Search results

Shift workers are more disturbed by changes in eating patterns than in sleeping patterns. The ill effects of shift working have, in any case, been exaggerated where they have not been invented.

The phenomenon of the shift work culture is quite significant in academic library services, and to eliminate it entirely is too idealistic. In attempting to provide an effective service to users, libraries have to extend their closing time into the evenings. Continuing complaints from staff working shifts at the University of Ilorin Library may affect the level of service provided if the complaints are not addressed. This study gathers information about the views of the staff concerning shift duty, and how they cope with the problems caused by shift rotation. Using information gathered by the use of questionnaires and interviews, shift rotation is described together with the problems raised, and suggestions offered for ways to manage a vexing issue.

The need for more intensive utilization of expensive and complex equipment has brought about a considerable expansion of shift working. This expansion has been not so much in the number of people on shift work as in the variety of categories of staff who are asked — or required — to work shifts, and in the diversification of patterns of shift working.

Major demographic trends are affecting the work schedules of U.S. employees with likely consequences for health and quality-of-life outcomes. These trends include long work hours, at least for some groups of employees, and an increasing proportion of employees in the U.S. and other countries who are working nonstandard work schedules. This chapter contains a review of the empirical literature linking the number of hours worked and the distribution of those hours at the individual and couple level to a variety of outcomes, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. In addition, because the majority of U.S. workers live in dyads (Jacobs & Gerson (2004). The time divide: Work, family and gender inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), major attention is given to the impact of work hours on the employee's spouse as well as on the employee. It is also noted that the relationship between work hours and outcomes might be different among employed single women with children. Data are presented from two new studies conducted by my research team to fill some of the critical knowledge gaps. Finally, I suggest some directions for future research.

Adopting an intra-organizational viewpoint is essential to grasp legal intermediation. To deepen our understanding of such phenomena, this chapter proposes a qualitative and “multi-level” approach drawing on insights from the neo-institutional literature, policy ethnography analysis and the research on legal intermediaries. Such a perspective is particularly suited to capture the complexity and the depth of institutional change. Using the 12-hour work legal mechanism of derogation in the context of French public hospitals as an example, this chapter highlights how both macro-level actors (actors of a “reform network”), and micro-level ones (hospital directors) contribute to the shaping and framing of legality in French public hospitals. Results show that variation in how those actors use law depends on the local configuration. Second, results demonstrate that the legal games they play are not merely based on symbolic and superficial compliance with the law, but also on outright manipulations and conscious rule-breaking.

The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge and understanding of the relationship between full-time-culture and the outcome for quality and safety of care.

The paper is a literature review with a qualitatively oriented thematic analysis concerning quality or safety outcomes for patients, or patients and staff when introducing a full-time culture.

Identified factors that could have a positive or negative impact on quality and patient safety when introducing full-time culture were length of shift, fatigue/burnout, autonomy/empowerment and system/structure. Working shifts over 12 h or more than 40 h a week is associated with increased adverse events and errors, lower quality patient care, less attention to safety concerns and more care left undone. Long shifts give healthcare personnel more flexibility and better quality-time off, but there is also an association between long shifts and fatigue or burnout. Having a choice and flexibility around shift patterns is a predictor of increased wellbeing and health.

A major challenge across healthcare services is having enough qualified personnel to handle the increasing number of patients. One of the measures to get enough qualified personnel for the expected tasks is to increase the number of full-time employees and move towards a full-time culture. It is argued that full-time culture will have a positive effect on work environment, efficiency and quality due to a better allocation of work tasks, predictable work schedule, reduced sick leave, and continuity in treatment and care. There is limited research on how the introduction of full-time culture will affect the quality and safety for patients and staff, and few studies have been focusing on the relationship between longer shift, work schedule, and quality and safety of care.

With the demand for continuous services increasing, organizations have relied more upon shift work to adapt to the needs of consumers. However, relatively little research has adequately explored the effects of different types of shifts on emotional exhaustion, particularly as they relate to work‐family conflict and social support. In this paper based on the conservation of resources (COR) model of stress, a mediated model where shifts that demand more resources related to the work‐family interface will be more likely to lead to emotional exhaustion is argued. The paper aims to address this issue.

A study of 168 fire service personnel from departments working on three different shift systems is conducted. The participants complete survey measures of emotional exhaustion, work‐family conflict, support, and demographic controls.

The paper suggests that more demanding shifts, those that lead to less time spent off the job in continuous blocks, are associated with higher work‐family conflict. Moreover, family support can make up for the lost resources of demanding shifts and is negatively associated with work‐family conflict. Finally, higher work‐family conflict is associated with emotional exhaustion.

The paper has important implications for the scheduling of shifts and employee well‐being. Specifically, it suggests that scheduling shifts with larger continuous blocks of time with family will be associated with lower work‐family conflict and less strain on employees.

The paper is the first to use a COR‐based framework to understand how shift scheduling leads to decrements in employee well‐being. Given the common use of shift work in practice, such findings may be critical in effective shift work design such that shifts have less negative impact on family life and less longer term impact on employee strain.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for automatically determining the optimal allocation of police officers in accordance with the division and organization of labor.

The problem is defined as the problem of the goal programming for which the mathematical model of mixed integer programming was developed. In modeling of the scheduling problem the approach police officer/scheme, based on predefined scheduling patterns, was used. The approach is applied to real data of a police station in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This study indicates that the determination of monthly scheduling policemen is complex and challenging problem, which is usually performed without the aid of software (self-rostering), and that it can be significantly facilitated by the introduction of scheduling optimization approach.

The developed mathematical model, in its current form, can directly be applied only to the scheduling of police officers at police stations which have the same or a similar organization of work.

Optimization of scheduling significantly reduces the time to obtain a monthly schedule. In addition, it allows the police stations to experiment with different forms of organization work of police officers and to obtain an optimal schedule for each of them in a short time.

The problem of optimal scheduling of employees is often resolved in other fields. To the authors knowledge, this is the first time that the approach of goal programming is applied in the field of policing.

Working on the night shift is a potential source of occupational stress and has been associated with sleep disorders. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between shift work and sleep problems among police officers from Buffalo, New York.

Randomly selected officers (n=111) responded to questions on sleep quality and quantity. Shift work data were obtained from daily payroll records from 1994 to the exam date (1999‐2000). Prevalence ratios (PR) were obtained using Poisson regression models that examined associations of shift work with sleep quality and quantity.

Among police officers, night shift work was significantly and independently associated with snoring and decreased sleep duration.

Although the sleep questions were similar to those used in validated sleep questionnaires, a major strength of this study was the availability of daily work history data on all officers for up to five years prior to the current examination.

Advances in technology result in changes to working methods and patterns. These are compounded by the need to be competitive in a global economy. Particular changes are seen in many developing countries which are attempting to compete with the more sophisticated and advanced nations. Workers in such countries may find it difficult to adapt to the new working regimes. Currently, there is little information available in the literature that supports the effective design of shift schedules, which offer effective productivity levels, while maintaining the health and safety of shift workers and offering them appropriate levels of job satisfaction. Incorporates a multidimensional approach to addressing this issue and makes recommendations designed to improve the wellbeing of shift workers through a consideration of the effects of shift work on work attitudes, job satisfaction and family/social life, while recognising that any approach to change must be consistent with the local economic and competitive environment.