Tag Archives: nap rooms

Official Guidance on Nap Rooms: Our diplomats are tireless, no nap rooms needed!

June 4, 2014 By in Foreign Service, John F. Kerry, Photo of the Day, Secretary of State, Snapshots, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , ,

— Domani Spero
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Well, that was quick.  Yesterday, there was this Tweet of the Day: US Embassy London to Get Nap Rooms?. Barely 24 hours later, the State Department slapped down the nap room idea at Embassy London or any of our diplomatic missions. The State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf  said that the agency is not considering establishing nap rooms “at this time.” Below is an excerpt from the DPB:

2 kittens taking a nap

2 kittens taking a nap (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

QUESTION: This is a slightly whimsical question —

MS. HARF: Uh-oh.

QUESTION: — but I see a tweet suggesting that the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom has —

MS. HARF: You’re asking about nap rooms, aren’t you?

QUESTION: Yes. Is there anything to that?

MS. HARF: I was going to make a joke, but I’m not. Actually, I might still.

QUESTION: Do you have guidance on this?

MS. HARF: Yeah, I have guidance.

QUESTION: Amazing.

MS. HARF: And I wrote at the top: Our diplomats are tireless advocates for our foreign policy. It’s pretty good, right? Nap room, tireless, no? Okay, fine. No one liked my joke.

QUESTION: I liked it.

MS. HARF: Thank you, Elise. So yes, I do have guidance on this. In a private talk yesterday, U.S. employees at the Embassy in London – Arianna Huffington touted the productivity benefits of getting more sleep – something we can probably all attest to – and urged the ambassador to follow the Huffington Post example of installing nap rooms. The ambassador graciously and diplomatically said he would look into it. While we are not considering establishing nap rooms at Embassy London or any of our diplomatic missions at this time, we obviously think that work-life balance is important, and someday I will attempt to find it.

While they were at it, the Secretary arrived in Poland.  Attending a meeting in Warsaw, the Secretary was spotted taking what appears to be a snooze. Was this a nano-nap, a micro-nap,  a mini-nap or a power nap?

JK’s rapid response:

 

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Tweet of the Day: US Embassy London to Get Nap Rooms?

June 3, 2014 By in Ambassadors, Foreign Service, Huh? News, Trends, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

— Domani Spero
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Seriously, can you imagine what this is going to do to your bidlists?

 

Via HuffPost UK

The United States embassy in London plans to install nap rooms to stop its diplomats from getting too tired, the American ambassador to Britain has indicated.

Matthew Barzun made the pledge during an event at the embassy on Monday afternoon alongside Arianna Huffington, the editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.

During a Q&A session with embassy staff, Huffington encouraged Barzun to follow the example set by the HuffPost New York office and dedicate a space to allow staff to rest. Following enthusiastic reception from his staff, Barzun declared the suggestion was “so moved”. He added: “We’re going to look at nap room locations.”

 

Click here to see 10 successful corporations that already let employees catch some shuteye during work hours in an effort to boost employee productivity, alertness and general health. Early this year, digital marketing startup HubSpot had an office expansion, which of course, includes this nap room with a hammock!  We don’t know what’s the work hours like for these companies but a technology start-up AskforTask.com set up a nap room to help ease fatigue among its web developers who were working long hours.  Apparently some were working as long as 70 hours per week. Do we have that kind of work hours anywhere?

To balance out all that excitement, best read BBC’s Nap Rooms Gone Bad.

Oops! A search over at OPM provides zero results on nap breaks.  OPM does have this to say — Combination With Rest Periods Prohibited:  “An agency may not extend a regularly scheduled lunch break by permitting an employee to take an authorized rest period (with pay) prior to or immediately following lunch, since a rest period is considered part of the employee’s compensable basic workday.”DOL also has nothing on nap breaks. Government rules will probably need to catch up on this new trend. And yes, we can already envision the circus in Congress.

If this is implemented, the embassy’s time and attendance clerk will need a new SOP. Who will be eligible to use the nap rooms and for how long — generalists, specialists, FSNs, contractors, charforce, guards, all of the above, some of the above?  Who gets the nano-nap, the micro-nap,  the mini-nap or the power nap? The embassy may also need to hire a scheduler for the nap rooms.  Also, who will wake up employees if they oversleeps or if they get nightmares during their naps?  Would this potentially be grounds for grievance – somebody could not get a power nap, did not get a boost in productivity, hence was not promoted at the first opportunity?

Hold on, we’re on the bureaucracy’s uncharted country.

 

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