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NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator
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CASE STUDY REST SPACE
Rest Space came about when co-founders Supa and Kate were both working long hours and taking naps during their lunch breaks to boost their productivity. When sharing this with their colleagues, they were surprised to find others were napping too, with the most popular nap spot being the toilets. As highlighted in mainstream news, rest is the only basic need we cannot get on-demand, and 49% of millennials want to nap during their office day. 80% of millennials admit to napping at work.
Supa and Kate found rest during the working day is a powerful and necessary tool to improve performance, mental health and physical health.
They felt that there was an untapped opportunity in rest while the rest of the world fights for your every waking moment. Fatigue is costing the UK economy billions due to incidents and illnesses and there is an urgency to understand the impact of rest on employees’ health and wellbeing. Rest Space was born to help us be our best at work, by providing a practical solution to improve burnout, stress and diversity at work; all of which currently pose huge challenges for employers.
They got amazing reviews from their first Rest Space they hosted in a co-working office. One review was from a mother-to-be who said that having access to the Rest Space meant she didn’t have to choose between the health of her baby and her career, especially after she’d been trying for seven years.
Metroline, a TfL bus provider, has Rest Spaces at two of its bus depots for bus drivers and staff to use, and will soon be delivering more Rest Spaces to NHS hospitals. Loughborough University is analysing the impact of the Rest Spaces to see the impact not only improving health and safety but also the drivers’ wellbeing.
“We recognise drivers can be susceptible to fatigue due to various lifestyle factors, which is why proactively helping our drivers tackle the issue is a priority for us. We continue to look at new safety initiatives with the objective of achieving Vision Zero,” said Sinead Maguire, Head of Transport Safety at Metroline.
Kate and Supa said, “It shows these organisations do care about their employees and recognise the impact rest can have on reducing incidents, while improving performance and wellbeing. We all know sleep is good for us but it is also the first thing to go when we are stressed, overworked and busy.”
Both founders wanted to give a big thanks to the NatWest Accelerator for helping them through mentorship, support and access to the community of entrepreneurs. “It was invaluable connecting and learning from other businesses.”
They would like to focus on the benefits of rest for businesses. In addition to selling Rest Spaces, they are educating employees on how rest is fundamental to performance and wellbeing.
