The Evolution of Trance Management - Power Napping

Man has constantly striven to develop new techniques to allow him to achieve more in life. From the early Greek philosophers, through to creative geniuses such as Beethoven, Da Vinci, Dali and Einstein one recurring technique has been to escape the frenzy of the conscious world by "napping". Great leaders in times of War, such as Napoleon and Winston Churchill, were also known to have napped to help them deal with their stress. Since then it is a technique that has been employed by many US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers; including Margaret Thatcher, John F Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

Today Corporate America and Japan have been taken by storm. Powernapping and Trance Management is a health trend, a workplace perk, even an art form. Children do it, students do it, even educated Corporate Chairmen and CEO's do it.

Look Who's "napping"

BRITISH AIRWAYS

Rosekind's real-world research at NASA resulted in at least one airline, British Airways, allowing pilots on transoceanic flights to catch a few winks so they will be more alert when landing.

NIKE

At Nike employees have access to "relaxation rooms". Nike also urges its employees to "just do it," although it calls its nap room a "relaxation room."

DELOITTE & TOUCHE

One of Pittsburgh's largest consulting firms, Deloitte & Touche has awakened to a whole new idea in meeting its employee needs. When the 260-employee firm, which specializes in welfare, social services, manufacturing and financial consulting, recently remodeled its space, it made meeting workplace diversity a priority. Deloitte Consulting Pittsburgh location, at workers request, put in a nap room when it renovated its office a year and a half ago

GOULD EVANS GOODMAN ASSOCIATES

Kansas City Based Architectural firm Gould Evans Goodman Associates pitched three "spent tents" in a corner of its office-each outfitted with air mattress, sleeping bag, foam pad, flannel pillow, Walkman, eye shades and alarm clock. Employees doze in "spent tents" in a fairly secluded second-floor loft space. Gould Evans installed its 10 by 12 foot nap room. According to the company spokesperson Mindy Highfill, no stigma is attached to those using it. "When it is the middle of the afternoon and I am not getting work done because I am tired, I know I am better off taking a 10 to 15 minute nap," she says. "Then, when I go back to work, I am refreshed and revitalized and able to get a lot more done."

42IS

42IS a Berkley, California, computer-consulting firm, provides a loft with a blanket and alarm clock. Naps are divided into 20-minute blocks for its employees and even has a reservation book for its nap rooms because of the high demand. "When employees start, we make sure they know the nap rooms available," says Cory Levenberg, president of 42IS, a computer consulting firm in Berkeley, Calif. Levenberg recently told U.S. News & World Report that about 70 percent of his employee use the company nap room at least once every other day. The room contains a blanket and an alarm clock. It's so popular, there's now a sign-up sheet for workers to pencil in their nap time.

GREAT DANE TRAILERS

Kit Hammond, President of Great Dane Trailers in Savannah, Ga., one of the largest manufactures of trailers and trucks says he'd give his office staff and plant supervisors a chance to try napping at work because he suspects 40 winks will not only make his employees feel better, but might even make them more productive. He turned to one of the gurus of corporate napping to train his workers on the art of power napping, Tom Deluca and 60 of Hammond?s employees signed up for the workshop.

And There's More...