Here’s yet another reason to consider flex scheduling: It could attract a more productive and intelligent class of employee.
Recent research suggests night owls — those who go to bed later and rise later — are better equipped to handle the workday than early birds.
There are two reasons for this: Night owls are more resistant to the pressure of sleep, and they tend to me more intelligent.
The problem for night owls is businesses tend to believe early birds are the go-getters and night owls are lazy.
Turns out that could now be a detrimental stereotype for businesses.
Pressure of sleep
A study by the University of Liege in Belgium found that night owls — those who go to bed later and rise later — maintain a much better attention span as the pressure to sleep increases.
The university tested both groups’ attention spans after they’d been awake for 1.5 hours. The results were dead even.
But when the university performed the same tests on each group after they’d been awake for 10.5 hours, the results were vastly different. The attention span of the night owls actually improved, outperforming early risers.
Intelligence
A second study, performed by researcher Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa, of The London School of Economic and Political Science, found that young Americans who go to bed later have higher IQs.
According to the analysis, those with a childhood IQ of less than 75 go to sleep around 11:41 p.m. on weeknights in early adulthood, and those with a childhood IQ of over 125 go to bed around 12:29 a.m.
Office policy
Nobody would suggest companies open their doors at noon to cater to night owls’ sleeping habits, but it might not hurt to rethink your flextime policies. Is it absolutely necessary that everyone be in the building by 8 a.m.?
A little more flexibility could make your company more attractive to prospective (and possibly more intelligent) employees and improve morale among existing workers. After all, night owls now outnumber early birds: 20% consider themselves night owls, 10% early birds and 70% say they could go either way.
