Compressed Work Week Research Articles

Australian fly-in, fly-out operations: Impacts on communities, safety, workers and their families.

Australia's mineral, resource and infrastructure sectors continues to expand as operations in rural and remote locations increasingly rely on fly-in, fly-out or drive-in, drive-out workforces in order to become economically competitive. The issues in effectively managing these workforces are becoming more apparent with reported high amounts of turnover and concerns for safety and performance. The issues presented include a range of physical, mental, psychosocial, safety and community challenges. This review aims to consolidate a range of research conducted to communicate potential challenges for industry in relation to a wide variety of issues when engaging and using FIFO/DIDO workforces which includes compressed working schedule design (work schedules), working hours, fatigue, safety performance, employee wellbeing, turnover, psychosocial relationships and community concerns. A comprehensive literature review was performed using EBSCOhost, PubMed and google scholar, with a focus on FIFO or DIDO workforces engaged within the resources sector. Search terms were kept broad in order to capture all national and international research conducted and included: "fly-in, fly-out" "FIFO" "DIDO" "drive-in, drive-out" "mining". There was no date restriction included in the search. Many of the studies were focused on sleep quality, fatigue and the influence of lowered safety performance while at work, presenting an increased risk for health and safety. These issues may be exacerbated for the FIFO workforce when linked to additional research surrounding the extended periods of absence from families influencing workers personal relationships, psychological wellbeing, job satisfaction and the reported high amounts of turnover within the industry. Taken together, this presents a unique implication for the management and continued use of FIFO workforces when considering balancing safety and performance with economic viability of production and operations. The issues of long working hours, fatigue, turnover and job satisfaction are not new to the management of workers. However, FIFO workforces appear to be at an increased risk physically and mentally due to a culmination of other influences, such as extended and frequent periods of absence from friends and families which contribute to feelings of isolation and lowered psychological wellbeing. FIFO workers and their families, engage in a unique lifestyle, rarely are other workers subjected to long hours and compressed work weeks while separated or isolated from their families for extended periods of time. Recently, FIFO interest has shifted to understanding the influences on employee engagement, satisfaction, retention and safety. Considering the management of FIFO workforces from a holistic perspective incorporating all of the issues impacting on these workers may assist to ensure the challenges associated with FIFO employment are understood, addressed and communicated to workers and their families is crucial for safety and health.

Exploring the relationship between compressed work hours satisfaction and absenteeism in front-line service work

There has been an upsurge of interest in compressed workweek schedules because of the opportunities they provide for enhanced organizational efficiency and more balanced work and life roles for employees. This study tested a moderated mediation model of the effects of compressed work hours satisfaction on absenteeism with the purpose of exploring both the mediation effects of emotional exhaustion and physical health and the moderating effects of sex on this relationship. It utilized data drawn from a sample of 236 contact-centre service workers linked to absenteeism data collected for a period of 12 months following the survey. Results indicated that compressed work hours satisfaction was associated with lower absenteeism and that this relationship was mediated sequentially through emotional exhaustion and physical health. Although the indirect effect of compressed work hours satisfaction on absenteeism through emotional exhaustion and physical health was not significantly different between women and men, the relationship between compressed work hours satisfaction and physical health was positive for women but not for men. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Assessing the impact of different workplace flexibilities on workplace stress in the presence of varying degrees of job control

ABSTRACTWe apply probit and propensity score matching to 1667 respondents from the 2008 National Survey of the Changing Workforce to quantify how workers’ self-reported stress levels vary under two different workplace flexibilities and varying degrees of job control. The first workplace flexibility considered is the ability to easily take time off for personal and family matters; the second is the option of a compressed work week. Our findings suggest that the first flexibility correlates with lower stress reports regardless of job control level. The second flexibility, however, correlates with lower stress levels only for workers with low levels of job control. This suggests that a compressed work week does not reduce stress for workers that already have high levels of job control. The more general conclusion is that some flexibilities are substitutes for job control whereas other are not, assuming the larger goal is the reduction of workplace stress and the various maladies exacerbated by stress.

