Michelle Rodger: Being caught napping is OK – it helps get more out of the working day

ARE you the first to arrive at work in the morning and the last to leave? Do you get teased about sending e-mails in the dead of night when everyone else is sound asleep and dreaming peacefully? Feel annoyed when you try to contact a colleague at the weekend and the phone goes straight to voicemail?

It seems working longer hours is becoming the norm. The pace of business has kicked up a notch and everyone wants an answer immediately. An e-mail query about a late parcel delivery, or a late-night telephone call to place an order, or a tweeted complaint about service, all compound to make a normal working day become an extended working day.

But while customers might be happy at an instantaneous response to their query, the era of instant everything brings with it a whole new set of challenges.

Delegation, for example. In the good old days before mobile phones bosses and business owners used to finish up for the weekend and switch on the answering machine, or go on holiday, and leave behind a list of things to do with a team they trusted. Not so anymore.

Nowadays, we all have deputies or assistants to hold the reins while we’re away, even when we’re in a meeting, but how many of us still check our phones, take calls, answer e-mails and direct the business from a sun lounger, hotel bar or the meeting room next door? The art of delegation is being lost, and in its place comes an increased workload and extended hours.

According to the annual Aviva Health of the Workplace report 41 per cent of employees say they have too much work to do, while 30 per cent have to work longer hours in order to complete it. So it’s not surprising then to read that almost a quarter admit to feeling tired all the time, and a fifth say they are feeling more stressed and under pressure than before.

What to do? Well you could simply increase the number of staff to reduce the number of hours, take on less work, sell less to reduce demand, or learn to feel less guilty at leaving work on time. But none of those will help grow your business.

On the other hand, you could consider introducing power naps. A brief 40 winks has been proven to help boost productivity and also have a positive impact on morale.

It’s not entirely new. In fact the term “power nap” was first coined by sleep expert and Cornell social psychologist James Maas 36 years ago, but power naps are enjoying a new lease of life, with a new phenomenon creeping across America and surely making its way over the Pond to our shores – spas with nap rooms. Employees at businesses who don’t have their own nap rooms (like Google) or can’t afford to buy the EnergyPod, a $12,985 sleeping chair with built-in “relaxation music” and subtle vibrations to lull its napper to sleep, can nip out during their break and pay $17 for a 20-minute kip before returning to their desk refreshed and invigorated.

How does it work? Here comes the science bit: according to Maas there’s a neurological reason power naps work. Though an EEG pattern – which measures the flow of electricity in the head – shows wakefulness while a person is over-tired, the neurons involved in memory can actually be turned off, so while someone might be technically awake, the memory part is offline. In other words, you might be awake, but your brain isn’t. And it seems 15 minutes is the perfect time needed to leave you – and your brain – refreshed. Any longer puts a person in delta, or deep, sleep, which would leave you groggy after waking up.

Maas said: “If we operated machinery like we operate the human body, we’d be accused of reckless endangerment. Just like machinery gets oiled, the human body needs to be nurtured and fed.”

Incidentally, the same Aviva report found that many of the UK’s employers are taking a more responsible approach to the health of their workforce, with 47 per cent saying the impact of the recession has made them realise the importance of looking after staff health and wellbeing.

Anyone for a quick nap?