Exploring the impact of a ten‐hour compressed shift schedule

Abstract

The growing interest in changing the hours of work is reflected in such arrangements as flex-time (Ebbing et al., 1974; Golembiewski et al., 1974; Stein et al., 1977) and the compressed work week (Dunham and Hawk, 1977; Fottler, 1977; Nord and Costigan, 1973). Among the reasons for implementing these schedules are potential improvements in employee productivity and job satisfaction, as well as potential reductions in absenteeism and labour costs (Calvasina and Boxx, 1975; Goodale and Aagard, 1975; Maklan, 1977). Compressed schedules then appear to have many of the advantages as are claimed for strategies such as job enrichment and job enlargement (Herzberg 1966, 1968). The primary purpose of this note is to examine the effects of the implementation of a compressed work week on job-related variables (satisfaction, involvement and teamspirit) and on non-job-related variables (use of leisure time for social and professional activities). This note, which describes a case study of the implementation of a ten-hour shift schedule in a team of policemen in the Vancouver Police Department, provides some information on the feasibility of developing a hypothesis about these effects.