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Insomnia has been widely recognized as a rampant problem among the U.S. workforce. Its effects ranging from decreased concentration and diminished quality of performance can often lead to industrial disasters. Yet, too few employers have implemented any wellness initiatives to address or combat it, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called insufficient sleep in the U.S. a “public health problem.” Further the CDC has reported that about 50 to 70 million U.S. adults have sleep or wakefulness disorder (such as insomnia or sleep apnea).

Consider this: Four and a half years ago, Time magazine ran an article on how insomnia was costing the average U.S. worker 11.3 days or $2,280 in lost productivity. This translated into an overall loss of $63.2 billion. The story came as a result of a survey conducted by the American Insomnia Study, which asked 7,428 participants about their sleep habits and work performance. Of that number, about a quarter (23 percent) were reported to have insomnia; but that still didn't stop them from going to work. And, because of their insomnia, these workers were less productive because they were tired.

Unfortunately, since then little has changed. In October 2014, Ceridian, a provider of human resources solutions, released the findings of a poll that examined the effects of insomnia in the workplace. Polling nearly 700 HR leaders across North America, the study revealed “that more than 30 percent of HR leaders have witnessed or heard about a co-worker falling asleep on the job in the past six months.”

Two other findings were even more telling:

• Sleep deficiency is a costly factor to productivity, presenteeism (attending work while sick), errors and illness
• More than 35 percent of those polled said “sleep deficiency had negatively impacted productivity.”

Our 24/7 wired work culture is not helping matters. A 2013 study conducted by Harvard’s Corporate Sleep Health Summit (and whose results were discussed in the Huffington Post), reported that 72 percent of American workers said they sleep with their smartphones near them while 45 percent reported that they send emails or texts “often or always right before they fall asleep at night.” As a result of these habits, many are compromising their sleep habits in an attempt to remain connected at all times.

But such behavior characterized as “FOMO” (or fear of missing out”) may be frequently rewarded by employers, an outcome that only contributes to the problem.

“Evaluating how your company rewards work behavior and sets performance expectations can shed important insight into the impact such a culture can have on employees’ sleep health,” concluded Ceridian.

Ceridian offers the following tips that employers are advised to incorporate into their corporate wellness programs to reduce insomnia among their workers and thus increase productivity.

*“Offer employees a place where they can rest. According to a 2011 Society for Human Resource Management survey, only six percent of offices had napping rooms for employees. Employees who take just a 20-minute nap can wake up feeling refreshed and recharged.”

• ”Promote healthy sleep habits by offering sleep disorder screenings and wellness coaching programs through work.”
• ”Communicate positive messages about sleep by hosting events like a ‘sleep awareness month.’”
• “Encourage employees to unplug during the evening, weekends and on vacation.”