Is bad sleep sapping your workforce?

Sleep quality deteriorated for almost two thirds of Britons when Covid restrictions were first introduced, and for many workers, these problems are continuing post-pandemic. As well as impacting people’s mental and physical health, bad sleep can be seriously damaging to business.

For example, even moderate sleep deprivation can impact driving performance as much as low-level alcohol intoxication, so it’s no surprise that tired workers are often less productive and more likely to have accidents or make mistakes.

So why is sleep quality declining, what is its impact and how can you help employees get the rest they need?

How does sleep deprivation impact an individual?

All of us have some variation in sleep quality and quantity, but sustained sleep deprivation is a serious issue. Adults who sleep less than six hours a night have a 13% higher mortality risk than adults who sleep at least seven hours, while sleeping less than seven hours is also linked with a 30% increased likelihood of obesity.

Sleep plays an important role in the body’s ability to maintain a healthy immune system, cardiovascular system and other important functions. Lack of sleep impacts hormonal regulation, leading to changes such as irritability, depression, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating and lack of motivation. In the longer term, poor sleep is associated with 33% increased risk of dementia, 48% increased risk of heart disease, trebled risk of type 2 diabetes and 36% increased risk of colorectal cancer.

Why is sleep quality getting worse for some employees?

Right now, there are many sources of anxiety facing employees that could contribute to insomnia: financial pressure, conflict in Ukraine, climate change and the pandemic. For some workers who have been under sustained stress through the pandemic, insomnia can develop as part of the body’s natural response, akin to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Workloads, hybrid or remote working can also contribute to an ‘always-on’ culture that makes it harder to switch off after work. The increased incidence of disrupted sleep has been termed ‘coronasomnia’ as we struggle with stress, uncertainty and changes to regular routines.

The economic cost of bad sleep

More than half of UK workers say a lack of sleep has impacted their work performance, and each year 200,000 working days are lost in the UK to insufficient sleep, costing the economy around £40 billion a year.

From an employer’s perspective, a poorly-rested employee may find it harder to make smart decisions and contribute fully to the workplace. They are more likely to experience sickness and require time off work.

Insomnia sometimes intersects with other challenges for employees, such as maternity, new parenthood, menopause or physical/mental health conditions and disabilities. Shift work (particularly work that includes night shifts) has also been shown to have a pronounced negative effect on sleep and the associated performance and accident risk. Poor sleep can ultimately lead to a worker leaving a role if they feel trapped in a vicious circle of poor performance leading to increased anxiety, which in turn adds to sleeplessness.

What can be done to improve sleep?

There are some simple steps that can help to improve sleep. These include stress management strategies including exercise, yoga, healthy diet, keeping a regular routine, or having a warm bath before bed. Sleep hygiene improvements such as changing the lighting or temperature of the bedroom might be enough to improve sleep for some individuals.

Removing screens from the bedroom can also help improve the quality of sleep. Devices with screens, including laptops, phones and TVs emit blue light, which has been shown to affect the body’s circadian rhythm and negatively affect sleep.

For others, more intensive support might be required, particularly if underlying sources of stress are involved. This might involve counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy, or support from an occupational health therapist.

As an employer, you might want to offer training or helpline support to employees who are struggling with sleep. Many employee assistance programmes (EAP) services will provide information on sleep.

Using standards to support employee sleep

There are clearly limits to how far employers should get involved in employee sleep habits, but there are practical ways that you can help to alleviate work-related obstacles to decent rest.

BSI’s Prioritising People model helps organisations to support the physical and psychological health, safety and well-being of employees in order to reduce risk of harm, maximise potential of individuals and the business, improve trust and boost performance. Embracing this model could help to prevent and manage sleep problems by reducing worker stress and increasing the likelihood of workers sharing their issue rather than trying to struggle on.

In addition, you may wish to use ISO 45001 to improve worker occupational health and safety. The standard helps you to identify ways to reduce risk in the workplace, reducing incidents that could cause injury or death to employees. Where sleep deprivation is an issue, employees may have impaired judgement or be clumsier than usual, so managing risk can be invaluable.

Managing psychosocial risks

ISO 45003 is a recently-published standard that helps to identify and manage psychosocial risks, like work-related stress, in the workplace. Psychosocial risks are those that put employees under excess stress, for example, organizational change, excessive workload or hostile company culture where bullying and harassment and other poor behaviours are the norm. Exposure to these psychosocial risks frequently disrupt sleep patterns.

With the increase in remote working, organisations may wish to develop or revisit their lone worker policy. BS 8484: 2022 is a lone worker code of practice that helps employers to reduce risks for remote workers. Issues that can affect sleep, such as personal safety, availability out of hours or maintaining a separate space within the home for working, might be included in a policy.

If you have any other questions about how standards can help you support workers suffering from sleep deprivation, BSI members can get in touch with the Knowledge Centre’s information experts.