A sleep-in makes happy staff

To say our lives have changed dramatically over the past 25 years is something of an understatement.
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The world feels much smaller than it did when the Spice Girls were a mere glint in their marketing manager’s eye and much of that is down to technology. While I have long argued that gadgets and progress aren’t always the be-all and end-all, they have made many tasks much easier.

You would think then that we would all be taking advantage of the unprecedented number of tools and technological gems we now have our disposal but we aren’t. The vast majority of us are still part of the enormous zombie army of workers who trudge into the office for 9am every day and go home to Simon Mayo and Jo Wylie doing a good job of sounding delighted to be working together.

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The reason we do this? As far as I can see, it is because it is the way it always has been and the view seems to be why fix something that isn’t broken? Yes, millions of us, me included, take advantage of flexi-working but we are still very much in the minority, which is madness when you consider there is growing evidence that working 9 to 5 is bad for your health.

A new book about sleep, written by a former headmaster who once introduced a 10am start time for his students, provides further arguments for a later beginning to the day for all of us, suggesting that we should get into the office at least an hour later than we do. The author, Dr Paul Kelley, also believes the night owls among us would benefit from logging on at midday onwards. Later starts, he argues, would mean a happier, healthier workforce, given that there is growing evidence that sleep deprivation is linked to poor mental health, cancer and even early death.

Truly flexible hours would also help those struggling with the very real problem of childcare, an issue which is criminally overlooked by both captains of industry and policy makers alike.

We are moving into a new Brexit-induced era, meaning our workforce will need to be more motivated than they are now, if we are able to compete in a brave new world.