Dr. Laura Bojarskaitė is a neuroscientist and sleep researcher, creator of the LRT podcast ‘Miego DNR' and founder of the platform LauraBrainTalks (www.laurabraintalks.com), which improves the health and performance of people and organisations through the discovery of sleep and neuroscience. Laura goes beyond theories - her work is based on real habits and changes that people can implement in their lives today.
1. Employee well-being is still often seen as a bowl of fruit or the occasional extra day off. How are organisations rethinking what truly matters?
For a long time, workplace well-being meant a fruit basket in the corner or a massage voucher once a year. While those perks are nice, let’s be honest - our bodies need more than just a banana to thrive. More and more organisations are shifting toward what actually supports human health and performance: our biology and psychology. Think sleep, natural rhythms, focus, and recovery. Studies show that good sleep does more for productivity than any energy drink or “breakfast with the CEO.” A tired brain is a breeding ground for mistakes,miscommunication, and creative slumps. Forward-thinking companies no longer glorify the 24/7 hustle. Instead, they prioritise well-rested, well-supported employees - because motivation and great work only happen when people feel good. That’s why we’re now seeing sleep coaching, chronotype-based scheduling, quiet zones, and even nap breaks replacing the cookie trays. Everyone wins.
2. What role should sleep, exercise, and emotional resilience play in a modern wellbeing strategy? Is it better to focus on everything at once or prioritise?
Sleep, movement, and emotional resilience are the holy trinity of well-being - and the fuel behind real productivity. Without them, staying motivated is like trying to run a marathon in metal shoes. You might get through a day or two, but it’s not sustainable.
If I had to pick a starting point, it would be sleep. Without quality rest, there's no energy for exercise and no foundation for emotional strength. Sleep is essential for both our physical and mental health - just think how different you feel after a good night’s sleep versus a bad one. In one case, you're smiling; in the other, even small things can feel overwhelming.
For movement, it doesn’t have to be complex. Encourage micro-breaks: five minutes of walking, a few squats, or climbing stairs with your team. These small resets throughout the day can do wonders for focus and mood.
But do we need to tackle everything at once? Honestly, I don’t think so - and yes, I’m biased. I always recommend starting with a good night’s sleep. Once the brain and body are rested, it becomes much easier to introduce other habits like regular movement and emotional resilience. Think of it as preparing the soil before planting anything new - rest is that fertile ground.
Our brains aren’t fans of radical change. Going “all in” often triggers stress and resistance. What really matters, according to neuroscience, is frequency over intensity. It’s better to build steady, consistent habits than to go all out a few times and burn out. Slow and regular beats perfect and rare every time.
3. As for sleep specifically, it is often the last element, especially during stressful periods. What should HR professionals know about the importance of sleep?
Sleep is often seen as a personal matter - something that employees should ‘manage themselves’. But this is a false assumption. Sleep is not a luxury, but the foundation of productive, safe and creative work. And this is backed up not by opinion but by dozens of scientific studies. I will not limit myself here and I will answer in broad terms, because I think this information is extremely important and valuable for understanding why sleep is so important, not only for the individual, but also for the workplace as a whole.
What does the science say about sleep deprivation?
1. Reduced productivity. A study of more than 4 000 workers showed that people who sleep <6 hours a night lose ~6 working days a year due to reduced productivity compared to those who sleep 7-8 hours.
2. Errors, accidents and mishaps are on the rise. Sleep deprivation severely impairs our attention and concentration, slows down our reaction time and puts us at a higher risk of making mistakes. This can translate into lost customers, thousands of euros in losses or even a car accident. One night with <5 hours of sleep affects attention as much as a blood alcohol level of 0.05 ppm.
3. Creativity and decision-making are weakened. Studies show that one sleepless night can reduce creativity by up to 60%, and that sleep deprived people are more likely to make decisions that are not worth the risk.
4. Conflict increases and empathy decreases. Research shows that sleep deprived people are more prone to anger, less able to recognise colleagues' emotions, less able to express emotions and less cooperative and less honest. This means that sleep-deprived employees are less likely to help colleagues, more likely to usurp the work of others, cut corners, and certainly less likely to interact with customers.
5. Health problems and increased likelihood of sickness absence. Sleep is critical for the immune system. Scientific studies show that people who don't get enough sleep are more likely to get viral infections such as colds and flu - in one experiment, participants who slept <6 hours a night were 4 times more likely to get a virus than those who slept >7 hours. They also stay sick longer - the immune response is weaker and it's harder for the body to fight off infection. This leads to more frequent sickness bulletins and, in the long run, increases the likelihood of long-term sickness absence. Chronic sleep deprivation has already been linked to a higher risk of depression, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. All this comes at a high cost. Analysis by the Rand Corporation has shown that sleep deprivation costs US businesses up to $411 billion a year in lost productivity, errors and sickness absence.
