One Strategy Group in Fast Company: Why your company needs a sleep strategy

“Companies need a sleep strategy in order to succeed in the future of work.”

That’s the argument in a new piece in Fast Company, authored by One Strategy Group CEO David Meadvin and Stanford University School of Medicine Clinical Associate Professor of Sleep Medicine Dr. Scott Kutscher.

In fact, both authors point to signs that the era of founders and leaders fetishizing low-sleep lifestyles may be coming to an end. Instead of conflating long hours with ambition – and intentionally or unintentionally pushing that mindset onto employees – executives are now sporting sleep trackers and boasting about consistently restful nights.

And that’s a development to be celebrated. The science is clear that “poor sleep reduces attention span, reaction time, and the ability to process new information,” they write, noting that “even moderate levels of fatigue cause a higher level of impairment than alcohol intoxication.”

Now CEOs need to go beyond focusing on their own sleep to develop enterprise-wide sleep strategies. Compared with many of the health-related benefits companies deploy, sleep is easily one of the lowest-cost and highest-ROI solutions companies can invest in. 

Here are a few actions that some forward-thinking leaders are already taking:

• Changing how we talk about sleep at work: CEOs are leading by example by telling fewer stories about pulling all-nighters and more stories about calling it an early night in order to tackle a project with fresh eyes in the morning.

• Making sleep culture fun: Organizations are purchasing or subsidizing sleep trackers and creating “sleep clubs” to gamify team-sleep challenges.

• Providing access to sleep care: Companies can include sleep benefits as part of their wellness packages – providing access to sleep specialists, especially for those who suffer from any of the more than 80 named sleep disorders.

Read David Meadvin and Scott Kutscher’s Fast Company op-ed here. 

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