A pharmacist gives free days off to workers who improve their sleep

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Spain has carried out during 2022 the project ‘dreamland‘, which you have searched for improve the rest of your team of workers and reward you with additional vacation days.

According to the results of this project, presented this Monday in Madrid, the workers who have voluntarily participated in this project, 80% of its workforce in Spain, have increased their daily rest by an average of 7.4% in just 6 months.

The Spanish subsidiary of this Japanese pharmaceutical company decided to launch ‘Dreamland’ in order to improve the rest of the people who work in the company and, in this way, your physical and mental health. In this way, Otsuka has become the first company in Spain to reward its team for sleeping more and better.

The project has been developed for eight months, from May to December 2022, in a contest format. A total of 60 people of the Otsuka staff in Spain. For this, the company gave each participant a ‘Fitbit Charge 5’ bracelet, with the aim of measuring their sleep, both in time and in quality parameters.

In the first phase of ‘Dreamland’, the data revealed that those who participated slept on average 6.4 hours. Subsequently, for six months, the company has encouraged them to improve their sleep through different training actions, communication and recommendations to have a good rest.

In this period, which ended in December, the participating people improved their results until they reached an average of 6.9 hours a day (representing an average improvement of 7.4% increase). All those people who have improved their rest by a minimum of 15% will be rewarded with an extra day of vacation in 2023.

“‘Dreamland’ is a clear example of our company’s philosophy, in which we are committed to taking the road less traveled to obtain extraordinary results. Just as we have been pioneers in the field of well-being for our team, with recognized flexibility programs, conciliation and healthy lifestyle, now we add, as a new and revolutionary piece, the improvement in rest”, commented the general director of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Spain, José Manuel Rigueiro.

For his part, the director of Human Resources and Communication of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Spain and Italy, Oscar Alcoberro, highlighted that what the company proposed was “do the opposite” to what companies normally ask for today, to require employees to be more and more productive.

“A good rest improves the individual and collective results of the company through improved sleep. We wanted to be the first company that rewards rest with more rest, the sleepiest dream. This initiative was born, not only as a perfect opportunity to improve the well-being of the company’s workers, which is one of our main objectives, but also to make society aware of the importance and impact that sleep and rest have on our health in general, and in particular, on our mental health”, he added.

On the future of the project, that is, if its extension is going to be extended or even if it is going to be done routinely, those responsible for the company have shown open to study formulas to continue improving the mental factors of its workers.

“Improving the labor relationship or teamwork does not only depend on sleep, maybe we could bet on meditation, teaching teams to meditate or work differently. We have to see what we can put in place to improve not only the work climate but also that of the employees,” said the CEO of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Spain.