Intern keeps sleeping at work - what to tell them

Ignore title. Associate 3 and recently seen one of my favorite interns falling asleep during meetings and on the desk. Love them and want them to get the return but how do I make sure they stay awake? MDs have noticed and so have VPs and they’re not too happy about it. Thinking of pulling them aside and checking if everything is okay at home but they aren’t overstaffed or anything so not sure what to tell them

34 Comments
 

yeah

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

If you’re an associate (especially associate 3) you shouldn’t have to ask a question like this in a forum.

Seems like you lack basic leadership/mentoring ability. I am sorry for the analysts on your team.

This is an extremely simple situation actually. Tell them to stop falling asleep, people have noticed, and then have a conversation about why they’re so tired. WTF did you expect people to say? Start crushing up caffeine pills or adderall and secretly add it to their water?

 

Seems fairly easy but with today's kids you just never know. Some take extreme offense to simple feedback like "stay awake at work" and start building an entire case against the messenger when the offer does not come. I would almost advise OP to not say anything and let the chips fall where they may.

 

It’s not a matter of today’s kids being soft. It’s a matter of OP, as a more senior member of the team, communicating to a more junior team member. Simple talk about how their behavior/actions are being perceived and how it is likely to affect them, what the expectations are, and how to improve. You don’t have to be a dick about it—literally just a conversation…

 

Real talk what do you guys do to not doze off? I get so sleepy during the day sometimes, but aside from locking myself in a room and napping for 5 minutes I have no solutions

 

Extreme outlier anecdote but one of the symptoms of many serious illnesses is chronic tiredness. I am certainly not suggesting your colleague is sick, but imo this is the polite way to look at it just in case.

Just ask them if everything is okay and remind them it reflects poorly on them. It's not that much more complicated. Worst case scenario, it keeps happening and eventually someone gets angry enough to send them home for the day, in the long term they get managed out of the job too.

 

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