Activ People HR Software Blog

Here at Activ Absence, we're always looking at unusual ways to promote health and reduce sickness absence.

One US company has taken the concept of a 'dream' job one step further - by monitoring it's employees sleep habits and paying a $300 bonus to employees who sleep 7 hours a night or more.

Insurance giants Aetna invite staff to participate in this unusual benefit, and participants have the choice of automatic recording using a wrist monitor that connects to Aetna's computer system, or can manually record how long they have slept every night.  Staff earn $25 for every 20 nights in which they sleep seven hours or more, up to a limit of $300 every 12 months.

The scheme was first introduced in 2009, and just under half of the firm's 25,000 employees elected to participate last year.

The National Institutes of Health recommends adults, including the elderly, get seven to eight hours of sleep per night.  Good levels of sleep have a wide range of benefits including promoting staff wellbeing, which in turn can reduce sickness absence.

Vice-president of employee benefits, Kay Mooney, explained that monitoring sleep was only "one of many different healthy behaviours we wanted staff to track".

The firm's staff also earn bonuses if they do exercise.  Read more...