Some Japanese firms encouraging employees to take worktime naps

Very good move.

I wish my company would do the same.

Right.....the ubiquitous "some" companies. Yeah, IT, new one's maybe, Nissan, Toyota, Sumitomo...never in a million years!

I fear that this will just mean that workers will have to stay longer and work harder after the 30 minute nap. As mentioned above, one company requires workers to go home at 9:00 pm and not stay and work long overtime hours. Working 4 extra hours a day is a lot of overtime hours already, but they can justify it because they are giving their workers a 30 minute nap!

 Working 4 extra hours a day is a lot of overtime hours already, but they can justify it because they are giving their workers a 30 minute nap!

Typically Japanese companies finish at 5:30 or 6:00PM, so it's "only" 3 extra hours a day! (sarcasm)

Japanese govt does it all the time.

Beats sleeping at your desk. Which I had assumed was standard.

If I were a desk jockey I would prefer to go home earlier instead of taking a nap and having a juice box like a kindergardener.

No. I don't want a nap. When I go to sleep, I want a good long sleep.

For God's sake just send your workers home at a reasonable time. Productivity is low as hell in Japan and aside from all the bureaucratic nonsense, it has a lot to do with having to APPEAR to be working for 12+ hours even though there's not anywhere near that amount of work to actually be done. And (at least in my husband's case) having work completed ahead of time is considered too ambitious, showing off, brown-nosing, what have you. Having any social or family life outside of work, psh, the indulgence of it! Slacker! SPARE ME.

The move comes amid the spread of smartphones and other digital devices, which have been blamed for making people sleep fewer hours than before.

BS!!! smartphones have only made things worse, Japan Incs "working styles have been to blame for sleep deprivation since the 80s, maybe earlier, this is NOT a new thing!!

Nextbeat requests that its employees leave work by 9 p.m. and that they not work overtime late into the night. The company also recognizes 30-minute daytime naps as part of regular work hours.

2100rs...… WTF!! As is usual J-Inc does NOT want to deal with ISSUES, only SYMPTOMS!!

Nothing is changing for the better here folks, these sleeping rooms make what is HORRIBLY BAD, normal & things WORSE!! Seriously messed up on so many levels

The decline accelerates a bit more!

I want to apply for a job in companies that have this practice, how can I do this? Great policy, very humane.

I fear that this will just mean that workers will have to stay longer and work harder after the 30 minute nap. As mentioned above, one company requires workers to go home at 9:00 pm and not stay and work long overtime hours. Working 4 extra hours a day is a lot of overtime hours already, but they can justify it because they are giving their workers a 30 minute nap!

This! Employees should leave at reasonable hours, not having to take a nap mid-work. Again backwards thinking.

As we've all seen on trains, some Japanese people are epic at grabbing a short nap.

I work at home and have occasionally fallen asleep at my desk, but it has always been when I am so sleepy that my productivity has been 10% or less for the preceding hour. I don't jump back into anything like 100% on waking up either.

"Napping can produce favorable effects on work efficiency just as an appropriate diet and exercise can

No it cant! Using naps as a way to recover sleep debt is more unhealthy than not getting enough sleep. There is no such thing as ‘sleep debt’. If you miss out on sleep it cannot be recovered with a nap. The adult brain needs 6-8 hours sleep every night. Children need 8+ hours every night. This is to allow development of a healthy brain. The hippocampus needs at least 6 hours of REM sleep to clear your brain of memories. This is why dimentia is becoming such a huge problem in Japan. People do not sleep enough, especially children and most of the damage is done when people are young. Imagine your brain is like a computer hard drive and the hippocampus is like a defrag program. You need to run the program to clear the hard drive of unwanted data. This is what the hippocampus does for your brain. What happens to a computer when the hard drive is full? - The blue screen of death! This is dementia!

If these fools had half a brain brain they would be encouraging their employees to go home at reasonable hours and putting pressure on them to get their work done within that time. Regular naps a not the answer.

At my former (thank god) company, guys slept in the office alright. One friend slept in the room set aside for sick employees ... overnight, and he wasn't sick! Another parked in a pay lot and slept in his car rather than face a long commute home at nearly midnight. Others stayed in hotels b/c the last trains had already left.

OIJ do you get "sleeping" as a common answer to what are you into? Work 12-15 hour days all week, plus long commutes means sleeping 4-5 hours a night if you're lucky. The cumulative toll from that means on sleeping much of the day away on Sunday. Saw a former colleague at Konan yesterday, who's recently taken to smoking in late 40s. He looked 60. Balding, pale, hollowed out eyes.

But hey naps at 3 companies at a handful of companies nationwide--woo hoo! Of course the oyaji brigade that comes up with these ideas will never stop and think that the young folks foregoing marriage or children might be more interested in funding their pensions if they actually had any time for private lives.

People have lunchtime naps at their desk at my office all the time.

When  I worked for a Japanese company in the UK we even had a row of chairs behind a long cupboard (kind of dark corridor arrangement) where folks went to take 30 winks.

How about just going home on time.

I think most of the posters here have pretty much nailed it. The problem isn't going to be fixed by 30 minute naps. Its going to fixed when the problem of excessive overtime is finally addressed

This is a very innovative move. I personally take a 30 minute nap every day around 2 or 3. My best work is done in the time immediately following that. I’ve given my employees the same option but it’s rare anyone actually does it.

Even during all the scandals happening this year and soon next year, one big siesta.

As part of the self-improvement measures, Nextbeat requests that its employees leave work by 9 p.m. and that they not work overtime late into the night. The company also recognizes 30-minute daytime naps as part of regular work hours.

LOL. Reverse psychology at its best/worst. Guys, you're getting shafted, everyday 30min nap or not.

"napping on the job" is a booming business in tokyo's shimbashi district where many capsule hotels & internet cafes are filled with salarymen who are supposedly "out visiting clients" but are in fact sleeping.

Better yet, make everyone work 15 hour shifts and then have them sleep for one full hour instead! Win Win!

here we go, you can take a nap but youll have to make up for the lost time in unpaid overtime. theres always some hidden conditions attached

In fact, employment regulations now state that aside from a one-hour break, workers are also entitled to 30-minute naps.

And further obliged to stay in the office until 9PM...

Hey Japan, forget your naps and use that nap time to go home earlier.

I worked for the state here in the US. We got 21 days vacation, 21 days sick leave, 13 holidays, misc. time off for stuff.

If some was to go home earlier spend time with the family, go to bed earlier, get up slightly latter, this way that person would have deep quality sleep, get up refreshed, rather than napping at work, napping should not be a replacement/substitute for a good sleep.

With the automation today, we should only have to work 25 hours per week. Even the US standard of 40 is too long, let alone a lifetime of double that.

juminRhee, your proposal is accepted.

Napping (Tired sleep for half an hour) Vs. Sleeping (Feel Good Sleep for good hours)

I believe Sleeping gets 8/10 whereas Napping gets 4/10