Just a short post today, since I’m super busy covering sessions and meeting many of your fellow HR/benefits practitioners here in Las Vegas at the 2011 Society for Human Resource Management national conference. I wanted to give you a brief update on some of the great things I’ve seen and heard here so far — from the conference, mind you, not the casino.
Today, the best thing I heard was from keynote speaker Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington. Speaking at length about the importance of work-life balance, Huffington said one of the more important ways to stay centered is through sleep — music to my exhausted ears!
“The more rested and balanced we are the better we can deal with problems in our personal and professional lives with equanimity and wisdom,” Huffington said. “When we moved into AOL [following Huffington Post’s merger with the tech firm six months ago], one of the first things I created were two nap rooms.” Citing statistics that sleep deprivation is linked to diabetes, heart disease and other ailments, she said, “I love seeing our hard-working reporters disappear into the nap room,” then joked: “We haven’t seen any disappear in pairs yet, but we’re watching for it!”
The best thing I saw today was a video from the Life Meets Work movement, shown in one of this morning’s breakout sessions. Honestly, it was one of the best commentaries on the importance of workplace flexibility I’ve ever seen. It speaks for itself, so
Stay tuned for more updates from SHRM 2011 here on the blog, EBN inBrief and on Twitter. Follow me (@ebnews_editor) and EBN Associate Editor Kathleen Koster (@koster_ebn) as we tweet live from the event. Meantime, share your thoughts in the comments on employee nap rooms, workplace flexibility and whether to stay or hit on 16 when playing blackjack.
