Business in the Community's Louise Aston on why it's time to wake up to the value of sleep

Sleep is fundamental to health – as important as food. The findings of the inaugural Sainsbury’s Living Well Index, published in 2017 and based on a study of 8,250 adults across Great Britain, revealed sleep quality as the strongest indicator of living well. In fact, a good night’s sleep is perceived as being more valuable than a 50% salary increase.

Yet it remains a neglected topic. It is therefore in employers’ interests to promote the importance of sufficient high-quality sleep to their employees.

To help employers do this, Business in the Community has published Sleep and recovery: a toolkit for employers, co-produced with Public Health England (PHE). The interconnected suite promotes a ‘whole person, whole system’ approach to physical and mental health, and sleep is inextricably linked to both. Content has been informed by an evidence review conducted by PHE and features expert opinion, employer case studies and freely available resources.

Although the evidence base is limited, it nevertheless revealed the scale of the issue and showed there is both a compelling business and social case for employers to address the issue of sleep with employees.

So why is sleep not discussed? Partly, because it crosses the boundary between work and our personal lives. Also perhaps because in our ‘always on’ culture it’s considered ‘cool’ to survive on a few hours’ sleep.

Lost sleep can cost businesses up to £30bn a year

Yet sleep deprivation carries risks for all employers: it can compromise safety and lead to potential fatalities, it can cause loss of cognitive function resulting in poor decision-making, and it can lead to general grumpiness that can damage customer service and relationships with colleagues.

Lost sleep also affects productivity, innovation and creativity. All this adds up to an eye-watering cost of £30bn a year.

Sleep deprivation can be the manifestation of an underlying mental or physical health issue. For example, Lloyds Bank CEO Antonio Horta-Osorio admitted it was anxiety about having to improve the bank’s performance that led to him suffering chronic fatigue shortly after joining the organisation in 2011. Horta-Osorio’s board supported him, helping him to access the appropriate help.

Sadly, that isn’t the case for all employees. Our Mental Health at Work 2017 report found that 15% of employees who disclosed mental health issues subsequently faced disciplinary action, demotion or dismissal.

So what can employers do to promote sufficient high-quality sleep to their employees? Our toolkit sets out a three-pronged approach:

Prevention: this includes good job design and promoting good sleep hygiene (creating the right conditions for a good night’s sleep).
Early intervention: including training for line managers on how to spot the signs of fatigue and on having difficult conversations.
Active rehabilitation: for example, reinforcing the need to take holiday entitlement.

As sleep emerges as a hot topic for employer, we need to fundamentally change our attitudes to it. It is not OK to expect employees to be available around the clock and think of sleep deprivation as an unavoidable occupational hazard.

We need strong leadership to encourage a culture change so employers place value on good quality sleep, good job design and on embedding good sleep hygiene into organisations. This way we will enable employees to really thrive.

Louise Aston is wellbeing director at Business in the Community.

Download a copy of the 88 page Employee Wellbeing Research 2018 (free to REBA Professional Members and all those working for REBA Associate Members).

The Third Annual Employee Wellbeing Congress takes place on 5 July 2018.