Reposted from Tim Richardson

The Most Underrated Driver of Organizational Success

What if the fastest way to increase productivity, reduce costs, and show your people you care isn’t another strategy - but more sleep? Read this blog post to find why we should sleep more and how to help others sleep too. What if I told you there’s one simple factor that can lower costs in your organization, increase employee efficiency and productivity, and demonstrates – in the most meaningful way – that you genuinely care about your team? Most leaders would point to technology investments, new software, strategic restructuring, learning and development, or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) they track obsessively every week. But there’s something far more fundamental that we consistently ignore:

Sleep.

Yes – sleep. We tell our teams we value them as people. We care about what they do outside of work. We want them to be healthier, more skilled, more creative but we rarely give a thought to the one thing that literally makes all of that possible: the rest they get at night. That has to change.

If you’re a regular reader of my writing, you know that last week I shared my “Word of the Year” for 2026: simplicity –  One morning recently I woke with a flood of thoughts about everything I had to do that day, it hit me – I have been wrestling with sleep challenges for as long as I can remember. And this year, I’m committed to solving them – not by piling on more hacks – but by eliminating the non-essential tasks that steal my rest. Today, our culture celebrates busy as if it’s a badge of honor even when it steals our sleep. Yet sleep is chronically lacking in today’s workforce. According to a global sleep survey reported in Forbes Magazine of more than 30,000 people nearly 30% struggle to stay asleep several nights a week and more than 70% of employed adults have called in sick because of poor sleep. After a bad night’s rest, about one-third of employees report difficulty concentrating the following day.

In economic terms, the toll of insufficient sleep on businesses and economies is staggering. The Sleep Research Society  estimates that sleep deprivation costs U.S. companies as much as $1,200–$3,100 per employee per year in reduced performance and productivity, while overall sleep-related lost productivity tops $136 billion annually. Think about that: a 1,000-person company could be losing millions every year before you factor in turnover, healthcare costs, safety risks, burnout, and employee disengagement. When employees are sleep-deprived, companies don’t just lose energy and focus – they lose their competitive edge.

Until recently, I had never heard a business owner explicitly talk about sleep as a strategic business issue. Instead, we celebrate hustle culture like early mornings, late nights, and grinding through fatigue as if it’s obligatory. We treat sleep like a luxury when, in fact, it’s a hard business metric. But science and economics now make it clear: sleep is not a personal perk – it’s a business imperative. We can no longer classify sleep as a personal matter that ends at the bedroom door. As leaders, we must recognize that what happens outside work, including what happens at night directly impacts organizational performance, culture, and profitability. Sleep isn’t optional. It’s foundational. Consider the following:

1. Redefine “High Performance” in Your Culture

Stop praising long hours, late-night emails, and “grinding through fatigue”. Publicly reinforce that rested employees perform better. Encourage leaders to model healthy boundaries (logging off, protecting sleep).

2. Establish Clear After-Hours Communication Norms

Set clear expectations for email, Slack, and text messages after hours. Use delayed send features for non-urgent messages. Clarify what truly constitutes an “emergency”.

3. Educate Leaders on Sleep as a Business Metric

Train leaders on the cognitive, emotional, and economic cost of sleep deprivation. Include sleep in conversations about safety, productivity, and burnout. Introduce sleep literacy through workshops, lunch-and-learns, or leadership retreats.

The data is clear. The cost of inaction is immense. Sleep isn’t just a personal health issue – it’s a business issue that affects your bottom line, your culture, and your future.

Don’t wait until fatigue erodes your organization’s performance. Make sleep a leadership priority today.

See Original Post