Inside Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mainly on the run, his office in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
Has working from home in times of a pandemic got you used to the possibility of a nap that invigorates you in case of fatigue? Small cabins now offer this possibility directly in the office.
Snoozing with your head on your arm resting on your desk is no longer the only option, thanks to the Quebec company Recharjme, which manufactures cabins equipped with plush, heated and vibrating reclining chairs.
Photo Louis-Philippe Messier
Assistant technician Jacinthe Brazeau says she is happier and more efficient at work since she can devote her break to twenty minutes of sleep.
Their employers can rent them for the year for $10,000.
About fifty cabins are deployed in Quebec in about thirty establishments, including the Verdun Hospital in Montreal.
Caring for caregivers
“Hospitals run 24 hours a day, our cabins are there permanently,” says Éric Normandeau, one of the founders of Recharjme.
“Before, during my coffee break, I was on my phone, but now I use the cabin every day,” says Jacinthe Brazeau, an assistant laboratory technician at the Verdun Hospital.
Photo Louis-Philippe Messier
Éric Normandeau from Recharjme explains to me how to book and unlock the cabin with a phone application.
“It gives me the energy to pass my 200 patients a day to the test center.”
“I’m over 50 and above all, if I’ve had difficult patients, I come to sleep on the chair during my break,” explains Sana, a nursing assistant.
“The cabin is in demand during night shifts,” says Lisa Lafargue, deputy director general of the Urban Health Foundation, which pays this luxury (which may not be one) to employees of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud -of-the-Island-of-Montreal.
“We thought we’d only offer them during the pandemic, but people have adopted them, and now we can’t take them away!” she adds.
Photo Louis-Philippe Messier
I self-blinded myself by activating the “light therapy” function…
peace bubble
The chair puts you in the position of an astronaut ready for take-off, the one where the earth’s gravity is the least sensitive
Moderately soundproofed (not enough to prevent hearing a fire alarm), the cabin cuts you off from the world and offers different music or assisted meditation options.
No electric shocks to wake you up if you exceed your rest time by a maximum of 25 minutes, but the bright light turns on again and your seat straightens…
Go out! At work!