Realistic Recruitment as a Protective Antecedent of Work Interference with Family

Both managers and scholars maintain that the work and family roles are the two most central and prevalent roles performed in one's adult life (Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992; Michel, Mitchelson, Kotrba, LeBreton, & Baltes, 2009). Therefore, understanding the intersection of work and family roles is highly important for both research and practice (Frone, Yardley, & Markel, 1997). Previous research indicates that perceptions of conflict between these roles can engender negative work outcomes such as lower job satisfaction (Allen, Herst, Bruck, & Sutton, 2000), lower organizational commitment (Carr, Boyar, & Gregory, 2008), and higher physical symptoms of stress (Allen et al., 2000). Furthermore, recent research found that high levels of work-family conflict can exacerbate the relationship between burnout and organizational cynicism (Simha, Elloy, & Huang, 2014). Given these research findings, scholars and practitioners argue that aiding employees in their attempts to balance their work and family roles is a business and social imperative (Carlson, Grzywacz, & Zivnuska, 2009).Many organizations try to reduce the negative outcomes associated with work-family conflict by implementing alternative practices designed to promote work-life balance (Messersmith, 2007; Thompson & Aspinwall, 2009). Such alternative practices include compressed work weeks, flexible work hours, job sharing, and telecommuting (Johnson, 2004). However, the nature of work performance within some organizations prevents them from offering these types of alternatives (Rotondo, Carlson, & Kincaid, 2003). For instance, certain categories of employees, such as teachers or nurses, may be unable to take advantage of some common work-life benefits such as flexible work hours or compressed work weeks because their presence on the job is required during typical business hours (that is, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday). Therefore, work-life benefits, although shown to reap positive benefits for some organizations, are simply not feasible in all organizations.Just as organizations vary in their ability to offer work-life benefits, individuals also have varying expectations regarding the work-family interface. Employee expectations regarding work-family balance are increasingly part of the psychological contract; that is, the individual employee's expectations relative to the conditions of employment and the nature of the exchange relationship with the employer (Blomme, van Rheede, & Tromp, 2010). For example, some employees expect flexible working arrangements, and perceive that the promises implied in the psychological contract have been broken when employers do not make these arrangements available to them (Smithson & Lewis, 2004). Research found that employee perceptions of the extent that the employer broke promises regarding workload and work hours was positively related to employees' perceptions of work-family conflict (Sturges & Guest, 2004). These findings suggest that realism in recruitment practices may influence individual expectations regarding the work-family interface. Further, the extent that these expectations are met may have important implications for employee reactions toward both their work arrangements and the organization.This study examines whether the use of realistic recruitment practices, such as realistic job previews (RJPs), affects the degree that employee expectations regarding work-life balance are met. The theoretical foundation for our examination is expectancy theory that addresses the role of alignment of instrumentality for work motivation (Vroom, 1964). This suggests RJPs could serve as a protective antecedent (Lu et al., 2010) to help reduce perceptions of work-family conflict by aligning employee expectations with reality. Figure 1 outlines our proposed model. Specifically, we test whether realistic recruitment practices containing information about the work-family interface will influence employees' expectations regarding work-family balance to be met, thus leading to decreases in employee perceptions of the work role interfering with the family role. …

Assessing the Effect of Compressed Work Week Strategy on Transportation Network Performance Measures

The focus of this paper is on evaluating and assessing the effect of a compressed work week strategy (say, not working a day each week) on transportation network performance measures such as link-level traffic speed, travel time, and volume-to-capacity ratio using data gathered for the Charlotte metropolitan area, North Carolina. The results obtained indicate that reducing 15% to 20% of work commute during the morning peak hours using compressed work week strategy would increase traffic speeds by up to 5 mph on at least 64% of center-lane miles (sum of the length of the center line of all lanes of traffic for each selected link). It would also decrease the travel time by up to two minutes on at least 61% of center-lane miles.

Effects of 13-Hour 20-Minute Work Shifts on Law Enforcement Officers' Sleep, Cognitive Abilities, Health, Quality of Life, and Work Performance

To determine the impact of a longer-than-average compressed workweek on police officers’ sleep, cognitive abilities, health, quality of life, and work performance, two precincts of the Phoenix Police Department participated in a 9-month, repeated-measures study. The experimental precinct worked three consecutive 13-hr 20-min (13:20-hr) shifts per week for 6 months, while the control precinct worked four 10-hr shifts per week. Officers were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Psychomotor Vigilance Test, STROOP Color-Word test, Quality of Life Inventory, and measures of salivary cortisol. The Phoenix Police Department provided data for Professional Standards Bureau complaints, shooting qualifications, vehicular accidents, self-initiated calls, adult bookings, field interrogations, overtime, and time off for the 6 months of the study period and the same 6 months of the previous year. Self-reported caffeine intake and shift preference were also collected. Officers working 13:20-hr shifts experienced significant ( p < .05) decreases in hours of sleep, overall quality of sleep, concentration, cognitive processing, and quality of life (overall and in six of eight subareas). Significant ( p < .05) increases were observed in fatigue, daytime dysfunction due to sleepiness, reaction time, anticipatory errors, and Professional Standards Bureau complaints. There were no significant differences in most indices of work performance or differences due to working day or night shifts. When officers working 13:20-hr shifts returned to 10-hr shifts, all variables returned to baseline (prestudy) levels. Officers from both precincts overwhelmingly preferred 10-hr shifts. This study indicates that there are no apparent advantages but considerable liabilities associated with 13:20-hr shifts for police officers.

