Shift Work and Work-Family Conflict: A Systematic Review

Anne Marit Wöhrmann,Kathrin Ewert,Grit Müller

doi:10.18753/2297-8224-165

Abstract

Shift work occupies precious time for family and social life. The aim of this review was to systematically assess the state of research on the impact of shift work on work-fam-ily conflict. A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed and EBSCO to identify studies published between 1990 and 2017. In the end, 36 articles met the inclusion criteria and were considered in this review. Shift workers show higher levels of work-family conflict in comparison to workers in regular day schedules. Different shift types and a large variation of shift characteristics have been studied. Results point to a higher work-family conflict especially among night shift workers and those working in a shift schedule, including weekend work. Research testing for causality is missing.

Highlights

On average, more than every fifth employee in the European Union and more than every sixth employee in the U.S is engaged in some type of shift work (Eurofound 2017; McMenamin 2007)
Byron (2005) found a medium-sized effect of schedule flexibility on work-to-family conflict (WFC) and a small effect on family-to-work conflict (FWC). The theory and these findings suggest that shift work is related to WFC and rather not to FWC
In this systematic review, in which we investigate the link between shift work as a special working time demand and work-family conflict, we expect to find significant relationships between shift work types and shift work characteristics with WFC but not with FWC

Summary

Introduction

More than every fifth employee in the European Union and more than every sixth employee in the U.S is engaged in some type of shift work (Eurofound 2017; McMenamin 2007). Shift work is necessary to cover services and production 24/7 – for example related to the maintenance of safety, security and energy supply as well as to allow non-stop plant operations, (health) care services, and gastronomic services. This can be evening shifts, night shifts, rotating shifts and weekend shifts, just to name a few.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion