Abstract
Research on night work focuses almost solely on night work as part of rotating shift schedules. Thus, little is known about permanent night workers, their working conditions and health. The aim of this study is to give insight on characteristics of permanent night workers, their health status and their work–life balance. Data from the BAuA-Working Time Survey 2015 were used and 189 employees in permanent night work identified. Results are presented in comparison to statistics on employees in general and to rotating shift workers with night shifts in particular. The most common occupations among permanent night workers are professional nurses and heavy truck and lorry drivers. Night workers less often rated their health as (very) good or were satisfied with their worklife balance compared to employees in gen-eral. They also reported health complaints more often. Findings in comparison to employees working in rotating shifts with night work were mixed. The results point towards some concerns regarding health and work–life balance related to perma-nent night work.
Highlights
Permanent night work is a specific type of shift work in which employees work solely or almost solely at night (Arlinghaus et al 2016)
Our analyses show that the percentage of permanent night workers and rotating night shift workers living with their partner or spouse is smaller than among employees in general
While most studies do not distinguish between permanent night workers and those working in rotating shifts with night shifts, we focus explicitly on permanent night workers and compare these to rotating night shift workers as well as to employees in general
Summary
Permanent night work is a specific type of shift work in which employees work solely or almost solely at night (Arlinghaus et al 2016). Most permanent night workers (45.9%) have a full-time job with less than 48 weekly working hours This share is lower than that of rotating night shift workers (68.9%) and employees in general (60.3%). A similar picture became apparent in the present study: Permanent night workers seem to experience more difficulties in juggling the demands of work and private life than employees in Germany in general (see Figure 3). They seem to be slightly more often satisfied with the work-life balance than rotating night shift workers. Both permanent night workers and rotating night shift workers scored worse on all health indicators examined in the current study compared to employees in general
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