Labor market effects of work‐sharing arrangements in Taiwan, ROC

PurposeTo measure the effects of work‐sharing arrangements on participants’ subsequent labor market outcomes in Taiwan such as full‐time employment rates, working hours of women and men and the difference in scale effect and effect of substitution between hours and employment for women and men.Design/methodology/approachUsing the data from Manpower Utilization Survey, we applied the differences‐in‐differences estimation method to test the effects of work‐sharing arrangements on working hours, wage and employment. Multinomial logit was used to measure the effects of work sharing on full‐time employment. In order to correct the simultaneity and selectivity problems, we followed the Heckman two‐stage selection procedures to solve the selection bias, and used weighted least squares to solve heteroskedasticity in the wage and hour equations. The instrumental variable (IV) method was used to avoid simultaneity bias in the hour equation.FindingsThis paper found the restrictions enforced by law on working hours have negative effects on employees’ working conditions in certain industries in Taiwan. After controlling the working hours, we found the wages paid to women and men have increased subsequent to the enforcement of law. However, compared to men the net wage earned by women has increased to a lesser extent. It was further observed that with enactment of work‐sharing law, the employment rate of women has considerably declined since 2001. Main findings assimilating the results for hour, wage and full‐time employment suggest that a country like Taiwan (with work‐sharing arrangements implemented by law) has witnessed a smaller gap between women's and men's working time and wages during 2001‐2002. However, for the period of 2003‐2006 the amendment that introduced compressed work week brought a larger gender gap in working hours as well as wages. In other words, the implementation of work‐sharing law has reduced the gender gap in hours and wages during 2001‐2002, but the prevailing gender gap in hours as well as wages has worsened after the introduction of compressed work week during 2003‐2006.Practical implicationsAn in‐depth analysis of labor market effects of work‐sharing law will be useful for the policymakers, especially those interested in understanding the impact of their policies on labor market outcomes like wage, hour and employment, and finding out whether policies were effective at reducing the gender gap in given outcomes.Originality/valueFindings of the present study should not only provide the broad lessons for policymakers in Taiwan, but the results that have emerged from the country case study may be referred by other Asian countries who want to bring a change in working and employment conditions for their labor by implementing work‐sharing law.

Supportive work–family environments: implications for work–family conflict and well-being

Work–family conflict (WFC) remains a growing type of stress and concern for many employees. Recognizing these difficulties, organizations are offering various formal programs (e.g. on-site childcare, flextime, compressed work week, telecommuting and so on.) to help their employees in balancing both work and family life. However, many employees are hesitant to use them due to ‘stigmas’ attached to them. A work environment that is supportive of such programs is likely a contributing factor in the success and effectiveness of these programs. This study tested a model that examines the availability of work–family programs and work–family culture (i.e. in terms of managerial support, organizational demands and career consequences) as predictors of WFC. The model also examined the effects of WFC on individual's well-being (i.e. life satisfaction and work engagement). Data were collected from 112 employees, and the overall fit of the model was good (i.e. the model was reasonably consistent with the data). Results demonstrated that the availability of work–family benefits promoted a supportive work–family culture, which was inversely related to WFC. WFC contributed negatively to both life satisfaction and work engagement. That is, employees who reported more WFC were less satisfied with their life and were less inclined to be engaged at work. Results of the study highlight the importance of inculcating an accommodating work environment, and will be discussed.

Compressed Workweeks - Strategies for Successful Implementation

Organizations of all types - government, nonprofit, and private - are moving toward alternative work schedules such as compressed workweeks. Other organizations are considering the move and are anxiously awaiting more information to determine if it is the right decision for their organization. In this paper, we present a framework for implementing compressed workweeks. This framework draws upon the latest relevant research to assist organizations in this critical decision making process. We suggest that organizations ought to consider five key issues when analyzing the decision to move to compressed workweeks: people, purpose, process, perceptions, and performance. While these categories may overlap in important ways, they can aid in careful and deliberate thinking.

