Night Owls in your team? Is that good or bad?
Waleed Radwan
Continuous Improvement & Digitalization Regional Manager at SIG Combibloc
Oh no ! …. she's a night owl !
This is what I said to myself, when I realized that Saadia, one of our best HR specialists, (and also a member of one my improvement teams), is a night owl !
She's a very pleasant and active person though. So….. that doesn't really sound like a night owl person. Does it?
So on a second thought ….. I say to myself….what’s so bad about night owls anyway? Maybe I've stereotyped them in my mind.
Maybe it's because I've had previous bad experiences with my night owl friends, colleagues and family members.
Night owl employees, just slightly different than others maybe, still have some good qualities. Managers need to tolerate such differences, and employees need to adapt, and also utilize their strengths. Here's why.
At work, it sure makes it difficult for early birds like me to schedule an early morning meeting with night owls. Moreover, they sometimes tend to send urgent emails in the middle of the night. Or text a late night message and expect a reply. Or otherwise send a late reply back to me for what-was-an-urgent message. To make it worse, they do it when I'm already half way through my night sleep. That ticks me off, especially when it's these messages that can significantly change next day's plan.
But apart from that ……what else is so scary about night owls?
For me , and early birds like myself, not only do I have trouble meeting them in early morning appointments, but also after working hours. Night owls in my family also give me a hard time during family gatherings, and especially in summer vacations. Long nights are just not for me. Sad as it may seem, I'm an early bird …… even during holidays !
So….. Are night owls becoming endangered species in a predominantly 9-to-5 corporate world?
Well, of course not.
For several reasons :
So how big are the differences?
Night Owls in the Workplace :
In the workplace studies show that night owls are more creative and impulsive. They feel energized at night, they may come in late in the morning and stay up late at work. They might miss the early morning meetings, and they have a poker face in the morning,
……but they still add value in their own way.
From an article on lifehack.org, several differences have been described between early birds and night owls. Here are some of them:
In a study conducted by the University of Barcelona, Spain, morning people tend to be more persistent and less likely to experience fatigue, frustration, and difficulties. Early birds strive for stability in their lifestyle, while night owls seek fun and action during late hours. If night owls seem to you as slow starters in the morning, they still catchup in the afternoon.
Yes, night owls are smarter, according to another study . Although it's a fact that being intelligent doesn't necessary mean being successful. Studies just show higher intelligence in people who prefer eveningness. Managers need to find ways to utilize their intelligence, maybe by giving them the more complex tasks. Might be a good idea as well to make that task sound urgent too, they'll probably stay up late to solve it.
And yes, they find it difficult to smile in the morning. You probably noticed! The early morning poker face might just be because they feel socially jet lagged. So better not put them in a customer-facing task so early in the morning.
Sleep patterns : Do they depend on country, gender and age?
Age is one aspect. Older people are more likely to be early birds while younger people tend to enjoy late night bed times.
Country is another aspect. From an article in TIME magazine, a research published in www.science.org, based on data collected with a simple smartphone app, called ENTRAIN, showed sleep patterns in different countries (see chart). Bedtime in most countries starts somewhere between 10:30pm to midnight. Wake up time is around 6:45am to 7:45am approximately.
Although closure time for businesses and shops in some cities (mainly around 7pm) may help encourage residents in such cities to sleep earlier. Nevertheless, the sample shows a more or less general trend of sleep hours as described.
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Gender is another aspect. Although, in general, women tend to sleep earlier, but that might not be the case with all women or in all countries, it's just a general tendency. At the same time, women experience more sleep fragmentation and lower quality sleep. Some researchers believe that many women have increased sleep quantity as an attempt to compensate for reduced sleep quality. However, other studies have added that because women use their prefrontal cortex (front of brain) more for multitasking, and have a different circadian rhythm (internal clock), they need more sleep than men.
Can Night Owls change into Early Birds?
Of course they can.
According to Harvard Health's article on that topic, some people seem to be hardwired to sleep early, while others tend to sleep late. This internal clock - called our circadian rhythm - is each person’s unique internal timekeeper and master controller. Apart from sleep patterns, our internal clock also affects our hunger and eating patterns, hormone levels, and even our mood.
However, it's not impossible to re-program your internal clock. It just like getting out of your jet lag. It needs a gradual re-training of your body. It's that simple. So practically, all you need ….. is the desire to do it.
Jobs for Night Owls :
For those who choose to remain night owls, and still do not prefer to struggle with the 9-to-5 job, there are a lot of jobs that perfectly match night owls.
From the Career Outlook report by U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS (2015), a compilation of jobs and working hours have been made. Apart from the typical 8-hour daytime jobs, the study focused on the not-so-typical working hours. These odd timings were divided into 3 groups: evening, through the night, and very early morning.
Evening Jobs - between 6pm and 10pm :
This includes:
Night time Jobs - between 11pm and 3am:
Very Early Morning - between 4am to 8am:
Here's what we should really focus on (Note: even early birds should do this)
Whether you're a bird or owl… What really is useful is to make good use of the time you take for solitude. Use your early hours in the morning or late hours alone in the night to install a good habit. "The Atomic Habit" by James Clear, is an excellent read for that (or for a quick overview, just watch a video summary of the book on YouTube).
If you happen to consider yourself an early bird because you're up at 7am very easily without a wakeup alarm… Try joining the 5am club. What is meant by a 5am club is not the number in itself, but rather the effort and consistency of building a daily habit in the 2 hours of solitude that you have. Whether it's a meditation, workout, reading, writing, memorizing, practicing…. It's your treasure time… USE IT !
Don't let it be wasted. Your daily incremental improvements are the stones that build up the mountain. At this point it doesn't really matter whether you're a bird or owl.
Last note for early birds:
So if you're an early bird, the next time you have a night owl on your team, just be tolerant and make use of their strength points. They can outweigh their morning setbacks.
However, if your wife is a night owl, … well…. please just try to avoid her in the morning. I guess it's that simple.
Postpone any conversations till after she gets her second coffee.
And the next time she gives you her morning frown, I guess you now have an excuse for her. Or maybe ……. you just need to convince yourself that it's a good excuse !