Have you caught an employee catching a few zzzs on the job? Well, hold the pink slip — a new study from the National Sleep Foundation says work may be to blame.

The study found that while many Americans are working more — logging an average of 9.5 hours a day on the job, plus 4.5 additional hours a week from home — they are sleeping less — a situation that has adverse consequences at home and on the job.  Longer working hours cause "U.S. employees to fall asleep or feel sleepy at work, drive [while] drowsy and lose interest in sex.

"Deprived of sleep, nearly 30 percent are nodding off on the job, while 36 percent say they have fallen into slumber behind the wheel of a car," the study states.

Sleep, and lack thereof, is a hot topic. On the March 16 edition of "60 Minutes" reporter Lesley Stahl uncovered the latest findings in sleep research and delved into why sleep is so important. In another recent study (unrelated to the National Sleep Foundation work), researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found sleep is vital to sustaining — and even improving — memory.

"Sleep, we've been finding, actually can enhance your memory, so that you'll come back the next day even better than where you were the day before," says lead researcher Matthew Walker in the 60 minutes piece.

Does this subject hit home for either you or your employees? Make a point to fill out this week's SAF e-poll on sleeping at work.

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

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