Calculation of Changes in Drive-Alone Commute, Vehicle Miles Traveled, during Temporary Freeway Closure

A 1-mi stretch of Interstate 5 in downtown Sacramento, California, was closed intermittently for reconstruction (i.e., “the Fix”) in the summer of 2008. With data collected from two contemporaneous surveys of affected workers, the study reported in this paper estimated changes in drive-alone commute, vehicle miles traveled (DACVMT) as a result of Fix-related mode shifts, switches to (increased) telecommuting (TC) and compressed work week (CWW) schedules, personal leave (PL) days, and departures from the region (DFR) (i.e., out of town for the entire study week). Distinctions were made for the first three causes for the changes, which were characterized as possibly permanent, and the latter two, which were definitely temporary. Net DACVMT changes were distinguished further by respondents who made overall positive changes and overall negative changes. During the target week, the total Fix-related VMT reduction for the entire affected sample (N = 6,185) was estimated to be between 5.36% and 5.48%. Reductions from potentially permanent sources led to an estimated 4.08% to 4.21% reduction, and those from definitely temporary sources led to a 1.27% reduction. Mode shifts reduced DACVMT between 3.04% and 3.17% (the net of a 0.42% increase by 32 respondents and a 3.46% to 3.59% decrease by 257 respondents; seven respondents made drive alone–related mode shifts that resulted in no net DACVMT change). Increased TC and CWW engagement contributed additional 0.71% and 0.33% reductions, respectively. PL time and DFR reduced DACVMT by 0.15% and 1.12%, respectively.

Flexible Work Arrangements Availability and their Relationship with Work‐to‐Family Conflict, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intentions: A Comparison of Three Country Clusters

The present study explored the availability of flexible work arrangements (FWA) and their relationship with manager outcomes of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and work‐to‐family conflict (WFC) across country clusters. We used individualism and collectivism to explain differences in FWA availability across Latin American, Anglo, and Asian clusters. Managers from the Anglo cluster were more likely to report working in organisations that offer FWA compared to managers from other clusters. For Anglo managers, flextime was the only FWA that had significant favorable relationships with the outcome variables. For Latin Americans, part‐time work negatively related with turnover intentions and strain‐based WFC. For Asians, flextime was unrelated to time‐based WFC, and telecommuting was positively associated with strain‐based WFC. The clusters did not moderate the compressed work week and outcome relationships. Implications for practitioners adopting FWA practices across cultures are discussed.

Commuting mode choice in the context of travel demand management (TDM) policies: an empirical investigation in Edmonton, Alberta

Travel demand management (TDM) for achieving sustainability is now considered one of the most important aspects of transportation planning and operation. It is now a well known fact that excessive use of private car results inefficient travel behaviour. So, from the TDM perspective, it is of great importance to analyze travel behaviour for improving our understanding on how to influence people to reduce car use and choose more sustainable modes such as carpool, public transit, park & ride, walk, bike etc. This study attempts an in-depth analysis of commuting mode choice behaviour using a week-long commuter survey data set collected in the City of Edmonton. Using error correlated nested logit model for panel data, this study investigates sensitivities of various factors including some specific TDM policies such as flexible office hours, compressed work week etc. Results of the investigation provide profound understanding and guidelines for designing effective TDM policies.

Temporary work and depressive symptoms: A propensity score analysis

Recent decades have seen a tremendous increase in the complexity of work arrangements, through job sharing, flexible hours, career breaks, compressed work weeks, shift work, reduced job security, and part-time, contract and temporary work. In this study, we focus on one specific group of workers that arguably most embodies non-standard employment, namely temporary workers, and estimate the effect of this type of employment on depressive symptom severity. Accounting for the possibility of mental health selection into temporary work through propensity score analysis, we isolate the direct effects of temporary work on depressive symptoms with varying lags of time since exposure. We use prospective data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), which has followed, longitudinally, from 1979 to the present, a nationally representative cohort of American men and women between 14 and 22 years of age in 1979. Three propensity score models were estimated, to capture the effect of different time lags (immediately following exposure, and 2 and 4 years post exposure) between the period of exposure to the outcome. The only significant effects were found among those who had been exposed to temporary work in the two years preceding the outcome measurement. These workers report 1.803 additional depressive symptoms from having experienced this work status (than if they had not been exposed). Moreover, this difference is both statistically and substantively significant, as it represents a 50% increase from the average level of depressive symptoms in this population.

