employee falling asleep in meetings

These are adults at an adult workplace. Civics class immediately followed. Hah, not a work meeting, but I once joined a meetup group where we were supposed to have philosophical discussions, read books on philosophy and discuss etc., led by a philosophy professor from a local school. I play solitaire on my phone and it makes me more attentive to the content of the meeting. I blame my parents for letting me do any drawing or handcrafts I liked during church as long as it didnt make any noise. (You can usually tell because the person's mouth falls open or he begins to snore!) Those meetings were incredibly boring, plus I understood none of the context, plus I wasnt sleeping well at night (new job jitters!). But Ive noticed the dozing off many times during these weekly meetings (usually held after lunch or around 3 p.m.). How is the employee taking this extra time? Also, it sounds like some of these folks are in private offices and the intern is poking their head in to greet them. I said no phones! Dont know what ended up happening to that group, I never went back. I actually keep meaning to write in about what to do if you have a chronic fatigue disorder that results in daytime sleepiness, so this hits home for me. To soften what I said: I realize the situation could be medical or unavoidable not super common but real. It sounds like it could be a pretty inappropriate discussion, to be honest. Thankfully, even my worst supervisorthe one who wanted me on a three-foot leash mounted ten feet in the airwasnt even *that* petty. Alisons advice is spot on. Treat your employees like adults. how can I avoid talking shop outside of work? The reasons so many people struggle are varied but include: sitting still for extended periods Given that shes already telling people that shes going to zip through her four-plus weeks of PTO and then be gone multiple weeks at a time, it feels like the train is so far from the station that you cant call it back, but you also cant have a full-time employee working a part-time schedule. My body doesnt process vitamin D, no matter how much we give it, so we can only overload on supplements and sometimes it works, sometimes it wont, and if we overload much more the treatment itself will become toxic. But if the workload is challenged even more when the 22 days they get becomes 40 days, and multiple weeks at a time, you have a problem. There are a few people who are great at reading and responding asynchronously, but for the vast majority that is not the case. This worked in the sense that everyone stayed awake. Should they block off 9-11 too, since a lot of people will eat breakfast around 8? Between 2 and 4 Im half asleep. We have to do this specific boring thing why? They just tend to think Well, if Im keeping up, its fine. A, youre not really keeping up I have to explain everything twice for you because you didnt hear it and dont know I said it. I dont know. by Alison Green on August 28, 2017 A reader writes: I started a new job a few months ago, working as scientific technical staff at a university. Over time, employees start to fear such meetings: when employees start to feel that the virtual meetings waste their time, it . I need you to take action so this stops occurring. It also reports that lack of sleep results in $63 billion of lost productivity each year. I apologized to my manager, but my work was great, so nobody *could* really complain about it. I do my handsewing in all staff meetings. Both are expensive to diagnose and treat. Even if they cut her hours in half, people would still need to cover for her when she was gone. Honestly, pre-pandemic, my current workplace cut down on meeting-napping by a lot when everyone started bringing their laptops into the meetings, explaining that they had to stay connected to their clients, end users, etc. Thinking back, I would also fall asleep during lectures or student presentations at school (though that was likely from actual lack of sleep.). Right? Seriously? The letter says she takes multiple weeks at a time. The good news is that a sleep disorder diagnosis will get you wonderful drugs like modafinil that will help you to stay awake. Also, is it in a room that does not have good ventilation/is stuffy? If shes an otherwise good employee, I get it feels disrespectful, but shes not doing it on purpose. But they are obligated to address and accommodate employee limitations *whenever possible* in order to do their jobs. I don't believe she has any medical condition that. my employee keeps falling asleep in meetings by Alison Green on May 18, 2022 A reader writes: I have noticed that one employee tends to doze off at our weekly departmental meeting. Except: there are a billion people who read emails reluctantly if at all and prefer to hear things live because otherwise they dont digest them; there are a billion issues where you cannot predict if there will be questions / interaction needed or not; having regular team meetings can be a useful routine for the team to know when and how to bring things up and so on and so forth. It made it so my body could never get accustomed to warm weather, either. