Workers exhausted on the job, surveys suggest need for paid sleep days

Many employees are arriving at work exhausted, a situation that harms performance and raises the risk of expensive errors. New research indicates a significant portion of the workforce is sleep-deprived, leading to calls for employers to consider offering paid days off specifically for rest. A Sun Life Financial study shows roughly one in four Canadian employees sleeps less than seven hours each night. About a third of workers report that insufficient sleep is hurting their job performance.

The sleep problem is more severe for certain groups, according to the survey. Women experiencing perimenopause or menopause symptoms and employees with chronic conditions have clinical insomnia rates 1.5 times higher than the general population. Young workers aged 18 to 34 are also at high risk, with 43 per cent getting less than the recommended minimum amount of sleep. On average, survey respondents said they take 3.1 days off annually due to sleep issues, said Marie-Chantal Côté, senior vice-president of Sun Life Health.

People with more serious sleep challenges report taking nearly eight rest days per year. The study determined that 20 per cent of Canadian employees meet the criteria for clinical insomnia. "When we measure the impact on productivity, the data shows clearly that the more severe the insomnia, the higher the impact," Côté said. She explained that severe insomnia leads to declines in concentration, productivity, work quality, motivation and job satisfaction, which together cause a measurable drop in productivity.

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Financial worries and job stress are the top reasons Canadians lose sleep, the Sun Life study found. Other common causes include excessive screen time and mental-health challenges like depression and anxiety. "There’s a high correlation between different conditions, so it would be a mistake to think about it in isolation," Côté said. "It’s not just uncomfortable or unpleasant; the research shows that it has productivity impacts and serious health impacts."

A separate American survey by the sleep health platform Eachnight produced similar findings. It reported that 61 per cent of workers had laboured through exhaustion in the past year, and 41 per cent had made a mistake at work as a result. More than half of those surveyed had taken a day off due to tiredness, and 27 per cent had considered quitting their job over chronic exhaustion. "On average, workers show up under-slept about two and a half days a week, which works out to around 130 days a year," said Jordan Burns, a licensed chiropractor and sleep health expert at Eachnight. Burns said fatigue alters how the brain assesses risk, slows reaction times and hinders the ability to learn new information. The Eachnight survey found younger employees are more vulnerable to sleep problems, with 88 per cent of Gen Zers viewing fatigue as a real health issue, compared to 71 per cent of Gen Xers and 68 per cent of Boomers. "Gen Z workers report the worst numbers on nearly every measure in this data, from 72 per cent going to work too tired to perform well to 41 per cent calling in sick when what they actually needed was rest to 37 per cent considering leaving a job over chronic exhaustion," Burns said.

Overall, 75 per cent of survey respondents said they would welcome paid "sleep days" as a distinct part of workplace wellness programs, separate from vacation and sick leave. Many workers are already using existing time off for this purpose, suggesting a formal policy could benefit both staff and employers. Burns noted that 19 per cent of workers have used paid time off specifically to catch up on sleep, while 57 per cent have taken a day off because they were exhausted and 33 per cent have called in sick when they actually needed rest. "Taking time off to catch up on sleep is already a workplace norm, even if it’s not official," he said.

With files from The Globe and Mail