Naps Boost Productivity?

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What's a potential yet unusual way to engage employees and increase productivity that most companies haven't tried? It's an idea as original as the the fold up mats from your old kindergarten class.

It's the fine art of napping.Sleep Pod by MetroNap

According to an older article by TIME magazine, naptime could become the new coffee break. Studies by the National Sleep Federation have shown that the average working adult gets six hours and 58 minutes of sleep, which is about an hour under the recommended amount. The increased rate in drowsiness in the office has cost businesses an estimated $100 billion in lost productivity, not to mention the added health risks that go along with sleep deprivation. Due to increased traveling and commuting and having to do business in multiple time zones, sleep has become harder and harder to come by for the average worker.

So does taking time out to snooze really help productivity? According to a NASA study it does. They proved through experiments that a 26 minute nap by their astronauts resulted in a 34% increase in productivity. Some corporations have seen the benefit of naptimes, setting up sleeping rooms or adding sleep pods to their supply of office furniture.

What's the point? Most businesses are using naptime not really for productivity purposes but for employee retention. However, most of these companies have seen a positive trend in productivity as result. So should a naptime be considered as an employee engagement technique? If it improves productivity, loyalty and retention among your workforce, it definitely seems to meet a lot of the same goals most engagement and employee motivation programs strive for. Just a hypothetical thought.

What do you all think? While you're responding, I'm going to roll out a mat under my desk. Be back in 30 minutes.

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Better Communication = Better Engagement

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Like anyone involved on the social web in our industry, I read countless blogs, comments and tweets on tips to improve employee engagement. Of the main issues, what's one that re-occurs on countless occasions?

Communication.

You have certain goals for your company and ways for your employees to work to help achieve those overall goals. An incentive program has been set in place to help meet - dare I say....exceed - those set goals. Are your employees aware of those goals? Are they aware of how their job fits into the big picture?

Communication goes beyond just informing. It's obviously important for employees to know what is expected of them for them to rise up to those expectations. Employees will always have a difficult time reaching company goals when they aren't aware of those specific goals and how their work aligns to achieve them. Good communication is a way of showing you care about those who work for you.

It's also a two-way practice. There's more to good employee communication than just giving instructions. Listening is just as important (if not more important) as doing the talking yourself. Find out what motivates your employees or drives them. What are they interested in? What kind of projects drive them? Google allots time to their employees to work on any project they want. From this, morale and engagement have boosted and some of Google's best products have resulted.

The level of communication in an work environment is directly proportional to the level of employee engagement. Good communication also improves the effectiveness of your incentive program, helping your employees become more aware of their contribution toward company goals.

What do you think?