You snooze, you win

We’ve all been there. That quick drink that turned into a late night. Kids who think a 4am start is a lie-in. Or just plain old tossing and turning because all you can think about is how you really, really need to get to sleep so you can be fresh and focused at work tomorrow.

By the time you trundle into the office, bleary eyed, super-strong coffee in hand, you can’t imagine how on earth you’re going to make it through the day without some sort of nap. And especially how you’re going to avoid nodding off and snoring loudly during the boss’s big, 100-slide PowerPoint presentation about next year’s financial forecasts.

Well, never fear. Here at HRville, we’ve compiled a few hints and tips on how you can grab that all-important snappy siesta. Not that we’re ever tired at work of course. We just did lots of external research. Honest.

While we’re on the subject, we’d like to know what’s so wrong with a daytime mini-sleep anyway? Scientific research, reported in the Telegraph, shows a powernap during the working day can work wonders for productivity:

A sleep scientist called David Dinges helped found the modern science of napping, back in the 80s, observing that short periods of sleep were good for alertness, memory, motor skills, decision-making and mood. (And at the same time, naps cut down on stress, carelessness and even heart disease.)

So if you should happen to get caught out while catching an extra 40 winks at work, all you need to do is highlight how much more productive/creative/inventive you’re now going to be for the rest of the day. It’s a win-win.

Here are our top tips for sneaking a snooze at work:

Parklife

If the weather is warm and sunny, then there’s no better place to head for a good old powernap than the local park. You’ll effortlessly blend in with the other sunbathers (unless you’re wearing a suit, which may give the game away). There’s a slight risk here that many of your colleagues will choose the same destination to enjoy their lunchtime sandwich alfresco, but as long as you don’t emit any loud snorts or snores you might just about get away with your sunbathing excuse.

Chain reaction

The office toilets may not be the most salubrious of places to have a quick nap, but they come with one big advantage: you can lock the door. The only potential pitfall (other than the obvious issues around smell and sound) is that someone may notice that the door has been locked for a considerable amount of time, assume there has been some sort of terrible, toilet-related accident, and call the emergency services. To save face, you’ll then have to pretend that some terrible, toilet-related accident really did befall you, and people will never look at you in quite the same way again.

A land (of nod) down under

If you’re lucky and important enough to have your own office, or your desk is in a secluded corner and your back faces the wall, this could be an option for you. For this, all you need to do is pull your chair out, crouch down (tip: hold a paper clip), and crawl under your desk. You may find the floor is slightly hard and the carpets might be somewhat unsavoury, but the beauty of this approach is that as soon as you hear someone asking for you (this is definitely only an option for light sleepers), you can just pop back up again, triumphantly holding your paper clip.

Shirking nine to five

One of the best ways to grab a nap at work is to pretend you’re going off somewhere quiet to do some very, very important work and that you must only be interrupted if there’s an absolute crisis. Then all you need to do is head off to a quiet meeting room, ideally selecting one with an ‘occupied’ sign. If no meeting rooms are available, commandeer the office stationery cupboard – you will need a cover story here, so we’d recommend you say loudly and crossly that enough is enough, you cannot cope with its higgledy piggledy arrangement anymore and that you will be spending the entire morning/day reorganising it. Again, stress that you are not to be disturbed and that any stationery needs will have to wait. If you’re really clever, you’ll have already got the new work experience person to reorganise the stationery cupboard late last night, meaning you’ll get a nice long kip and plenty of plaudits.

I’m only sleeping

So far, our suggestions have been more about stealth than comfort. But if you’ve had a tough night of it, sleeping in the park, on the loo, on the floor or in a cupboard aren’t exactly going to feel like a king-sized bed in a five star hotel. So we arrive at our final option – which again comes with a word of warning: You’ll need to know the boss’s schedule inside out and be very, very sure that they’re not likely to unexpectedly come back to their office when they’re supposed to be at a networking event, flying to a far-flung destination or entertaining a client. Yep, this option is about making the most of the luxurious surroundings of the head honcho’s private office. That sumptuous couch is going to be heavenly to sleep on and, as long as you can sneak in there unnoticed and quickly put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door, it’s yours for as long as you want it. Bliss.

About the author

Sarah Cure

After starting out as a reporter on a local paper, Sarah has worked as a copywriter in recruitment marketing for most of the last 14 years – with a few stints in internal communications and PR too.