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people are going to get serious wake-up calls on what that means, considering how high the COVID numbers are and how common long COVID appears to be. The first kind is legit, though more than half a dozen people and it will fall apart unless you are willing to go the Roberts Rules of Order route. This has happened pretty regularly in staff meetings, but I've now noticed it in our project meetings, which have been for a couple hours each day lately. (If the person running the meeting and the person loving the sound of their voice are the same person, the meetings are doomed.). When I was being kept awake all night by a cranky baby and maybe functioning on 3 hours of sleep in broken 30-minute chunks, I would totally have fallen asleep in a boring meeting. I have an elaborate set of tactics to avoid falling asleep, some times and locations are much worse than others. It may just be you need a 7th inning stretch. It actually seems like you are conflating being sleepy and actively falling asleep at work the latter of which is not at all normal and definitely suggests some sort of medical issue to me. And of course, if its not medical, the sooner you nip this in the bud the better. Called sleep apnoea, it is a condition where breathing stops for a while during sleep; the most common being Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA). Thats how sure I didnt have it- but I very much did. I was so bored and I was not allowed to do anything to keep myself awake except to drink a beverage. It didnt matter how much sleep/coffee Id had. Have any of you accidentally dozed off during a seminar, meeting or trhaaining session ? Either way, I strive to get my work done so that even if I am called out on it there isnt a work related issue. I had a job a few years back as an established professional where I was explicitly told I had to say good morning to every.single.person I walked by on the way to my office (at the back of the space). They were already so snarky there about my clothing and mannerisms. I am not sure I agree with Alison about the unpaid time off. Slept in his car at lunch too. Meetings should be limited to occasions where interaction is a key feature. If the employee says I actually think it would help if I could have a distraction, great! oh same. The employee is the person that is best positioned to know what the root cause is (whether its something she can control or not) and address it (including asking for accommodations as necessary). My project leader falls asleep in our meetings. I was extremely lucky that when I went to my PCP about my sleepiness after my boss suggested I may have sleep apnea, she listened to me when I said no, Im not depressed. But sleeping during meetings is not okay. However, very few of my coworkers know the full story, because I dont talk publicly about having this condition for a lot of reasons (none of which I want to debate, thank you). Upside of being a contractor, I just dont go to those. But sometimes my brain/body just wont do what I want it to do, no matter how badly I want it and how hard I work for it. If this is not possible for someone, they may need to request formal accommodations or find a different type of job. Right on! And having ADA protections for my condition have been a game-changer. Just goes to show how different people are. Bumping her down to fewer hours per pay period wouldnt let her keep taking those trips theres no benefit on either side. I dont fall asleep, but my mind just wanders and I usually end up mentally drafting an email or thinking through my grocery list. The only caveat I would have is if the unpaid time off is minimal. If someone cannot handle meetings, its on them to find a job that is light on meetings. I was lucky, I guess, to be a) white and b) smart enough to make it work through college and jobs despite sleeping through classes, literally falling asleep during exams, etc. What is the proper etiquette when a coworker falls asleep in a meeting? The intersection of exhaustion and boredom is often involuntary dozing, especially if the environment is oriented that way. I ignored that feedback, and frankly was angry it was even passed down to me. Ive been called out in the past for yawning a lot and coming across as bored in meetings. Cut your employee some slack and for the love of rest, afternoon meetings are wretched for many people. I love your points about the necessity, relevancy, and efficiency of meetings, and I agree that it is important that the presenter(s) can present in an engaging way, rather than filling a room with attendees and lecturing for two hours. If Im in a long live meeting, I will play solitaire on my computer; it actually helps me stay in the room and