It\u2019s impossible to measure success without benchmarks. Encourage employees to complete a self-assessment of their sleeping habits, or design one yourself. Once you have an idea of the current situation, you can start to create bespoke policies that suit the needs of your employees. As part of the process, consult your employees about the support they would ideally like.<\/p>\n
2. Workspace design<\/strong><\/p>\n Natural light, temperature, ventilation and humidity are all important factors in maintaining a comfortable working environment<\/a> \u2013 and can affect how employees rest at night. If in the office, make sure all these elements are all at the right level and if not, consider investing in tools like daylight simulator lamps and fans. Creating break-out spaces<\/a>, where employees can take a moment away from their screens can also prove helpful. If your team works remotely, provide information on how they can best set up their WFH space to ensure their workspaces are as comfortable as possible.<\/p>\n If within capacity, encourage employees to take meetings outside, either with a walk, lunch or just a different environment \u2013 this can provide a good break and allow additional exposure to sunshine, which helps establish natural rhythms.<\/p>\n 3. Establish and implement training programmes<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have resources for healthy\u00a0eating<\/a>, exercise, mindfulness and general\u00a0productivity<\/a>, consider adding sleep management to the list. Arm your employees with knowledge about what causes sleeplessness, small actions they can take to encourage a good night\u2019s sleep and what resources are available should they continue to struggle, like sleep diaries or apps. For example, if any employees have work computers, encourage them to install an app like f.lux [3], which makes the colour of the display adapt to the time of the day.<\/p>\n Furthermore, encourage and empower line managers to open a dialogue with employees about any struggles with sleep, ensuring problems are spotted early and can be addressed as soon as possible.<\/p>\n 4. Encourage time off from emails and long hours<\/strong><\/p>\n While being on call 24\/7 and long hours are part and parcel with some industries, where possible, consider imposing blackout times on work emails, allowing employees to\u00a0truly shut off<\/a>. In the same vein, if your workplace has a culture of long hours, imposing restrictions on how long employees are at work could help encourage better sleep practices outside of the workplaces \u2013 for example, suggesting that employees stay out of the office from 8pm on Friday to 6am on Monday. If employees feel like they have too much work to do, perhaps it\u2019s time to re-assess their workload.<\/p>\n 5. Offer incentives for healthy behaviours<\/strong><\/p>\n Sleep is intrinsically linked to other pillars of\u00a0wellbeing, so any incentives that address these issues will also inadvertently assist in encouraging healthy sleep behaviours. Initiatives like a cycle-to-work scheme, flexitime, additional leave for staying active and mandatory annual leave can help in the long run.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Is it time to expand your team with a freelance HR consultant<\/a> or other HR staff? Get in touch with Tiger<\/a>\u00a0today to see how we can help with your staffing requirements.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Updated 19th March 2021 Along with eating, hydration and keeping active, sleep is one of the integral pillars of wellbeing. A bad night\u2019s sleep can result in memory problems, mood changes, memory problems, a weakened immunity system, increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, memory problems, weight gain and affected balance and co-ordination. In fact,<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiger-recruitment.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/25-Probation-periods-2-e1521558608710.jpg\")
<\/p>\n1. https:\/\/wellbeing.bitc.org.uk\/all-resources\/toolkits\/sleep-and-recovery-toolkit<\/a>
\n2. http:\/\/www.sleep-census.com\/<\/h6>\n3. https:\/\/justgetflux.com\/<\/h6>\n