Employers could do a lot worse than incorporating slumber time into their total reward offering.
This is the view taken by †hotel chainTravelodge, which is hosting a sleep concert to help sleep-deprived workers. Musicians playing commissioned snooze-inducing melodies will serenade employees attending the event.
Less sympathetic employers may wonder if this is just a clever wheeze dreamt up by lazy staff.
This unique snooze aid recital has been developed in response to findings from Travelodge’s annual Sleep and Professions study, which revealed 75% of Britain’s workforce is getting less than the recommended eight hours of sleep per night. The top three causes of sleep deprivation are worries over job security (36%) performance at work (27%) and financial concerns (12%).
The 2010 research among 6,000 workers identified that the professions to be hit the hardest by sleep deprivation are: civil servants, bankers, factory workers, doctors and teachers.
Leigh McCarron, Travelodge's sleep director, said: “Sleep concerts have been a great success in Japan where stressed-out workers will pay £50.00 for the privilege of nodding off to a live music performance. This idea has inspired us to create our own UK version, giving exhausted workers the opportunity to relax, take a nap and feel revitalised, resulting in improved physical, mental and emotional health.”
With the sole aim of the Sleep Concert being to help the audience nod off, Travelodge consulted a wide range of professions across the UK to establish the repertoire for the performance. As a result Travelodge is working with quartet String Mania to devise a range of snooze-inducing music which will include; works by Mozart, Bach, alongside renditions of crooner Michael Buble and Snow Patrol’s chart-topping hits, among others.
The inaugural, free-of-charge ‘Sleep Concert’ will be held on Tuesday 20th July at 12.30pm at London City Road Travelodge. Guests will be supplied with pillows, duvets and eye masks in order to create the optimum slumber environment.
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