engaged. My other thought is that perhaps they are complaining because they think its all paid, and arent aware that its unpaid. I tried timed naps on the city bus, but it became a safety issue and I risked missing my stops and connecting busses. A whole bunch of people failed the test and the teacher chewed them all out, pointing out that MrSleepless SLEPT THROUGH this entire class and made a B!. Fell asleep quickly and slept through the night, unless i was sick, etc. People are always so certain that theres absolutely no way their coworkers could be dealing with a medical issue or disability, because obviously the LW would know if that was the case, right? And it didnt help. I used to say I could win the Sleeping Olympics, but no, I have a medical disorder. Nor am I against being able to bring a laptop, your knitting project or any quiet fidget tool along to help you concentrate. When the neurologist suggested narcolepsy, I argued with him. He'll nod off for a minute, then wake up, then nod off again, etc. For one of them, I was literally the person opening the building up. Otherwise, Im not sure what the issue is. As it turned out, I am a diabetic and probably have been for years. There are so many types of meetings that I dont see how anyone here could possibly answer this (rhetorical?) More expensive than it would be to ask meeting leaders/organizers to consider allowing others to access information in ways that are meaningful to (and more effective for) them. I suspect this evolved over timeit was a few extra days one year, and that unpaid vacation was so helpful to her that she decided to do it again, and then to expand it. Narcolepsy doesnt function like this, first of all, and PLENTY OF MEDICAL ISSUES interfere with both sleep and wakefulness. But Im someone who struggles with getting sleepy after lunch, its not a medical condition, its just normal digestion. That I have to point that out is also sad). Everyone at your office eats lunch at 11? Alternatively, staying up looking at your phone or watching TV actually hinders the sleep you get due to the blue light they emit. must take action to get less hot! or too cold! Well, if youre trying to solve the problem of why the employee is falling asleep in meetings, its good to discuss reasons why they might be falling asleep and try to improve the situation. Seriously? Not everyone can just power through, even without a medical condition (and yes, Ive been tested for diabetes recently). 2. But its only one person whos having a problem, which suggests its her and not the meetings. Ive written a lot of journal entries during boring meetings. The level of un asked for coddling suggested in these comments is getting out of hand. Had whole terminology (non-consensual napping) and routines (hibernation day the one day a week where I gave myself permission to not get out of bed). Im ADHD and when I get bored, I find ways to entertain myself. Then again, were from the Deep South and everyone knows everyone else and their personal business (sigh). I dont think its ever a bad thing to remind employees you are there to support them as able and appropriate. . I mean, Im pretty confident that, over my long career, I have by now developed a skill where I can be completely zoned out in a meeting while looking like I am staring at the speaker hanging on to their every word. Bring us up the day before so no one had to wake up at 4 am to get there , break us into smaller groups that allowed for interaction and participation for at least part of the day rather than have one person at a time lecture to all 200 of us. I used to work with someone whose voice knocked me right out and they tended to make long off-topic speeches. I dont know how Im wired that makes this true of me, too. Words like sheer willpower are often used in an ablist context and is almost an armchair diagnosis of a character flaw. is a big contributor to falling . a performative pose of attentiveness Elise Keith, founder of Lucid Meetings, a US-based meeting coaching company, says that while time preferences may vary among individuals, research indicates that some. In senior year I just needed 3 more credit hours to complete my degree. Informational meetings should be few and far between. What is this sleep disorder where an employee falls asleep during meetings? After leaving school at 14 because he kept falling asleep . because there might be an employee whos tiered? This used to be me. They were small meetings to, just 5-6 of my immediately team members, talking about things that were relevant to my work! Hold on. Is it large blocks (i.e. (I have been the Meeting Napper. Im off the anti depressants and mood stabilizer; off the anti-anxiety meds (turned out, when I feel anxious I am sleepy). I had a summer class in college that was really interesting, taught by a grad assistant I adored, but it was held in an extremely stuffy classroom right after lunch.

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