of working hours. By educating the people that work for you about the benefits of sleep you may just give them the nudge that tells them that they aren’t expected to be available 24/7 even though technology allows for this. By providing this type of information it shows that you value the well being of your employees.
In today’s shifting work environment this is the type of employer that you want to be. When people see their employer taking an interest in their wellness it fosters a happier workplace and in turn creates more productivity and better overall morale. Take advantage of being able to offer this type of information.
