Weekend Work Research Articles

Shift work and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Shift work is common. However, research findings are mixed regarding the impact of shift work on mental health. This systematic review sought to provide a comprehensive summary of existing research examining the association between different types of shift work and mental health. The review included large-scale, non-occupation-specific research. Four electronic databases PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science and SCOPUS were searched to identify studies that reported on the statistical association between shift work and mental health and that used population-based samples. Two reviewers extracted information about study characteristics and data on the association between shift work and mental health. A meta-analysis was performed for longitudinal studies adopting a 'broad binary' measure of shift work. Thirty-three studies were included in the final review-10 cross-sectional studies, 22 longitudinal studies, and 1 study that included both. Findings were grouped based on whether the measure of shift work focussed on: (1) night/evening work, (2) weekend work, (3) irregular/unpredictable work schedule, or (4) a broad binary measure. There was a reasonable level of evidence that overall, when a broad binary measure was adopted, shift work was associated with poorer mental health-this finding was supported by the meta-analysis results. There was also some evidence that irregular/unpredictable work was associated with poorer mental health. There was less evidence for night/evening and minimal evidence for weekend work. Inconsistencies in study methodology, limited contrasting and combining the results. The association between shift work and mental health is different across types of shift work. The evidence is strongest for a broad binary, general measure of shift work and for irregular or unpredictable shift work. There is a need for continued research that adopts consistent and clear measures of shift work.

Long work hours, weekend working and depressive symptoms in men and women: findings from a UK population-based study

BackgroundGlobalised and 24/7 business operations have fuelled demands for people to work long hours and weekends. Research on the mental health effects of these intensive temporal work patterns is sparse,...

The impact of paramedic shift work on the family system: a literature review.

Aims:More paramedics than ever are taking time off or leaving the ambulance service through stress; career decisions could be greatly influenced by the perceived impact of shift work on families. Through three key themes of physical injury, emotional labour and work–family fit, this review explores how paramedic shift work impacts the family system and how this could influence retention and recruitment of staff.Methods:A systematic literature search was conducted using key terms and Boolean operators, and strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twenty-two papers were deemed to be relevant. These were critiqued using a framework addressing both quantitative and qualitative research for the novice researcher in healthcare. In turn each theme was reviewed and discussed.Results:Due to the variety of roles required of a paramedic combined with the unpredictable environments in which they work, paramedics are at high risk of sustaining a work-related injury. Families raise concerns about paramedics’ safety at work, and the financial and psychological implications of sustaining an injury concern paramedics themselves. Additionally, links have been found between paramedic shift length and risk of occupational injury.Paramedics rely heavily on families for emotional support owing to the nature of incidents attended at work. The male coping culture ingrained into paramedic practice deters this at work. As family members are often uneducated in emotional processing techniques, this puts them at risk of vicarious trauma. Additionally, techniques employed by paramedics to cope with emotional distress are carried into the home environment to its detriment.Several shift characteristics (length, pattern, weekend work, high weekly work hours, inflexible schedules and low job satisfaction) contribute to work–family conflict, relationship problems, child rearing conflict and difficulties in maintaining a social life.Conclusion:Changes are required in the organisational culture, from one which denigrates staff for reporting injuries, for showing emotions and for struggling to balance their home life with work, to one which improves paramedics’ experience at work and therefore their home life too. Investment in education programmes for families on how to enable emotional processing and the risks this carries will improve the picture for families. Flexible work arrangement is an area of organisational reform that could greatly improve job satisfaction, staff retention and recruitment, and ultimately improve family life.Further research into the areas of paramedic shift work that impact the home system, especially in the UK, is needed to better understand some of the issues with staff retention and recruitment.

Certified healthy family specialists’ experiences of work and job satisfaction in seoul

The purpose of this study was to examine the Certified Healthy Family Specialists’ (CHFSs) work experiences and job satisfaction in the Seoul Metropolitan Local Healthy Family Support Centers (HFSCs). A total of 107 HFSC staff were recruited through 25 local HFSCs in Seoul. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression was performed to identify the work experience of CHFSs and factors that were associated with their job satisfaction. In terms of the CHFSs’ work experiences, the participants’ work hours were similar to the average Korean working hours, but they often worked on weekends or holidays. Their work flexibility and job satisfaction was a moderate level. CHFSs, however, experienced higher levels of job stress and emotional labor. Of the job satisfaction subcategories, satisfaction with their salary was the lowest, whereas they were the most satisfied with support from their colleagues and supervisors. Regarding factors related to the CHFSs’ job satisfaction, the participants’ socio-demographic characteristics including age and gender and their work-related variables such as work flexibility and job stress were significantly associated with their job satisfaction. This research reveals that a flexible work environment is extremely important for CHFSs in increasing job satisfaction. In addition, HFSCs need to provide employee support programs for CHFSs to reduce their job stress and burden of emotional labor. Increasing the work flexibility for CHFSs would help increase their job satisfaction considering their frequent weekend and holiday work. These findings also suggest that expansion of the organization and employee support system is warranted to help CHFSs remain in HFSCs and to provide quality services to families.

