Many workers find daylight savings time difficult to adjust to when clocks spring forward, but even without the change, the vast majority of Canadians say they regularly work while they are tired.
Around 77% of workers said they often work while they are tired, and this includes 33% who say they do this often, according to a Robert Half report released March 15.
Employee tiredness has real consequences, to both the workers and their employers, the study found. Half of respondents to a poll said they find it difficult to focus and get distracted easily when they feel sleepy on the job. As well, 44% say they find themselves procrastinating, and 36% say they act grumpy at work. Just over a quarter of those surveyed say they make more mistakes when they are tired on the job.
Some survey respondents said they have made small mistakes, such as miscalculations or data entry errors, that ended up costing their companies thousands of dollars, all because they felt too tired to focus.
There are ways employers can help workers feel more refreshed on the job, Robert Half found.
“Managers should take the time to recognize signs of employee fatigue and work to identify contributing factors that can be controlled and mitigated within the workplace,” Accountemps Canadian president Dianne Hunnam-Jones said.
Hunnam-Jones pointed out that helping employees feel less tired does not need to be expensive or time-consuming.
“Getting to the root of the problem through an open conversation around activity and engagement levels can lead to feasible solutions, such as assisting with workloads by bringing on temporary staff, offering flexible work schedules to ease commute times or shuffling priorities for less demanding deadlines,” she said.
If the issue isn’t addressed, employee burnout and a negative corporate culture can result, the stuffy found. Employee turnover could also increase. This is in addition to possible lost sales and low productivity.
Another way employers could help workers feel less tired is by giving employees a space to nap. The survey found 42% of workers would take advantage of a nap room.
The poll found more women are tired at work than men (80% compared with 72%). The good news is that the older workers get, the less likely they are to report feeling tired on the job; in the 18-34 age group, 85% of workers said they were tired at work. This drops down to 75% for 35-54 year-olds and 57% for those over age 55.
@EmmaHampelBIV
