What You Can Do to Prevent Napping at Work

What You Can Do to Prevent Napping at WorkWhat You Can Do to Prevent Napping at WorkYouve run out of steam, with hours of work ahead of you. Must. Have. Coffee. Youre not alone in your exhaustion, you know. You may not have resorted to napping at work, but if youre like 74 percent of us, youve worked while tired.In a new survey by Accountemps, 31 percent of the finance and accounting professionals who responded said they feel tired very often in the office, and 43 percent said theyre worn out at work somewhat often.If they work in Nashville, Austin, Denver or Indianapolis, theyre probably sleepiest of all.Scroll down for an infographic of the 15 cities that have the highest percentages of professionals exhausted on the job. When napping at work is not an optionFatigue is to blame for plenty of mistakes on the job - like a $20,000 miscalculation on a purchase order or a missed decimal point causing an overpayment of $1 million.Those were just two lack-of-sleep-induced errors mentione d in another Accountemps survey. One respondent blamed fatigue on an accident that paid everyone twice, and another said sleeplessness led to the deletion of a project that took 1,000 hours to put together.Other side effects of sleep deprivation in the workplace are a lack of focus or distraction, procrastination and grumpiness. It could also lead to retention issues, which is a big issue for companies.Whats a manager to do?If working tired is affecting productivity, not to mention the bottom line, employers would be well-served by stopping the burning of the midnight oil. But how?Offering a mora flexible schedule may alleviate long and costly commutes, is one of several suggestions from Bill Driscoll, a district president for Accountemps. Bringing temporary staff on board may cut down on your employees having to work after-hours. Reorganizing current priorities may lead to more manageable workloads.Learn more about how staffing services can offer a fresh set of eyes for finding int erim accounting and finance professionals. More tips for bossesMake sure you walk the talk. Dont be that manager who tells your finance staff to leave work at 5 p.m. and then sends emails to everyone until midnight. Take occasional breaks yourself, work reasonable hours, and inspire the people around you with your energy and enthusiasm.Evaluate your corporate culture. Emphasize work-life balance, with wellness programs and other incentives. Offer alternative work arrangements, like flextime, remote working or job-sharing options.Encourage regular breaks. Lunch or coffee breaks arent required by federal law, but some states impose mandatory rest periods for employees in specific industries.Give time off to unplug. A day off here and there, along with vacation time, can actually boost on-the-job productivity for your staff members.Meet with your team. Spend time with those you manage to evaluate whats on th eir plate, help prioritize workloads and set realistic expectations. Make sure they have all of the resources they need to do their work assignments and keep from getting spread too thing. See that the tasks are divided fairly among team members.You may not be ready to encourage napping at work by providing sleeping pods and snooze rooms, but there are ways to cope with the phenomenon of working tired, even in Nashville