Snooze on the job

Should workers be allowed to nap at work?

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As someone who loves catching 40 winks, I took great interest in a story on the BBC this week that asked should workers be allowed to nap at work? It was promoted after the US government banned sleeping at work for federal employees. 

Granted, it's not a great idea to have the accounts team snoozing in the corner. And what client would like to arrive at the firm's office to hear a chorus of snores harmonising with the calculator number punching? 

But stay with me here. As firms place more importance on employee wellbeing surely a nap room could have benefits for the firm and lead to healthier staff.

And it's actually happening in the real world. Ice cream manufacturers Ben & Jerry's have realised that sleep-deprived employees don't work at their best, so they have set up nap rooms for their employees to snooze.  

We heard of firms bringing pubs into the office and promoting healthy living with free fruit and flexible working, so is sleeping at the office the natural next step? Would you consider bringing a 'nap room' to your practice?

Since many readers practically live in the office during tax return season anyway, why not break up the long shift by taking a pillow down to one of the client meeting rooms?

Or perhaps more for those working from home, do you include a sneaky snooze as part of your typical day in the office?

 

Replies (16)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
21st Nov 2019 17:23

Are they expecting to be paid for this ?

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By whitevanman
21st Nov 2019 18:00

I'm fairly sure they've been doing this at HMRC for quite a number of years. They seem to like it (perhaps not so their customers).

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By Ruddles
21st Nov 2019 19:16

Matron - he’s escaped again!

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By djn24
22nd Nov 2019 10:15

Is this a serious question or a joke?

If it is serious then the answer is no. If you are too tired to work properly then you need to sort your social life out. It shouldn't interfere with work to that extent.

Pretty sure if I had fallen asleep in some firms I would have had a warning and if it happened again the P45 would quickly follow. I think it's great to be more flexible but this is just taking it to the extreme.

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Replying to djn24:
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By Matt V
22nd Nov 2019 10:28

Unfortunately my two very young children don't understand that "daddy has work in the morning so really needs his sleep" when they wake multiple times during the night.

On a bad day i can find my eyes dropping in the afternoon but usually I find taking a 10 minute walk refreshes me enough to carry on.

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Replying to Matt V:
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By meadowsaw227
22nd Nov 2019 10:42

Same happened in our household but based purely on income the wife got up to them ! .

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Replying to Matt V:
By djn24
22nd Nov 2019 11:20

I understand but I also have 3 young children and not once did I ever expect a nap during work.

I may well have been tired but I still carried on regardless.

My wife and myself took it in turns so at least we had a decent sleep every other night :-)

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Replying to djn24:
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By Tax Dragon
22nd Nov 2019 22:59

djn24 wrote:

I may well have been tired but I still carried on regardless.

You know driving tired kills?

But I guess mistakes you make when working tired don't matter.

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
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By djn
24th Nov 2019 22:00

Tax Dragon wrote:

djn24 wrote:

I may well have been tired but I still carried on regardless.

You know driving tired kills?

But I guess mistakes you make when working tired don't matter.


The question was sleeping in work not whether driving whilst tired was wrong. Plus I live within 10 mins of work.
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Replying to djn:
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By Tax Dragon
24th Nov 2019 22:18

And my point was that a person is slower and more mistake prone when tired.

It's hardly controversial.

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By mrme89
22nd Nov 2019 10:44

I have a job where it's flexi time and I work from home frequently.

I'm not ashamed to say I've had the occasional 30 minute snooze. I feel better for it, my employer hasn't lost out on the time because of flexi time - on the contrary, they've benefited from increased productivity.

I get through a sh-it load more work than expected of my role, and always get great feedback and work/life balance has never been better.

There's a lot to be said for being flexible with your employees.

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By MC1
22nd Nov 2019 10:50

Already in place in HMRC.
I understand that HMRC allow staff to take naps during the course of answering telephone helpline questions from taxpayers but they have to perfect talking gibberish at the same time as napping though

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Replying to MC1:
By djn24
22nd Nov 2019 11:21

MC1 wrote:

Already in place in HMRC.
I understand that HMRC allow staff to take naps during the course of answering telephone helpline questions from taxpayers but they have to perfect talking gibberish at the same time as napping though

I think you mean they take a nap and that's why he phone calls never get answered :-)

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By itp3e
22nd Nov 2019 13:15

I've heard of a sleeping partners but… Sleeping Bean Counters?

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By SteveHa
22nd Nov 2019 15:50

I would have replied sooner, but I was having a kip.

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
25th Nov 2019 10:26

Sounds like my apprenticeship- the office had a custom (if you were not out auditing) of going out for a pint or two on a Friday lunchtime, given the office was the top floor of a building in central Glasgow with sloping glass rooflights letting the light stream in to it in the summer it was hot and certainly became slightly soporific in the afternoons, though whether anyone ever got to the point of actually dozing I am not sure, but from say 2.15-5.00 barely a word was spoken, nobody seemed to be moving around much, so perhaps.

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