More Employers Could Learn from the Work Habits of George Costanza

Far be it for us to extol the virtues of a guy whose cheapness lead to his fiancée’s untimely death, who rooted for an innocent man to die in order to boost the value of his paintings and who once violently threw an elderly woman, a clown and several young children out of his way during a house fire, but we could all learn something from George Costanza. 

Seriously.

Specifically, we could learn something from the way he conducted himself during work hours. This might sound like kind of a nutty proposition, considering that this is the same guy who created a fake charity just to avoid buying his co-workers Christmas presents, and once tried to drug his boss’ drink out of spite. 

Not to mention the fact that he openly discriminated against highly-qualified women while interviewing for the position of his personal assistant because, as he so inappropriately confessed, he found them too sexually attractive.

That being said, a couple of George’s allegedly nefarious office-based schemes could arguably be viewed as progressive workplace strategies, potentially beneficial to employee health and overall productivity. For starters, in Season Eight’s “The Nap,” while he was still working for the Yankees, George hired Jerry’s contractor to build a hidden bed frame underneath his desk, allowing him to stealthily take naps during work hours.

What a lazy jerk, right? 

Wrong! Studies conducted by esteemed institutions such as NASA and Harvard have shown that taking naps at work leads to “seriously big boosts in performance.” Naps increase alertness, thoughtfulness and information recall. So they make employees feel better, but they also clearly help employers, who reap the benefits of the improved workflow. It’s win-win. 

The idea of workplace naps has become more normalized in the years since Seinfeld went off the air, so much so that companies have started making Costanza-style bed-desk hybrids, just without the more deceptive aspects. 

And some offices have been installing specialized nap pods, which remove the stigma of taking naps for exhausted workers (and presumably lead to fewer phony bomb threats being called in by nappers’ friends).

But what about the time George left his car in the Yankee Stadium parking lot and took off for an impromptu vacation? 

The plan doesn’t totally work out because Jerry gets in a fender bender while taking the car for a clean, leading the Yankee organization to discover a blood stain and leap to the conclusion that George has died. 

But again, studies have shown that time off is necessary because “employees will benefit mentally, physically and spiritually from vacation.” And experts have suggested that companies start offering workers “mental health days” to avoid “employee anxiety and burnout.” 

Once again, George was just ahead of his time. 

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