Shiftworkers' attitude to their work hours, positive or negative, and why?

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Sociology of Work
• Human Factors Engineering

Background:

• Shift work is prevalent and linked to health and safety concerns.
• Understanding shift workers' attitudes is crucial for personnel retention and recruitment.
• Limited systematic knowledge exists regarding worker perceptions of shift systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of specific shift characteristics in traditional systems.
• To assess workers' attitudes towards their current shift arrangements.
• To investigate the association between problematic shift characteristics, work stress, sleep quality, fatigue, social difficulties, and attitudes towards shift systems.

Main Methods:

• A survey of 1,965 Swedish workers in non-day work roles.
• Analysis using Chi-squared tests and hierarchical multiple regression.
• Examination of shift characteristics, worker attitudes, and associated psychosocial factors.

Main Results:

• Traditional shift systems frequently incorporate multiple characteristics beyond core requirements.
• Night shift systems showed high rates of long shifts and associated sleep problems/fatigue.
• Negative attitudes were primarily linked to social difficulties, fatigue, and sleep issues, rather than schedule characteristics alone.

Conclusions:

• Shift systems often contain numerous characteristics, with night shifts frequently featuring long hours.
• The majority of workers hold positive attitudes towards their shift systems, particularly those with fixed schedules.
• Social difficulties, fatigue, and sleep problems stemming from shift schedules are stronger predictors of negative attitudes than the schedule characteristics themselves.