One in four Europeans has fallen asleep in the workplace, with the Irish leading the pack but the Dutch able to stifle their yawns best, according to a survey released on Monday.
“Long workdays, routine tasks, meetings that drag on, and staring into the monitor are prompting workers around Europe to fall asleep at their workplace,” one of the survey’s co-authors, Internet jobs site Jobline, said in a statement.
The poll showed 24 percent of respondents had fallen asleep either at their desk, in a meeting or in the toilet. Thirty-nine percent said they had not fallen asleep at work, but had to make an effort to stay awake.
Close to 40 percent of Irish participants said they had fallen asleep at work, usually at their desks, while 80 percent of Dutch respondents said they had never slept at the office.
The poll from Jobline and Monster Worldwide Inc was carried out between March 29 and April 13, and received responses from some 21,500 people in 14 European countries.