Weekend-free scheduled IVF/ICSI procedures and single embryo transfer do not reduce live-birth rates in a general infertile population.

IntroductionScheduling of ovum pickup only on weekdays may result in cases of apparently suboptimal timing for human chorionic gonadotropin and ovum pickup. This study aimed to assess whether live‐birth rates were reduced in women with a potentially suboptimal day for human chorionic gonadotropin and ovum pickup to avoid weekend work, according to ultrasonographic data on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin planning.Material and methodsAn evaluation of the optimal human chorionic gonadotropin priming date was performed in treatment protocols of 1000 consecutive patients undergoing their first in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmatic sperm injection with single‐embryo transfer. An ideal ovum pickup day was characterized by human chorionic gonadotropin‐scheduling when three or more follicles reached 17 mm (day 0) or with one day of delay (day +1) (n = 760). A non‐ideal ovum pickup was either early (day −1, −2, −3) (n = 24) or delayed (day +2, +3, +4) (n = 216). Live‐birth rates in the ideal and non‐ideal ovum pickup groups was set as primary outcome measure.ResultsEarly‐ovum pickups were excluded as they were infrequent. No differences between ideal and delayed ovum pickup groups were found regarding number of oocytes retrieved (9.87 vs. 9.78, p = 0.990), pregnancy rates (28.3% vs. 29.6%, p = 0.701) or live‐birth rates (26.2% vs. 25.9%, p = 0.939). However, sub analyses indicated that treatment with gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonists resulted in significantly lower clinical pregnancy rates in delayed ovum pickups (odds ratio 0.46, p = 0.014), compared with agonist treatments.ConclusionsWeekend work may not be needed for in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmatic sperm injection single‐embryo transfer treatments. However, in gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonist cycles, delaying ovum pickup more than one day may result in unfavorable outcomes.

Impacts of shift work: A study in textile companies in Portugal

Shift work, especially if it involves night work and/or weekend work, may represent disadvantages for workers and their families at the level of family, social life, and health. The present study evaluates the impacts of three work shifts (morning, afternoon and night) on sleep, family and social life as well as satisfaction with work schedules. In total, 373 Portuguese textile workers participated in this study; all were men. The results indicated that night shift workers had greater sleep disturbances and less satisfaction with their work schedules. On the other hand, morning shift workers were most satisfied with family and social life in association with their work schedules. Based on the results, implications of the practice have been reflected.

A National Study of Work Characterisitcs and Work-Family Conflict among Secondary Agricultural Educators

Data from a random sample of secondary school agriculture teachers in the United States were utilized to explore work characteristics and their relationship to work-family conflict, specifically how the work role interfered with the family role. Nine workplace characteristics (i.e., salary, work hours per work week, weekend work hours, years of teaching experience, number of agriculture teachers within the school, school community type, number of students per class, work salience, and perceived family-supportive work culture) were explored by gender. Two of the workplace characteristics, years of teaching experience and salary, were significantly different for male and female agriculture teachers. An analysis was conducted of the relationship between identified workplace characteristics and teachers’ perceptions of their work role interfering with their family role. In total, the workplace variables accounted for 22% of the variance in teachers’ perceptions of work interfering with their family. Four of the workplace variables (i.e., perceived family- supportive work culture, number of agriculture teachers per school, work salience, and work hours per work week) were statistically significant predictors of work interfering with family. Recommendations and implications for the agriculture teaching profession are discussed in light on these findings.