4. You've probably seen a lot of different organisational initiatives - which ones really worked? What's the difference between solutions that look good and those that create real value?
I will again write in detail, because this is a VERY important question. Beautiful initiatives and empty words ≠ solutions that work. In recent years, organisations have increasingly tried to incorporate sleep into their employee wellbeing strategies, but not everything that looks like "wellness" has a real impact. Common but low-impact initiatives include: one-off lectures without clear intention and without follow-up, superficial education (e.g. ‘7 tips for a good night's sleep’), programmes without personalisation or real contextual analysis. Why doesn't it work? Because sleep is not a problem of lack of information, but a behavioural change challenge linked to daily habits, work rhythms, psychological state and even company culture.
So what really works?
1. Structured sleep programmes that promote behavioural change. Research shows that the most effective sleep improvement initiatives are multi-week programmes (4-8 weeks) consisting of a questionnaire analysis of company employees' sleep habits, an analysis of the company's work culture (interviews with managers and employees), and seminars on the importance of sleep for overall health and on the importance of good sleep habits. It is important that these programmes include practical exercises, reflection, a sleep diary (employees keep track of their sleep) and individual tailoring. One meta-analysis showed that this type of sleep education intervention in the workplace significantly improved sleep quality, reduced daytime sleepiness and improved psychological well-being. One study with IT workers showed that after a 6-week programme:
Participants' sleep increased by an average of 45 minutes
Decreased number of missed work days
Improved focus and mood
2. Flexible work schedules according to biological rhythms. Humans have different chronotypes, and owls and vipers are not a cultural myth, they are everyone's genetic truth. Just as some are tall and others short, some are otters and others are owls. I recently ran a talk about this on goforward acaemy called ‘A survival guide for owls in a world of otters’. So owls working at 8:00 am are in a biological ‘night’ phase - their cognitive functions are far from working at full capacity. This is like asking the otters to analyse company data at 10pm. One study in Germany showed that workers who were allowed to choose their own chronotype of start time started sleeping 1 hour longer and felt better during the day.
3. Providing rest areas or legalising short sleep breaks. Even a 15-20 minute nap is not enough. "A power nap can increase alertness, productivity and reduce errors. I strongly recommend allowing employees to take short naps during the day. Companies like Google, Ben & Jerry's and Zappos have ‘nap rooms’. One NASA study showed that even a short nap improves alertness by 34% and work efficiency by 16%.
4. Changing your sleep culture. This is very important. Because it is one thing to say ‘sleep and rest are important to us’, but it is another to send emails at 23:00 and tell us over morning coffee how you worked until 2am last night, but it is another thing to see actions and changes in the workplace to match the words, and most importantly to see managers setting an example of good sleep. Barnes et al. (2015) showed that managers' sleeping habits have a direct impact on subordinates' behaviour, ethics, decision-making and stress levels.
Low budget, high impact decisions:
- Sleep education mini-courses, workshops
- Free sleep hygiene guides
- Flexible start times of at least 1-2 hours
- Emails and calls ONLY during working hours
- Sleep campaigns/challenges. Employees do one simple sleep-enhancing activity per month, e.g. 10 minutes in natural light every morning, coffee before 4pm, 5 minutes of deep slow breathing in the evening.
- Best sleeper award. Some companies give sleep trackers and reward the most regular and longest sleeper each month.
- Training for managers on the link between sleep and productivity (to change the culture from the top).
- Sleep newsletters: weekly or monthly short newsletters on the importance of sleep, tips for a good night's sleep and interesting facts.
Solutions to improve sleep that are of real value are those that are based on behavioural science and not just ‘inspiration’, have continuity, are adapted to the reality of the workforce, and are part of a wider organisational wellbeing strategy, rather than remaining an isolated initiative. As the science says: Sleep is a performance-enhancing habit. Therefore, organisations that take care of their employees' sleep not only create a healthier working environment but also invest wisely in their bottom line.
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If you are looking for someone to help you implement a science-based and practical sleep improvement strategy in your organisation, I can help. I am a neuroscientist, sleep researcher and sleep educator with many years of experience in both research projects and working with companies in different countries.
I offer a wide range of services that can be tailored to your organisation's needs:
- Interactive lectures and workshops on sleep, biological rhythms, burnout, sleep and productivity
- Sleep education programmes (4-8 week cycles) for employees - with structured tasks, diaries and feedback
- One-to-one sleep counselling for employees facing sleep challenges
- Management training to help create a healthier sleep culture in the organisation
- Support with implementing sleep improvement initiatives: From sleep-friendly policies to adapting flexible work schedules to chronotypes
- Developing training content, internal communication materials (posters, PDF guides, newsletters, videos)
I believe that a good night's sleep can be one of your organisation's most important competitive advantages - because well-slept people think more clearly, work more creatively and live healthier lives. If you'd like a consultation or to find out how we can work together - get in touch.
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