Ewolucja form pracy i zmiany na rynku pracy a wynikające z nich zadania dla psychologów

The aim of this article is to describe the changes on the job market that have been taking place recently (especially the increasing number and growth of popularity of alternative work arrangements, such as: part time employment, contingent employment, flextime, compressed work weeks and teleworking), and their consequences. Working with nonstandard work arrangements have a great impact on employees (e.g. increasing flexibility connected with work-family interference, workaholism, problems with creating self-concept in the field of work) and employers as well (work decentralization, the growth of popularity of team working, the need to manage the information, the diversity in the organization etc.). In the result there is a strong need to verify and extend the tasks of industrial and organizational psychology and the practice of applied psychologists. This article outlines new demands from the job market and new tasks for the work psychologists.

The Manager and the Flexworker: An Interpretive Interactionist Perspective

Contemporary work arrangements are undergoing a dramatic transformation with increasing diversity in how work is done, by whom and where. This paper focuses on flexwork as an increasingly common work arrangement which changes the physical and relational dynamics between managers and employees. Drawing on a qualitative study of 'flexworkers' in a large MNC in Canada, it explores their relationships with their managers and vice versa. Located within an interpretive interactionist perspective, it highlights the centrality of interaction, identity construction and significant others and their influence on manager-employer relationships. It also explores and theorizes the relationships between flexworkers and their office-based colleagues. Key words: flexworkers, teleworking, interpretive interactionism, management, qualitative Changes in organizational processes and practices and technological innovation have given rise to a diverse menu of work arrangements which fall under the larger category of 'flexible work practices', e.g. flexitime, flexwork, a compressed work week, telecommuting and remote working (Johnson et al. 2007; Tietze 2005; Towers et al. 2006; Tremblay et al. 2006). These practices change relationships between managers and employees and between employees as well as creating a diverse use of organizational real such as 'hot desking' and teleconferencing. The extent to which this trend impacts on the practice of human resource management and management practices more generally is not yet known. Therefore, drawing on a qualitative study of a large hi-tech Multi-National Company (MNC) in Canada, this paper explores the dynamics of the manager-employee relationship in the context of a group of 'flexworkers', understood as employees who were working from home two or more days a week but who also had access to 'hot desks' or a permanent space in the main office. The term 'flexwork' is adopted here because it was used by this organization to describe this particular work practice. Flexwork is one example of the broader category of 'telecommuting' practices comprising any policies and practices, formal or informal, which permit people to vary when and where work is carried out (Maxwell et al. 2007: 138). It is a situation where, like telecommuting, workers are given (opportunities) to work from home rather than reporting to a centralized office location on a daily basis (Shia/Monroe 2006: 456). The participants in this study regularly work from home two or more days a week and are, therefore, part of the growing number of employees who are conducting some portion of their work outside the traditional space of a designated office (Baruch 2001; Tietze 2002; Tietze/Musson 2003). Indeed, they form part of what Moos and Skaburskis describe as one of the most important trends in workplaces today (2007). While an increasing number of employees are engaged in some form of teleworking, finding exact numbers has proven somewhat challenging because it can take many different forms, ranging from the work arrangement described in this paper to homebased 'piece work' and/or work done in satellite offices (Tremblay 2002; Tremblay et al. 2006). Definitional and quantification challenges notwithstanding, Moos and Skaburskis (2007) cite estimates of approximately ten per cent of the workforce in the US, Europe and Canada, with expectations of further increases, particularly among professional, technical and middle managers (Johnson et al. 2007; Moos/Skaburskis 2007). A recent study of three large Canadian cities (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver) has reported that 3.9% of employed adults between 15 and 74 years old work at home for pay, representing 6% of the labour force in the respective cities (Moos/Skaburskis 2007). According to Moos and Skaburskis, in terms of industry sectors, business and other services have the largest number of homeworkers followed by finance, insurance and real estate (2007: 1788). …

Alternative work schedule interventions in the Australian construction industry: a comparative case study analysis

