公司花钱让你多睡觉，就是这么任性！

20160701ou 一中两外锵锵三人行 今日话题： 公司给你钱让你多睡觉，就是这么任性！ Lincoln: Now, most of us do not get enough sleep. That’s something that I think most of us can attest to. So, there’s been this interesting study from this company, maybe you can tell us a little bit more about it. Nick: Yes, so the insurance company is called Aetna, and it has introduced this scheme to try and ensure that its employees are getting enough sleep, because as you said, a lot of people in many, many different jobs are so busy, they’ve got so many things going on in their lives, you know, we’re always saying that working hours are getting longer, we have technology at home, we have different things to do, and sleep deprivation is a real problem for them. The firm is concerned about the impact of sleep deprivation on the performance of their employees, so they’re actually thinking about the performance of the company here, as well as the individual wellbeing of the staff members. So they’ve encouraged workers to sign up to a scheme that rewards them for getting at least seven hours of sleep a night. So staff at the company are rewarded with $25 for every 20 nights in which they sleep seven hours or more. Yoyo: That is a very precise rule, but I’m so curious – how can they know how many hours they sleep every night? Nick: This is a very good question. So, there’s the option to have one of those wrist monitor things, so it’s like a little wristband that monitors your heart rate, I think, and can tell when you’re sleeping by how your heart slows down. Yoyo: First of all, this is a sweet initiative, because they care about their employees’ sleep, and also they pay them to get more sleep. This is sweet. But my question is, even if they make sure they have enough sleep every night, is it really a guarantee for their working efficiency? Nick: Well, no, I think there are a lot of factors that go into your working efficiency, but the things you do when you’re at work, generally, your employer probably has some rules and regulations on anyway, so the one big thing that they can affect when you’re outside of work is something very simple like sleep. They can’t realistically tell you to alter your life outside of work in so many different ways for their job performance. Yoyo: But what about for the employees that don’t need that much sleep and can still work efficiently? Nick: That’s a very good question; I think they probably feel very disadvantaged by this kind of scheme. Lincoln: The idea that you need seven hours a night, we don’t really know if that’s, generally speaking, that’s what we agree on, but there are stories of people like Margaret Thatcher, for example, the former prime minister of Britain, who could actually sleep for four to five hours and be incredibly productive going forward. Barack Obama, as well, has, I remember when he was on the campaign trail, he used to sleep, what, three, three or four hours, and survive and do well, and able to function at quite a high level, but I would say that those two people that jump out as quite big, unique examples. Maybe they have other skills that allow them to be more productive than that.