Better sleep can help improve the performance of your workforce says Gail Burden, chief executive of charity Capella and Sleep Scotland.
Around half of employees will encounter sleep difficulties. These difficulties often mean negative moods and reduced concentration, which can lead to increased operational risk and mistakes causing lower customer satisfaction and loss of business.
The problem is so widespread that research has shown that sleep related issues cost employers around £1,200 per employee every year. A tired workforce is an unproductive workforce. It’s time to start investing in good sleep.
Pressures on maintenance professionals
Engineers and maintenance professionals are among the hardest working people in our society. They are responsible for keeping the wheels of industry and infrastructure turning, often working long hours and dealing with complex and demanding tasks. Constant physical and mental exhaustion – and working to ever tighter deadlines – can be the norm.
This is especially true for those who work night shifts or who are required to work in challenging or dangerous environments. Fatigue is one of the top causes of workplace accidents.
With the role of engineers and maintenance professionals becoming increasingly demanding and complex, it is essential they get a good night’s sleep to perform their duties effectively. Good sleep helps improve concentration, focus and problem solving skills.
A well rested employee is more likely to have increased communication and teamworking skills. In addition, good sleep helps to boost creativity and mental agility, allowing engineers and maintenance professionals to think more quickly and creatively when it comes to solving problems.
Good sleep can also help to reduce stress and improve overall wellbeing, enabling employees to stay healthy and productive while reducing stress related illnesses, absences and high turnover rates.
Advice for companies
As an employer or manager, you should consider prioritising employee sleep because of the knock on impact it can have. Sleep is essential to our overall health. Just as stress and anxiety can contribute to poor sleep, so too can poor sleep impact our emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. These problems can snowball further as they are linked with increased rates of anxiety and depression, which can impact employees’ work-life balance.
This can lead to problems for your employees at home, compounded by the already tough position they may find themselves in during the current cost of living crisis.
Not only does healthy sleep help restore and recharge your body, but it also helps improve your mood, cognitive function and physical performance. Sleep deprivation can cause low morale in your workforce, which can result in reduced productivity, lower levels of engagement at work and burnout, contributing to increased levels of quiet quitting, absenteeism and staff turnover.
There are simple things that employers can do to support their employees’ sleep and, by extension, their wellbeing. Encouraging regular exercise and the avoidance of caffeine, nicotine and alcohol in the evenings can be effective. But healthy sleep is achieved through consistency. Empowering employees to establish a consistent sleep schedule and supporting them to ensure they stick with it is much more likely to have a positive long term impact – on both your employees’ health and, in turn, your bottom line.
Investing in sleep training
As with any major project, ensuring your team has the right tools and resources for the job is critical for success. Investing in sleep training is a great way to support your employees to achieve healthy sleep and be seen as a responsible employee focused organisation. Sleep training gives employees the tools to develop an understanding of how sleep works, what can affect it and how to get a good night’s sleep.
Sleep Scotland offers affordable sleep training that addresses sleep related issues experienced by employees, built on over two decades of experience delivering sleep training for health and social care professionals. Sleep for wellbeing is research based training that provides practical advice to your employees and can support the delivery of improvements in health and absence management initiatives in the workplace.
To learn more and to begin addressing the sleep related issues impacting your business visit bit.ly/MEsleep or search ‘Sleep Scotland sleep for wellbeing’.
capella-charity.org | sleepscotland.org | enquiries@sleepscotland.org
Gail Burden
Chief Executive
Capella and Sleep Scotland