Project‐based construction workers in the Australian construction industry work long and irregular hours and experience higher levels of work‐to‐family conflict and burnout than office‐based workers, giving rise to an interest in alternative work schedules as a means of supporting work–life balance. Alternative work schedules were implemented in four case study construction projects in Australia. Interventions differed between projects, with two implementing a compressed work week, and the others introducing reduced hours schedules (one of which was optional). Data were collected from each case study project, using various combinations of focus groups, surveys, interviews and daily diary collection methods. The results were mixed. The compressed work week appears to have been favourably received where it was introduced. However, waged workers still expressed concerns about the impact on their weekly ‘take‐home’ pay. Attempts to reduce work hours by changing from a six‐ to a five‐day schedule (without extending the length of the working day between Monday and Friday) were less favourably received. Waged workers, in particular, did not favour reduced hours schedules. The results confirm the existence of two distinct labour markets operating in the Australian construction industry and markedly different responses to alternative work schedules, based upon whether workers are waged or salaried. The results clearly show that attempts to improve work–life balance must take the structural characteristics of the industry's labour markets into consideration in the design of interventions. The impact of alternative work schedules is likely to be moderated by institutional working time regimes within the construction industry.

A Work-Life Identity Model of Well-Being: Towards a Research Agenda Linking Quality-of-Work-Life (QWL) Programs with Quality of Life (QOL)

QWL is conceptualized in terms of the interface between employee role identities and work resources. QWL programs serve to enhance QOL by (1) providing appropriate work resources to meet the expectations of employee role identities, (2) reducing role conflict in work and non-work life, (3) enhancing multiple role identities, (4) reducing role demands, (5) reducing stress related to work and non-work role identities, and (6) increasing the value of the role identity. We describe a variety of QWL programs related to work life (decentralized organization structures, teamwork, parallel structures, ethical corporate mission and culture, the organization work schedule, etc.) and non-work life (work at home, flextime, compressed work week, part-time work arrangements, job sharing, etc.) and show how they serve to enhance QOL using the language of work-life identity. Doing so helps develop a research agenda based on the work-life identify model.

Empirical Analysis of Compressed Workweek Choices

This paper analyzes the trend and determinants of the compressed workweek (CWW) by using Washington State commute trip reduction (CTR) data. A multinomial logit model was applied to analyze the determinants of CWW choices by using the CTR data from 2005. Regression results indicate that the employer's transportation demand management promotion level and the number of years CWW programs have been in effect have significant impacts on commuters’ decisions about CWW choices. Commuters are more likely to participate in CWW programs when employers are more supportive or the CWW program has been implemented longer. The distance from home to work is another key factor that influences commuters’ CWW choices. The longer the distance from home to work, the higher the probability that a person will choose alternative work schedules. Employees’ journey-to-work mode choices affect their choices of working on CWW schedules. Commuters using a single mode of transit and a shared ride are less likely to work on CWW schedules than those who simply drive alone to work, and commuters using mixed modes are more likely to work on a CWW schedule than those who drive alone. Employees’ decisions to participate in CWW programs are also affected by their job titles and their employer's major business type.

An integer programming model for hierarchical workforce scheduling problem

In this paper, an integer programming model for the hierarchical workforce problem under the compressed workweeks is developed. The model is based on the integer programming formulation developed by Billionnet [A. Billionnet, Integer programming to schedule a hierarchical workforce with variable demands, European Journal of Operational Research 114 (1999) 105–114] for the hierarchical workforce problem. In our model, workers can be assigned to alternative shifts in a day during the course of a week, whereas all workers are assigned to one shift type in Billionnet’s model. The main idea of this paper is to use compressed workweeks in order to save worker costs. This case is also suitable for the practice. The proposed model is illustrated on the Billionnet’s example problem and the obtained results are compared with the Billionnet’s model results.

Improving Employees’ Work-Life Balance in the Construction Industry: Project Alliance Case Study

Work-life conflict has a damaging effect on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, productivity turnover, and absenteeism. On an individual level, work-life conflict is associated with employee burnout, mental health issues, substance abuse, and diminished family functioning. Thus, work-life balance is an important issue to the construction industry, in terms of both organizational effectiveness and occupational health. Long and inflexible work hours are the most consistent predictor of work-life conflict among construction employees, particularly those working on-site or in a project office. There is considerable resistance to the adoption of new ways of scheduling work within the industry. This paper describes the post hoc evaluation of a compressed work week (reducing the length of the working week, but increasing the length of the working day) in a case study project alliance in Queensland, Australia. Quantitative and qualitative data are presented to demonstrate the beneficial impact of the initiative on employees' work-life balance. The evaluation provides prima facie evidence that alternative work schedules can improve construction employees' work-life balance, creating benefits for construction employees and organizations. The paper concludes that project alliances provide an ideal environment in which work-life balance initiatives can help to create high-performance work systems in the construction sector.