Almost 40% of employees surviving on little sleep

WorkScore has reviewed the data from more than 8,800 employees and found that 39 per cent are sleeping six hours or less a night.

The research found that these Aussie workers are also more stressed, have less energy and are working more additional hours than those employees who get the recommended seven to nine hours a night.

The data shows that those who sleep six hours or less a night are more prone to working additional hours, with close to 30 per cent working over nine hours extra week. They also take less full lunch breaks and, not surprisingly, have 12 per cent less energy during the workday. Switching off from work is harder for our sleep-deprived employees as is balancing work and life demands.

Suzanne Deeming, co-founder of WorkScore, said that clearly, excessive workloads and work demands are impacting employee’s ability to switch off from work, their sleep quality and their work-life balance.

The WorkScore data supports the notion that a focus on wellbeing at work improves sleep, as employees who sleep between seven to nine hours a night feel that their workplace cares about their wellbeing and that work has a more positive impact on their wellbeing (by up to 15 per cent) than their colleagues who sleep six hours and less.

The good news is that employers can take action to promote better sleep habits for employees.

“Employers can reduce the long hours employees work and promote balance between work and life through encouraging employees to switch off from work emails in the evenings, on weekends and holidays. Allowing time blocks in their work day for employees to exercise or take a walk and making lunch breaks compulsory will provide some much-needed downtime," Ms Deeming said.