How Much is Poor Sleep Costing Your Company?

Amid multiple public health crises and an ever-shifting labor market, it’s no wonder employers are becoming more focused on increasing employees’ health, happiness, and productivity. But one key area for improvement often goes overlooked: sleep.

Keeping workflows organized and offering a great wellness program are both ways to keep employees mentally and physically healthy and ready to focus. However, when thinking about how to make sure employees are giving work their best effort, don’t just consider how to improve their waking hours. To keep a business healthy, it’s crucially important to make sure employees are able to recharge with a good night’s rest.

High-quality work begins with high-quality sleep

The US has a big problem when it comes to how well and how much we sleep.

More than a third of US adults aren’t getting the amount of sleep they need on a nightly basis. For many people, the solution to sleeplessness isn’t as simple as sticking to a bedtime routine. It’s estimated that up to 70 million people in the US alone are living with a sleep disorder — many of which go undiagnosed. When employees arrive at the office or the job site exhausted and without the energy needed to focus on a project, employers end up paying a high price.

When one person suffers from a single night of restless sleep, often times not even an extra cup of coffee can help making it through the day any easier and the impact on the company’s day-to-day is clear. But when millions of employees aren’t sleeping enough due to an undiagnosed or untreated sleep disorder, it impacts the financial health of entire industries and the economy as a whole.

Workers who sleep poorly, approximately 11.5 million people in the U.S, cost employers an estimated $44.6 billion annually in lost productivity alone — that’s before we even start totaling the impact of lost wages due to sick days, additional healthcare costs, and workplace accidents. In fact, insufficient sleep is estimated to cost the U.S. economy over $411 billion each year.

One sleep disorder costs companies billions

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), one of the most common sleep disorders, also goes undiagnosed in up to 90% of cases. It’s estimated that undiagnosed OSA costs at least $150 billion a year in productivity losses, motor vehicle and workplace accidents, and the cost of treating other common illnesses made worse by the presence of OSA.

Investing in your employees’ sleep health doesn’t just improve their overall wellbeing — it can reduce healthcare costs. After all, each employee with untreated OSA costs employers about $3,000 in additional healthcare costs.

Employer-driven OSA screening programs are one solution that can save $500–700 per member per month. Notably, they’ve been shown to double employee retention, which can potentially help reduce the $1 trillion US businesses spend related to employee turnover each year.

Increasing employee safety is priceless

One other benefit of employer–driven OSA screening programs? They’re proven to reduce workplace accidents by up to 73%. This makes these programs particularly important in safety-sensitive fields of work. One study reports that workers with OSA are almost twice as likely to be involved in a workplace accident. In 2020, workplace accidents cost US businesses $163 billion in medical and administrative expenses and productivity losses.

Treating sleep-related disorders can even reduce the risk of deadly motor vehicle accidents from happening. It’s estimated that almost a third of professional truck drivers suffer from sleep apnea. Each year, about 100,000 accidents are caused by truck drivers who fall asleep at the wheel. The more sleep disorders that remain undiagnosed and untreated, the higher the potential for more disastrous accidents.

Improve your company’s resilience and culture by investing in employees’ sleep

For employees, well-being isn’t just a buzzword. Better sleep empowers employees to give each day 100%.

When employees are well-rested and able to deliver great work, they’re able to achieve personal milestones and progress in their careers. And when employees are sleeping soundly, employers will be able to tell the difference, too, both in the amount of energy circulating through the company, and in the numbers that appear on annual reports.

Want to learn more about how you can help fix your employees’ sleep? Connect with an expert at Primasun.