The Business of Sleep
You’d be amazed at how many people struggle with their sleep.
Whether it’s going to sleep, staying asleep or waking up feeling refreshed, sleep is an increasing problem.
Sleep disorders have steadily been on the rise for the last 20 years and globally, 1 in 3 people do not get the required amount of sleep for optimal health. It's no wonder that the CDC has declared insufficient sleep as a public epidemic.
The good news is that there is a growing interest in the topic. In consumer surveys, sleep has been identified as the next-highest priority after better health and sleep-related online searches were at an all time high last year.
This consumer interest also represents a considerable opportunity for companies to compete in the space. In 2019, the global sleep economy was valued at about $432B U.S. This industry is forecast to be worth $585B U.S. by 2024 and research suggests that sleep is the area with the greatest unmet consumer need.
Promoting healthy sleep in the workplace
Should businesses utilize healthy sleep practices to promote the welfare of their staff?
Many companies are increasingly adopting a pastoral role with respect to their employees.
For some companies this is borne from a genuine cultural desire to do the best by their employees.
For others, it’s just good business.
How so?
Many employees, and in particular the next generation of talent coming through, are more interested in their personal wellness and people are appreciating that sleep is an important part of that.
Some companies such as Volkswagen have a policy of disconnection where they discourage staff from sending emails after hours. Others, such as Netflix allow for unlimited vacation days to allow staff to ‘take the time they need to recharge’ and bring their best selves to work.
These types of policies are important with regard to attracting and retaining the best talent the market has to offer.
But, aside from competing for talent, it is also commercially sensible to look after your employees (including caring about their sleep).
Sleep disorders and sleep deficiency in the U.S. cost over $411 billion in economic losses. Insufficient sleep decreases productivity by 29% and that’s because sleep loss can make it more challenging to maintain focus, attention, and vigilance. Sleep deprived people are also more likely to make errors and omissions. From a health and safety perspective, sleepy employees are 70% more likely to be involved in a workplace accident.
Furthermore, chronic sleep loss increases the risk of more serious mental health conditions, like anxiety and depression, that can make being productive at work even more difficult. On the flip side, companies with sleep-positive cultures have 50% higher employee satisfaction and companies that focus on staff wellness see an increase in sales and a reduction in costs and turnover.
A big goal of organizations is to bring down the cost of business, keep their employees at work and if they’re forward thinking, they’re always looking for tools to make available for workers that are low cost, logical and impactful.
And this is a message that I like to get across to businesses - apart from affecting employees’ health and well-being, insufficient sleep may also affect a business’ profit margins.
Using sleep initiatives to promote work efficiency
So how can management use sleep guidance to make staff more efficient?
Sleep can be used as a metric to measure job performance, job satisfaction and a company’s bottom line. Screening for sleep issues, whether through data analytics or forums and listening sessions is a good starting point. Then, small interventions, such as providing sleep education workshops and/or offering a few hours of sleep coaching for those who are interested can be really economical, meaningful, and preventative in terms of dealing with larger, more long standing and costly issues later on that may stem from poor sleep.
Within day to day operations, companies may want to think about the type of lighting they use to promote wakefulness, offer energy promoting snacks for that middle of the day lull, provide nap rooms, or explore corporate partnerships that offer sleep-related products/services as part of wellness perks (eg. gym memberships or subscription based relaxation apps).
Businesses may want to consider becoming more progressive in terms of offering flexible working hours. We know that people are biologically driven to sleep at different times (eg. early birds vs night owls) and alertness levels are impacted as a result, so by allowing people to choose their work hours (within reason) that matches their natural circadian rhythm, it may foster increased creativity, productivity, and efficiency.
And then looking outward to their clientele, businesses may also want to start thinking about integrating sleep-related content, services or products to meet this growing consumer demand.
Better sleep = better business
With sleep increasingly captivating consumer interest, it makes sense for companies to capitalize on this.
And as companies are increasingly focusing on the wellness of their staff, it makes sense to promote healthy sleep through actionable initiatives. Even more so because we know that sleep impacts physical, cognitive and mental well-being, all aspects that can affect job performance and a businesses’ bottom line.
Improving sleep is a win-win for both employers, staff and consumers.
