Differences in work attitudes when nurses get their ideal roster based on their shift preferences

Abstract

Background: Unattractive work schedules can be a cause of discontentment for nurses. Moreover, optimizing the fit between nurses’ preferences in shifts and obtaining and securing organizational goals, is very complex. Aims: To gain insight into (1) the preferences in shifts of individual nurses and (2) the discrepancy between the “imposed roster” (drawn up by the manager or head nurse) versus the “nurses’ ideal roster” (ideal for the individual nurse, without regard to any restrictions) through four work attitudes, i.e. autonomy, job satisfaction, work-life balance and employer attractiveness. Method: An exploratory cross-sectional pilot study where the focus lies on descriptive statistics rather than formal hypothesis testing. Results: The results showed a significant difference in the mean score of nurses’ their autonomy, job satisfaction, and work-life balance when the “nurses’ ideal roster” would be used. Nurses’ preference in shifts were mapped into three groups with similar preferences. Two cluster groups showed a significant higher median autonomy, work-life balance and job satisfaction in case of the nurses’ ideal roster. These groups showed no large differences with regard to their personal characteristics. Conclusion: This pilot study already indicates that nurses’ ideal roster can lead to better work attitudes, and that groups of people exist with differences in shift preferences. The next step is to perform more advanced analyses in newly collected data, which aim to account for common method bias, clarify the characteristics of the different groups and take the discrepancy between the two rosters into account.