Powernapping a kind of taboo here in the Netherlands, and I don’t think it is popular in the rest of Europe, either. You’re just not supposed to sleep on the job. You come in, work as long as you need to get the job done, or, to meet your hours, and when you’re done, you go home again. Southern European countries have the siesta, but then you’re supposed to go home to eat and nap in the afternoons.
People who want to introduce power napping at work over here, claim that it is common in the USA, with over 30 % of workers taking one.
Is there any truth to that? And if there is, how does power napping work, in everyday office life?
I occasionally duck out of the office and take a quick nap out in my car- generally about ten minutes or so. I wouldn’t want to inflict my snoring on anyone in my office.
Where I work (and every place I’ve ever worked) it’s called sleeping on the job, and it’ll get your ass fired. Methinks you have a bunch of lazy coworkers who are trying to pull a fast one.
It’s completely accepted that people have to eat and go to the bathroom throughout the work day, what makes a brief nap so controversial? Unless you’re monitoring a cooling tower or operating machinery, in which case you should definitely stay awake.
I’ve never been able to nap, except for when I’m sick.
I do sometimes do what I call a 45/15 day. That means for 45 minutes out of each hour, I work at full concentration. Then I have a complete break for 15 minutes. I find that I work better and get more quality work done than the days where I only take standard breaks.
I’ve slept in my car over a lunch hour when I was extremely sick, but I can’t imagine it being acceptable if I decided to nap at work, regardless of how long or short it was. Jeez, even looking un-busy when you’re working (i.e., taking the time to think about something) is often frowned upon. Sometimes if I need to think on a work-related problem, I have to physically leave my desk or people will assume I’m not doing anything.
The company where I worked last did have a nap room with recliners, but no one used it. The corporate culture there was such that you were expected to be working at work (8-5) and at home in the evening (usually 8 p.m. - 12 or 1 a.m.). If even night-time sleep is frowned upon, a daytime nap isn’t going to win you any friends.
When someone is not feeling well, and wants to get a little rest in to see if that helps, I have seen it happen, but I don’t know where the 30% comes from.
Me too - with the exception of taking a nap during your lunch hour away from the office (like in your car). In fact, over the course of my career I’ve seen three people fired for sleeping on the job.
I can’t imagine 30% of U.S. workers take naps - in Minnesota its pretty difficult to nap in your car for several months out of the year, and a lot of workers do rely on public transportation - so they don’t have a car to nap in. And I’ve never worked in a company (and I used to consult, I’ve been in a lot of companies) where it wouldn’t get you in trouble.
I work in the USA and have never heard of anyone napping at work. In my building, every worker has his own private office, but still it is unheard-of. It also is a place where you are free to leave for medical appointments or to run errands without informing anyone. I feel like if there were ever a place where people would nap at work, it would be here.
It pretty much never happens in the USA, unless you have somewhere outside of the office to escape to.
I question the practicality of it–people are loath to give anyone even an hour for lunch here, and, in my experience, while you might only “nap” for 20 or 30 minutes during a nap, you usually need a good 20 or so minutes just to fall asleep in the first place.
30%!? Ridiculous. Unless they’re counting people under the age of 5 as “workers.”
I’ve done a lot of temping, so I’ve seen a lot of workplaces. Like the others, I have seen people surreptitiously take a nap at times, but as a regular or accepted thing? Never.
There was a workplace napping fad a few years back, but it didn’t catch on.
A few years ago I had a Japanese co-worker in my office in California who would openly take a nap in his cubicle every day after lunch for about a half hour. He was also one of our most productive programmers, so nobody minded.
Do you guys not get your federally mandated breaks? A lot of people where I work spend them napping in the staff room, and sometimes I’ll put my head down on my desk for mine if I don’t feel like going down there. You’re supposed to not be working for fifteen minutes.
Very common in Taiwan. Especially at places like government offices, banks, and state-run companies where they actually close for business for an hour or so at noon. At that time, you can see office workers pull out their little desk pillows, drape their jackets over their heads and snooze away.
ETA: And yes, it helps my concentration in the afternoon, especially if I’m working late (or if I had stayed up late the night before).
I can’t imagine where the 30% figure came from. But I have known a few people to nap at work now and again - some do it at lunchtime, and one of my bosses does it (but then he’s the boss, and he also puts in tons of overtime, so nobody questions his dedication. Especially when they see the number of e-mails he sends out during insomniac spells at 3 a.m.).
I occasionally take a nap in my office. I just close my door, lay down on the carpet, and set my phone alarm for 15 minutes. I can fall asleep very fast, and it’s much better for me to take a quick nap and be refreshed than to drudge through the entire afternoon feeling sleepy.
Well, when I worked withing two blocks of home, and got an hour for lunch, I did- but that was my lunch break.
It isn;t rare for employees to catch a few zzzz’s during their lunch breaks, but only a very few Silicon valley High Tech companies actually have a nap break.
OTOH, it is a great idea. The nap must be 15-45 minutes, no less no more (so 20min is great) and should be around 1-2 PM, or perhaps right after lunch.
I woke up super refreshed and could work with an hour or two less sleep at nite. It also works to get rid of the “burrito coma” that dudes get after a over-sized lunch.
OK, I have been powernapping for years. At my last job I’m not sure if anyone knew - or if everyone knew and they just looked the other way. To be fair to me, I put in more than my eight hours daily, so it isn’t like I’m taking from the company.
Yes, IMO, a 20 or 30 minute nap makes a huge difference in how I perform the rest of the day.
