Half of IT Workers Sleep on the Job 431
Stony Stevenson writes "According to a new online survey by Harris Interactive, more than half of IT workers say they've fallen asleep at work, while nearly half of techies also are apparently in the mood for love. Forty-seven percent of tech pros admit they've kissed a co-worker, according to the online survey of 5,700 U.S. workers, including 163 techies.
The survey didn't indicate if those work taboos were committed by the same respondents, but in both cases, men were more likely to admit doing both. Forty-nine percent of male techies say they've fallen asleep at work, while only 35 percent of women admitted doing so."
Not always due to laziness or lack of work... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure most of the people polled here are younger, but it's definitely not just a laziness issue.
I Believe It (Score:5, Interesting)
Funny that I was just about to do an AskSlash about this issue because I was starting to get concerned.
It's been very difficult for me to stay up or want to stay up at the current internship that I'm in, which involves writing software for a corporate firm. While the job itself can be stimulating and logically challenging at times, sometimes I feel like I just have a hard time really concentrating on anything. It's not so much the environment; most of the people that work with me are very active in talking about their roles and responsibilities (most conversations either directly involve or segway into this). Actually, I'm not really sure what it is.
I really like to be mobile and move around in my jobs, but I am devoid of needing to do that for this. My main job is to sit down and review/rewrite/create code. I've never done this before, so maybe I'm just not accustomed to needing to look at a computer screen for 8.5+ hours every business day.
In general, IT jobs can have some physical downtime; it's just inevitable. As for kissing co-workers, I would presume that this is more prominent in corporate environments because the physical quality of the girls are MUCH better than those of more research-oriented or specialized firms (forgive me if I've insulted anyone). I know that there are several women at my job that I would love to take out to dinner sometime, but it can be difficult dealing with a formidable age gap as an intern in a pretty established department...
Good article.
Overworked and out of our element (Score:2, Interesting)
And we've come so far technologically and socially but we still have even more demands put on us every day. 40+ hour week can be a bit much if you have tons of other things to do during non-work hours.
We're supposed to be advancing as a society, not becoming a train wreck. Either pull back on our responsibilities or our work hours, and let us get some rest.
Re:Not always due to laziness or lack of work... (Score:1, Interesting)
I suspect one of our current IT techs occasionally spends some quality time in the server room inspecting the insides of his eyelids but so long as his snoring doesn't affect the server I don't see a reason to complain.
At my current job I haven't observed any kissing between coworkers, but some of them get pretty intimate with doughnuts at times.
Re:I Believe It (Score:5, Interesting)
I found out after college, that the realities of a full time job in the field of my major, were mentally exhausting and physically unmoving. So I changed career paths about a year after graduation. If sitting in a chair while looking at a computer screen for 8+ hours a day isn't for you, maybe you should find a different line of work. In the course of your life, you will spend more time at work than will spend with your spouse, you job should be something you enjoy.
Fallen asleep? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:zzzz...... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sounds like techies aren't getting enough sleep (Score:1, Interesting)
Power napping! (Score:5, Interesting)
I highly recommend it.
Working for a pr0n company & Powernapping (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Sounds like techies aren't getting enough sleep (Score:5, Interesting)
I think there's definitely something to be said for having only 4 hours of core hours a day. While everyone would still be required to work their 40 hours during the week, you'd only be required to be at work during those 4 hours, and could decide when you wanted to work the other 20 hours.
oil rigs (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Sounds like techies aren't getting enough sleep (Score:5, Interesting)
I sleep around 10 hours a night, more on the weekends, but am still tired all the time.
You might have sleep apnea [wikipedia.org] or some other kind of sleep disorder (assuming you haven't been checked for that). You can be waking up in the middle of the night multiple times and not even realize it. I'm no expert, but if I were you I'd try to get refered to an expert. They can give you some kind of monitoring device that'll tell you how many times/night you're waking up.
There's also special sleep clinics around the country that will observe you while you sleep and can diagnose other kinds of sleep disorders. Many doctors aren't aware of the different sleep disorders that exist. (A number of years ago I attended a speech given by a top sleep researcher given to medical professionals, so that's where my primitive knowledge comes from)
Re:I Believe It (Score:3, Interesting)
I find that after 6 hours, I generally have no capacity to write any serious code, and usually spend the remainder of the day picking at what i`ve written (which is actually probably a good thing, because I find a lot of minor bugs/typos/etc..)
I find that taking a 5 minute break to walk around the building or even pace around your office every hour or so makes _all_ the difference in the world. I guess it depends on who your working for, but most people I`ve worked for take the attitude that as long as the work load gets taken care of, how you manage your time is your responsibility. If it comes down to it, you could argue it's a health issue (as many medical authorities recommend such breaks for people who sit in front of a computer all the time).
I can`t say I`ve ever actually fallen asleep on the job... but I`ve definitely had days where I did absolutely nothing. Kind of like sleeping with your eyes open I guess.
Anyway, just my $.02
Re:I Believe It (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Naps! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:zzzz...... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Naps! (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, I think thirty minutes is a bit long. An old boss of mine (!!!) taught me this trick: take some metallic object in your hand, such as a keyring, a stapler, whatever. Something that makes some noise but doesn't break when it hits the floor. Once you've fallen asleep and relaxed, the object will fall and wake you up. Works like a charm. Of course, YMMV.
Re:zzzz...... (Score:5, Interesting)
Believe it or not, there is actual research done on this--not that anyone ever pays attention to the results. If I recall correctly, it boils down to something like this:
- Productivity is low for the first 1-3 hours of a day as people get into the swing of things- Daily productivity mostly goes up, but drops toward the end of the day (possibly because people are consciously "winding down")
- Productivity per worker hour peaks somewhere around a 30-hour week.
- Total sustainable productivity per week peaks at around a 45-hour week.
- Around 50 hours and up, fatigue builds up over time until burnout kicks in. Sustained work weeks of 50 hours are likely to be getting less TOTAL WORK done than sustained 35-hour weeks.
- Work weeks of around 80 hours are sustainable for maybe a week or so before catastrophic loss of total productivity occurs
- Anything much more than 80 hours likely results in immediately LOWER productivity, as fatigued workers make mistakes that take more time to fix than the extra hours provide.
From this, one can conclude that European schedules are more likely to maximize individual productivity (more work per hour), while American schedules are more likely to maximize organizational productivity (more work per person). One can also conclude that any manager who demands sustained work weeks of 50 hours or more is incompetent and a fool; the management equivalent of the kind of programmer who creates so many bugs he provides a net negative productivity to the team.
In practice, actual work hours are lower than they appear; most salaried workers are prone to finding numerous ways to not work while at work, largely because in many office environments physical presence is seen as more important than actual productivity.
I suspect the best balancing point would be something like four 9-hour workdays per week. Longer days to minimize the productivity drain of mornings, but a shorter total work week to allow occasional bursts of extra effort without creating long-term burnout.