Objective working hour characteristics and work–life conflict among hospital employees in the Finnish public sector study

ABSTRACTThis epidemiological cohort study, based on Finnish public sector data, investigated the associations between objective working hour characteristics and work–life conflict in day and shift work. The comprehensive data of hospital workers (n = 8 931, 92% women, average age 45 years), consisted of survey responses from 2012, linked with the payroll data of working hour characteristics from 91 days preceding the survey. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the associations between working hour characteristics and experiencing work–life conflict often/very often. The analyses were adjusted for age (< 39, 40–49 and >50 years), sex, level of education, marital status, number of small (0–6 years) and school-aged (7–18 years) children, and the overall stressfulness of the life situation. We also conducted stratified analyses of age and sex on the basis of significant interactions. Difficulties in combining work and life were more often associated with shift work without night shifts and shift work with night shifts than with day work (41% and 34 versus 27%; OR for shift work with night shifts 1.78, 95% CI 1.59–2.00, OR for shift work without night shifts 1.42, 95% CI 1.26–1.60). A high proportion (> 25%) of long (> 40h, (OR 1.26, 95% 1.14–1.39) and very long (> 48h, OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.15–1.49) weekly working hours were associated with work–life conflict, and in the stratified analysis, the latter was also true among women (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.25–1.89). Of the unsocial working hour characteristics, a relatively large amount (> 10% of all shifts) of evening (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.41–1.72) and night shifts (OR 1.46, 95%CI 1.32–1.61), a high proportion (> 25% of all shifts) of quick returns (< 11h) (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.31–1.63), and weekend work (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.31–1.58) were associated with work–life conflict. A large amount of single days off (> 25% of all days off) was associated with work–life conflict among men (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.11–3.25), but not in the whole sample. When the two types of shift work were analyzed separately, shift work without night shifts and very long work weeks had higher odds (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.20–1.80) of work–life conflict than shift work with night shifts. Conversely, weekend work and evening shifts had higher odds of work–life conflict among shift workers with night shifts (OR 1.74, 95% 1.55–1.96; (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.40–1.77) than among those without night shifts. To conclude, this study shows that shift workers with and without night shifts more often have difficulties combining work and life than day workers. Several unsocial working hour characteristics, including long work weeks, evening and night shifts, weekend work, and quick returns, are associated with work–life conflict.

Prevalence rates of childhood protective factors in adolescents with BPD, psychiatrically healthy adolescents and adults with BPD.

Existing literature on the aetiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD) has primarily focused on pathological childhood experiences, while little to no research has been conducted on protective factors that may serve to ameliorate these symptoms. The current study attempts to fill this gap in the literature by comparing the rates of childhood protective factors among adolescents with BPD, psychiatrically healthy adolescents and adults with BPD. One hundred and four subjects were adolescent inpatients between the ages of 13 and 17 who met Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition criteria for BPD. Sixty were age-matched psychiatrically healthy comparison subjects. Two hundred and ninety subjects were adult inpatients between the ages of 18 and 35 who met Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines and Revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Third Edition criteria for BPD. All three groups were interviewed by using the Revised Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, a semi-structured interview that assesses pathological and protective childhood experiences. Psychiatrically healthy adolescents reported significantly higher rates of 4 out of 18 protective factors than adolescents with BPD. Adolescents with BPD reported significantly higher rates of 5 of these 18 protective factors than adults with BPD. Adults with BPD were significantly more likely to endorse having a steady after school or weekend work record than adolescents with BPD. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that adolescents meeting criteria for BPD report lower rates of some protective factors than psychiatrically healthy adolescents. They also suggest that they have higher rates of some protective factors than adults with BPD. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effect of clinical handover on weekend work cover

Can structured handover and rota changes improve weekend ward cover in the T&amp;O department?

Valuing Alternative Work Arrangements

We use a field experiment to study how workers value alternative work arrangements. During the application process to staff a national call center we randomly offered applicants choices between traditional M-F 9 am-5 pm office positions and alternatives. These alternatives include flexible scheduling, working from home, and positions that give the employer discretion over scheduling. We randomly varied the wage difference between the traditional option and the alternative, allowing us to estimate the entire distribution of willingness to pay (WTP) for these alternatives. We validate our results using a nationally-representative survey. The great majority of workers are not willing to pay for flexible scheduling relative to a traditional schedule: either the ability to choose the days and times of work or the number of hours they work. However, the average worker is willing to give up 20% of wages to avoid a schedule set by an employer on a week’s notice. This largely represents workers’ aversion to evening and weekend work, not scheduling unpredictability. Traditional M-F 9 am-5 pm schedules are preferred by most jobseekers. Despite the fact that the average worker isn’t willing to pay for scheduling flexibility, a tail of workers with high WTP allows for sizable compensating differentials. Of the worker friendly options we test, workers are willing to pay the most (8% of wages) for the option of working from home. Women, particularly those with young children, have higher WTP for work from home and to avoid employer scheduling discretion. They are slightly more likely to be in jobs with these amenities, but the differences are not large enough to explain any wage gaps.

