YAWNING AT WORK?

Lack of sleep among working people is almost an epidemic. Nearly 60 percent of employees think they don't get enough sleep, and 20 percent have actually called in sick just to catch up on sleep. That's the word from CareerBuilder.com and the Harris Poll, which surveyed more than 3,200 workers nationwide across industries in the private sector. Perhaps the greatest consequence of our national sleep deficit is that a whopping 61 percent say their lack of sleep has a negative impact on the work they do. Facts from the sleep survey:
  • Forty-four percent of workers say thinking about work keeps them up at night. 
  • While eight hours may be the doctor-recommended amount of sleep time each night, only 16 percent of workers say they actually reach this goal. The majority of workers (63 percent) log an average of six to seven hours of sleep each night during the workweek, while 1 in 5 (21 percent) average five hours or less. 
  • Two in five workers (43 percent) have caught someone else sleeping at work. 

"Rest is an undervalued necessity these days," says Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder. "We see more and more workers check into the office at all hours of the day, give up vacation time and work even when they're sick. Yet it's not necessarily making us more productive, and companies are starting to recognize that. We're starting to see companies put more emphasis on employee wellness and work/life balance, whether it's providing designated 'nap rooms' for employees, encouraging them to take advantage of their vacation time or simply giving them more flexibility in their work schedules."

If you don't snooze, you lose! Sleep-deprivation doesn't just hurt workers. It hurts business, too. Three in five workers (61 percent) say lack of sleep has had an impact on their work in some way, including the following:
  • It makes the day go by slower: 30 percent 
  • It makes me less motivated: 27 percent 
  • It makes me less productive: 24 percent 
  • It affects my memory: 17 percent 
  • It makes me crabby with co-workers: 13 percent 
  • It takes me longer to complete tasks: 13 percent 
  • It makes me make mistakes: 13 percent 

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