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Sleeping on the job

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Did you know that today, Wednesday 25 June, is National Siesta Day? Yes that's right - today is the one day in the year when your boss may just have to accept the fact that you are having a quick snooze on your keyboard.

National Siesta Day is now in its third year, and the man behind it is Noel Kingsley, who has been having a daily nap in the afternoon for over 18 years, and is keen to promote its benefits:

"Having a regular 10-20 minute nap as part of a lunch break has been shown to be extremely beneficial to our health, well being and performance," he said in his blog. "Research from NASA the space agency shows that a short nap can increase your alertness by 100% and your productivity by over 30%."

According to Kingsley, we humans are the only mammals on Earth that go through a whole 24-hour period with only one session of sleep.

So, does a Spanish-style kip in the middle of the day have its place in British business? Would you have a 20-minute power nap after lunch if you could? Do you think it would improve your productivity? Let us know your views by posting your comments below.

Thanks,

Lucie Benson

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Editor's Welcome

 

Hello! And welcome back as we enter 2012, with a busy year ahead of us all. With talk of double-dip recessions, a possible partial or even full break-up of the Eurozone and unemployment rates set to hit nearly 9%, topics such as organisational streamlining, staff resilience and talent management are likely to be on many an HR professional's lips over the next 12 months.
 
But to lighten the gloom here in the UK, we also have the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and its attendant public holidays to look forward to at the start of June. Followed by two weeks of Olympic Games from 27 July to 12 August and the Paralympics from 29 August to 9 September, each generating their own excitement, but also issues to work through for hard-pressed HR departments trying to sort out the multifarious staffing issues in advance.
 
So with an interesting but challenging year to come, HRZone promises to be with you, supporting you all the way and providing our usual insightful blend of news, analysis, community blogs and expert comment to help you sort the wheat from the chaff. As ever, we love to hear from you too so feel free to either post your words of wisdom to our blog section yourself or, in the case of longer, more in-depth ‘expert voice’ articles, drop me a line with any ideas to cath.everett@siftmedia.co.uk.....
 
Cath Everett
HRZone Editor 
 
 
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