Wakefit wants its over 600 employees to sleep at work under new ‘right to nap policy’

In an era of work from home policies, Wakefit, a D2C home-and-sleep solutions start-up, claims to be the first Indian company to announce a ‘right to nap’ policy for its employees between 2 to 2.30 pm during work hours. This is the second interesting announcement by the D2C start-up after its garnered popularity over rolling out internship programmes awarding participants over completion of stipulated sleep durations for 100 days.

According to its official LinkedIn page, Wakefit has 677 employees and has raised a cumulative capital of $26.9 million.

In an official statement to its employees by Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Director and co-founder of Wakefit, the company announced 2:00 pm to 2:30 pm as the official nap hours, encouraging employees to take a well-deserved break amidst hectic work schedules. The email received an overwhelming response from Wakefit employees, who took to LinkedIn and other social media platforms to share their appreciation of the landmark policy.

“An afternoon nap is instrumental in helping the body recharge and refocus on the task at hand, thus improving workplace productivity and motivation. Conversations around afternoon naps became predominant with the advent of work-from-home, and companies are slowly but steadily realising its importance. Through this initiative, the company hopes to start a sleep revolution while also encouraging other companies to adopt the initiative,” the company said in a statement.

“Research shows that afternoon naps help with memory, concentration, creativity, and productivity. A NASA study reveals that a 26-minute catnap can enhance performance by 33 per cent, while a Harvard study shows how naps prevent burnout. Keeping these in mind, we have decided to normalise afternoon naps at work & declare 2 to 2:30 pm as official nap time for all our employees. From now on, our employees will have the right to nap between 2 to 2:30 pm and their calendars will be blocked during this time as official nap time,” Ramalingegowda said.

“Through this initiative, we aim to focus on our employees' well-being, while also fostering a culture that strongly encourages self-care. We also urge other brands to join us in this effort to promote a healthy lifestyle for their employees,” he added.