We all experience hitting the snooze button more than once just to get in a few extra minutes (sometimes, an hour!) of sleep in the morning. To the point where we may overdo it, and completely oversleep, resulting in call-outs for work. (We’ve all been there before right?)
Don’t we all wish that we had paid sleep days? We think so too! Dear readers, let me introduce you to Duvet Day! Yes, it’s a real thing, and a few companies are trying it out to boost employee engagement and morale.
What is Duvet Day?
Duvet Day is an unofficial sleep day from work. Duvet Day allows workers to take a day off without advance notice. It can be stipulated in the employee’s contract and considered as part of the remunerations package or part of the annual holiday allowance. We’re not saying this is the case for all companies, play it safe and ask your boss or HR person if your company offers this.
The best thing about Duvet Day is that there are no requirements for employees to provide an excuse for wanting the day off. This could be considered as a self-care day since it is often done in a spontaneous way. A few employers have even formalized the Duvet Days into their employment contract to avoid these types of absences.
The term is also used for taking a day off work for no regularly-accepted reasons (i.e. holiday or mild sickness) even if they have no official Duvet Day entitlement with their employer.
The origin of the Duvet Day can be traced back in 1997 when UK company August One Communications gave Duvet Days to their employees. They introduced the idea, gained press coverage about it, and other companies started to adapt it. It gained popularity as some companies aim to address the work-life balance of their employees. So where can you get a Duvet Day? A few employers in the UK and the US have adopted this into their work culture.
Duvet Day Benefits at Work
There are days when we yearn to just stay in bed most of the time, and fight those urges to get up and go to work. Some days we push ourselves mentally and physically up to the point of burnout or breakdown.
It’s clear that this special day away from work allow us to take a day off whenever we need the extra time to relax and not have to worry about missed wages. Below are the positive factors that can improve the workplace.
Improves Mental Health
Most of us have work-related stress, whether we admit this to ourselves or not. Common stress factors include work performance, lack of communication, or disagreements at work. Which can lead to burnout which take a toll on our productivity, motivation, to the point of wanting to quit our jobs.
Duvet Days can help manage our anxieties and stress. It gives us the chance to recover lost time, sleep, and energy.
Improve our Performance at Work
Just like a relaxing vacation, Duvet Days can leave you feeling recharged and invigorated. A single day can be enough for a person to recharge, potentially achieving a positive increase in our productivity and motivation when we return to work.
Sometimes, an extra rest day is enough to help improve our productivity and replenish our brain from a stressful time at work.
Reduced Absenteeism
Two common causes of long-term work absences are stress and poor mental health. Duvet Days can help curb long-term absence rates, and allows us the opportunity to manage our personal lives and improve our mental health. Sometimes we all just need a day to gather ourselves and refocus.
Improve Work-Life Balance
We’re not saying that Duvet Day will change the way work, well, works, but it can have a positive impact on our careers and overall well-being. Knowing that you have the option take a day for yourself and not have to call out sick is part of that work-life balance we all strive to achieve. Duvet Days aren’t restricted to just sleeping in. Maybe you just need an extra day to complete a personal project you’ve been working on for months, or catching up on your workout sessions, or maybe you just need to run a simple errand. Duvet Days, heck even a work sanctioned day-off can make an impactful difference in our personal lives.
What would you use a duvet day for?