Businesses in Cornwall should let their staff grab an afternoon kip, a new report is advising.
According to leadership and business experts Professors Nada and Andrew Kakabadse, encouraging workers to take an afternoon nap could dramatically improve economic fortunes.
Kakabadse said: “Having assessed employee performance and health studies recently conducted across the UK, US and Western Europe, we believe offering workers the opportunity for a brief nap provides significant benefits in employee concentration, health and productivity.
“People are increasingly being asked to do more with less at work. Outdated and uninspiring management practice is having an oppressing effect on workforces, who are increasingly operating in environments where the attitude is ‘lunch is for wimps’.”
The study claims that people napping at least three times a week for an average of 30 minutes have a 37% lower coronary mortality than those not taking siestas. And a group taking a 90-minute sleep improved in their ability to learn by 10%, while a non-napping group did 10% worse.
Kakabadse added: “A key consequence of the economic crisis is that breaks are getting shorter as job insecurity increases.
“We recommend companies consider and evaluate appropriate break times for their workers. Staff should be encouraged to take approved rests, and be provided with a private place where they can take a nap without any pressure of their reputation being damaged for doing so.”
