JAPAN: Employees nap during office hours to better enjoy late-night Olympic broadcast

Record ID: 331046

  • Title: JAPAN: Employees nap during office hours to better enjoy late-night Olympic broadcast
  • Date: 10th August 2012
  • Summary: (TOKYO, JAPAN) (AUGUST 10, 2012) (REUTERS) JAPANESE WATCHING OLYMPIC WOMEN'S SOCCER FINALS IN A BAR PHONE READING: "5:21 AM" VARIOUS OF SLEEPY SPECTATORS (OMIYA, SAITAMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN) (AUGUST 10, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ARCHITECTURAL FIRM OKUTA VARIOUS OF EMPLOYEES SLEEPING AND WAKING UP (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 30-YEAR-OLD EMPLOYEE MASATAKA MINEGISHI, SAYING: "How you spend your private time at night depends on whether you can nap during the day or not so in this sense I am able to enjoy watching the Olympic games." MAN SLEEPING IN CHAIR (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 55-YEAR-OLD COMPANY PRESIDENT TAKUMI YAMAMOTO, SAYING: "The London Olympics happen to have good matches during the middle of the night. There is absolutely no problem with watching the games as employees just have to re-adjust their body rhythm and do their jobs responsibly." SIGN ON WALL IN ENGLISH READING: "LOHAS STUDIO" (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 55-YEAR-OLD COMPANY PRESIDENT TAKUMI YAMAMOTO, SAYING: "The sandman comes just after the middle of the day. I feel the same too and I think everyone is similar. Rather than saying that I actively use this system, I find myself asleep before I even know it." OFFICE WITH PEOPLE WORKING AT THEIR DESKS VARIOUS OF MAN LOOKING AT SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 32-YEAR-OLD EMPLOYEE HAMASAKI, SAYING: "Thanks to this system, I am able to enjoy the Olympics and function normally so I think it is great." VARIOUS OF MAN GOING TO SLEEP
  • Embargoed: 25th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA24WHOEAZ0JE7MDA3NM93SE4IC
  • Story Text: Japanese architectural firm Okuta, allows its employees to nap for up to 30 minutes during the work-day, whenever they please.
    Employees find the policy particularly effective in clearing their heads, especially during the Olympics.
    With the London games coming to an end after two weeks, Japanese supporters are feeling the strain of waking up in the middle of the night to catch matches which happen in the afternoon or evening in the UK.
    Japan has performed particularly well in table tennis, volleyball and soccer and employees are glad that they can fall asleep without anyone minding after staying up late to cheer their nation on.

    "How you spend your private time at night depends on whether you can nap during the day or not so in this sense I am able to enjoy watching the Olympic games," said 30 year-old Masataka Minegishi.
    The 'power nap' policy was introduced in March this year after the company chairman confirmed the common, but unspoken, consensus that most company employees were sleepy in the afternoon.
    Company president Takumi Yamamoto stresses he wants employees to listen to their natural biological rhythm in the name of productivity and not conform to what society deems acceptable.

    "The London Olympics happen to have good matches during the middle of the night. There is absolutely no problem with watching the games as employees just have to re-adjust their body rhythm and do their jobs responsibly," said Yamamoto.
    Yamamoto himself finds that he dozes off without knowing it.

    "The sandman comes just after the middle of the day. I feel the same too and I think everyone is similar. Rather than saying that I actively use this system, I find myself asleep before I even know it."
    The company encourages naps before training sessions for employees to improve productivity.
    Yamamoto stresses that in the business of building homes for customers, it is about not hiding yourself and being as natural as possible when engaging with the customer.
    32-year-old employee Hamasaki loves the policy and has used it to watch nearly all of Japan's Olympic soccer matches without feeling like a zombie the next day.

    "Thanks to this system, I am able to enjoy the Olympics and function normally so I think it is great," said Hamasaki.
    The Olympic games end this week but employees of Okuta will still be napping on well after the games are over.
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