Who else has noticed the mid-afternoon desk sleep in their office?
I’ve just moved to a new company and I’m so glad nobody does it here.
So … what don’t you like about it? Personally I think it’s a good idea. Yes, I know the western protocol dictates that you should sit there at your desk while you wolf down a sandwich, and then spend an hour staring at your computer while pretending to be awake and working. But really, why fight it? I’ve never been able to wake up after only half an hour, but a good post-lunch nap leaves you feeling a lot better.
Call me traditional, but I think desk-sleeping is rude and disrespectful. It’s a sign of disrespect to your co-workers and your boss.
And above all else, it looks bad.
I really hope that someone is with me on this.
That why cubicles were invented, to co-opt the class struggle vs. managers sleeping behind office doors. This is fully explored in
The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle’s-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Harper-Collins; 1st edition (April 18, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0887307876
ISBN-13: 978-0887307874
[quote=“bumclouds”]Call me traditional, but I think desk-sleeping is rude and disrespectful. It’s a sign of disrespect to your co-workers and your boss.
And above all else, it looks bad.
I really hope that someone is with me on this.[/quote]
There’s no Emily Post edict on this.It’s only disrespectful if it contradicts company policy. Many companies in Taiwan (even some of the biggest) encourage lunchtime naps and senior managers are just as likely to be lunchtime nappers as the rank and file workers.
[quote="*monkey"]
Many companies in Taiwan (even some of the biggest) encourage lunchtime naps and senior managers are just as likely to be lunchtime nappers as the rank and file workers.[/quote]
Especially the biggest. More ‘drones’ more naps.
You’re traditional 
Like monkey says, it’s only disrespectful if it’s against company policy or social expectations. If naps are encouraged or accepted, then it isn’t disrespectful.
Of course, if your issue is with sleeping on the desk, rather than sleeping per se, then obviously it is the company’s responsibility to provide hammocks.
Why does it? People have a biological need to zone out while they digest their meals (especially the western-style carb-heavy type, which causes an insulin spike). You’re not going to change a million years of evolution with a company memo.
I agree it looks bad if people are napping during office hours, especially if they’re in the meet-the-public front office, but the only place I’ve ever seen that is in the police station, which is pretty much to be expected 
I’d much rather my employees take a break and come back refreshed that sit there all day staring at the ceiling because they can barely keep their eyes open. Frankly, it winds me up no end when I see people sitting late at the office, or forcing themselves to concentrate, when they’re clearly not doing anything useful because they’re too tired to do so.
Naps should be encouraged for health and productivity reason … nothing weird or rude about it …
Try going in an office an disturb the peace during nap time … if they could they’d shoot you …
pretty common…nap time nap time nap time…
worked for a big taiwan company with many floors of employees.
all lights off from 12pm to 2pm . Everyone sleeping . NO visitors allowed.
YOu want to NOT sleep? Please go out and stay out until 2pm (which I always did)
reminds me that people are sooo quiet in … bookstores! 
When I first came to Taiwan, I remember walking into a bank only to find the meet-the-public staff sleep at their desks at lunchtime. But I haven’t seen this in years.
Just remember that on-your-belly/chest/head to the desk position is not very good for your health, especially after lunch. Best is laid back. I have a special chair just for that purpose.
I really don’t get the lunch time/mid-day nap thing.
I just think it’s something they haven’t stopped from childhood and don’t want to.
But I suffer from insomnia!!! Maybe I’m just jealous.
I don’t get it either. I get up at 5am and I never need a nap, despite having been awake for almost a whole working day by lunchtime. I think it is a leave over from childhood and it does look unprofessional to me, even if it is the local culture. Between naps and screwing around online, I wonder how much work these people actually do. Some of my colleagues have twelve lessons per week. That’s not even three per day. They couldn’t possibly be tired, yet they still have naps.
I’m currently reading a book called “The Siesta and the Midnight Sun”, all about circadian rhythms: one main point is that sleep patterns are a lot more cultural than we tend to think. If you didn’t grow up with lunchtime naps, you don’t need lunchtime naps; if you’ve always had them, then they’re normal and a good thing.
I guess it’s similar to how my mother-in-law finds it incomprehensible that I don’t want soup at the end of a meal, while I find it equally incomprehensible that salty broth with chicken leached of all flavour at the end of a meal is a good thing.
That being said, with the amazing ability that many people here have to pass out on the MRT or at a desk, I worry about how seriously sleep deprived the whole nation must be.
From the wikipedia entry on circadian rhythms:
Yeah, it probably does depend on what you grew up with. OTOH if you don’t get enough nighttime sleep, you are going to need a nap. My own habit is to get up late and work late - if I do that, I never want or need to nap. If I attempt “normal” office hours, I feel like crap after lunch for at least an hour. Unfortunately, if I attempt a nap, that’s me out for at least 2 hours. Still, apparently Winston Churchill did exactly that every day (early start with a long afternoon sleep), and he seemed to function OK. Edison was also famous for not sleeping properly and napping instead. Each to his own, but I’m inclined to believe a short nap (if you can do that) is worthwhile. Especially if you would otherwise be pissing about on facebook or staring at the ceiling. I don’t think it’s possible or desirable to be “productive” all the time. We all need a bit of idleness now and then.
I think that’s the point. They’re indoctrinated during school years that sleeping at night is some sort of mortal sin. All of my Taiwanese exes (admittedly a rather small sample size) were chronically sleep-deprived and suffered for it. They refused to believe that 6-7 hours is not enough for most people. If that’s a common attitude, the lunchtime nap is probably a lifesaver.
nobody sleeps here but nobody really takes a break either. They all eat their lunch box while working. Nobody is leaving before at least 10 working hours are over…
I don’t like the sleeping thing either, it’s just not my culture I didn’t grow up with doing it but I don’t mind other people doing it though…
finley: There’s certainly a good argument to be made for an afternoon nap. I read a paper recently that showed that one of the common characteristics of people at an elite level across disciplines was that they engage in very deliberate practice that is exhausting for about two hours at most, so then they have a nap afterwards. The paper suggested that scientists, writers and musicians do their most productive work as their first major activity in the morning (around 10am-12pm for most people) before having a nap. The rest of their day is then often spent on less demanding activities (even if those include practice or work). Athletes tend to do better practice/training in the afternoon though. However, I don’t believe it’s the case that the average office worker is working at some sort of elite level and so needs the nap for that reason. I think it’s just that they have crappy sleeping patterns at night. Indeed, the average office worker seems to get to work and then spend the first couple of hours (when they are probably most productive) screwing about online. As I wrote earlier, my colleagues have two or three classes per day. They’re hardly overworked.
Incidentally, I used to find that I struggled to really read in the evenings because I really lacked concentration and often started feeling really tired. Since reading that paper, I’ve completely changed my schedule (I mentioned this in another thread a while ago). I get up at 5am every day now (I sleep in a little on weekends, but my body doesn’t let me sleep too late). I spend up to two hours reading or writing as my first major activity in the day before all my energy gets sapped at school. I am significantly more productive as a result and I feel much, much sharper when I’m reading. Even still, I don’t require a nap (though I tend not to have classes from the mid-morning through the early afternoon, so I can kind of zone out a little anyway. I might struggle if I had a wall of classes every morning.