Until December, Rakuten Group used Suimin Rally (sleep rally), a sleep improvement programme provided by Tokyo-based startup NeuroSpace. — Reuters
TOKYO: An increasing number of companies are using sleep-related technologies to improve employees’ sleep quality by making the most of information technology (IT).
Various companies in the IT and other industries have been increasing their promotion of employees’ healthcare, an indicator of corporate value.
The issue of sleep length is attracting attention as a problem that can affect productivity in companies.
Until December, Rakuten Group Inc used Suimin Rally (sleep rally), a sleep improvement programme provided by Tokyo-based startup NeuroSpace Co.
The programme aims to use sleep pattern data provided by a smartphone application to improve a person’s sleep quality.
In October, Rakuten held a seminar on sleep improvement, which saw 600 employees participate remotely.
NeuroSpace was founded in 2013.
Since then, the company has helped to improve sleep for over 20,000 people working at more than 100 companies, including major food companies and a major airline company.
Participants in the NeuroSpace programme apparently saw better concentration and time management skills, which led to improvements in their productivity.
“Employees’ sleep is a problem that needs to be worked on at companies and in society,” said Takanori Kobayashi, the president of the company.
The use of “nen ni ichidono suimin shindan undo” (once-a-year sleep check movement) is also increasing in various industries. This programme is run by several companies, including Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare Co and T&D Holdings Inc, the parent company of Daido Life Insurance Co.
The programme also uses a smartphone application to analyse employees’ sleep quality.
A growing number of companies are working to improve employees’ sleep quality because they regard it as essential for improving productivity.
According to a survey in 2021 by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average sleeping time in member countries was about eight hours and 30 minutes, whereas Japan was at the bottom of the table with an average of seven hours and 22 minutes.
A US research institute has estimated that sleep deprivation causes an annual economic loss of 15 trillion yen (RM500bil).
Other research has shown that companies with higher profit margins have employees that sleep longer.
Isamu Yamamoto, a Keio University professor specialising in labour economics, has conducted a survey on about 10,000 company employees and found that there was a difference of between 1.8 and two percentage points between the profit rate of companies in the top 20% for better sleep time, and that of companies in the bottom 20%.
Sleep hours and methods naturally vary from person to person.
“There are problems regarding how far companies can get involved in visualising sleep data of an individual,” Yamamoto said.
“Sleep technologies are effective as an investment to improve productivity.” — The Japan News/ANN