Feeling Rushed: Gendered Time Quality, Work Hours, Nonstandard Work Schedules, and Spousal Crossover

AbstractThe authors investigated gender differences in couple parents' subjective time pressure, using detailed Australian time use data (n=756 couples with minor children). They examined how family demand, employment hours, and nonstandard work schedules of both partners relate to each spouse's non‐employment time quality (“pure” leisure, “contaminated” leisure, multitasking housework, and child care) and subjective feelings of being rushed or pressed for time. Mothers averaged more contaminated leisure and less pure leisure and did much more unpaid work multitasking than fathers. These results suggest that these differences in time quality do partially account for mothers feeling more rushed than fathers. Weekend work was associated with mothers having less pure leisure, but not contaminated leisure. The opposite was found for fathers. Spousal work characteristics also related to time use and feeling rushed in gendered ways, with male long work hours positively associated with higher time pressure for mothers as well as the fathers who worked them.

An exploratory study of determinants for restaurant servers’ actual tip earnings: Individual characteristics and work conditions

ABSTRACTThis exploratory study investigates two different types of determinants for servers’ actual tip earnings (individual characteristics versus work conditions) using readily available organizational data. Unlike previous studies that measured servers’ tips by asking subjects (servers or customers) to report tip amounts, we measure the actual tip earnings of each server extracted from the point of sale system. The results show that work conditions (daily work hours, weekend work hours, and immediate supervisors’ characteristics) have stronger relationships with servers’ tip earnings than servers’ individual characteristics (gender, tenure, and job satisfaction). This study represents an initial attempt to use objective data to measure servers’ tip earnings and explore its potential relationship with work conditions compared to its relationships with individual characteristics which have been frequently examined in previous studies.

Mothers’ non-standard working and childcare-related challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to particularly focus on lone-mother families, comparing the childcare-related challenges experienced by working lone mothers and coupled mothers in three European countries in the context of a 24/7 economy and non-standard working hours (e.g. evening, night and weekend work). Design/methodology/approach – This study utilises survey data from Finnish, Dutch and British working mothers (n=1,106) collected as part of the “Families 24/7” research project. Multivariate regression analysis is used to analyse the associations between childcare-related challenges, maternal non-standard working, lone motherhood and country of residence. Findings – The results indicated similar results across the three countries by showing that working lone mothers experience childcare-related challenges more often compared with coupled mothers. Furthermore, an increase in maternal non-standard working associated positively with increased childcare-related challenges in both lone mother and coupled families but lone motherhood did not moderate this association. The findings suggest that, regardless of family form, families in all three countries struggle with childcare arrangements when the mother works during non-standard hours. This possibly relates to the inadequate provision of state-subsidised and flexible formal childcare during non-standard hours and to the country-specific maternal work hours cultures. Originality/value – This study responds to the need for comparative research on the reconciliation of maternal non-standard working and childcare with self-collected data from three European welfare states. The importance of the study is further highlighted by the risks posed to the maintenance of maternal employment and family well-being when reconciliation of work and childcare is unsuccessful, especially in lone-mother families.

Long Workweeks and Strange Hours

U.S. workweeks are long compared to workweeks in other rich countries. Much less well-known is that Americans are more likely to work at night and on weekends. The authors examine the relationship between these two phenomena using the American Time Use Survey and time-diary data from France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Only small portions of the U.S.–European differences are attributable to observable characteristics. Adjusting for demographic and occupational differences, Americans’ incidence of night and weekend work would drop by no more than 10% if the average European workweek prevailed. Even if no Americans worked long hours, the incidence of unusual work times in the United States would far exceed those in continental Europe.

Schedule preferences, congruence and employee outcomes in unionized shift workers

Purpose– Employees working nonstandard schedules outside the daytime hours of the Monday-Friday work week are increasing. Using Social Exchange Theory (SET), the purpose of this paper is to hypothesize relationships between scheduling preferences, attitudes, and retention indicators.Design/methodology/approach– Survey data were collected from 343 US Postal Service mail processors (day, evening, or night shift; all shifts working weekends) from three cities. Multivariate analysis of covariance and multiple linear regression were used to test hypotheses related to participants’ perceptions of scheduling preferences and attitudes.Findings– The authors found that preferences and attitudes toward shift worked had stronger relationships with each other and employee retention indicators for the night and evening shifts than the day shift, and these same relationships were stronger for the day shift when focussing on days of the week worked.Research limitations/implications– Although limited by generalizability concerns, this study provides a distinctive application of SET to work schedules and offers a unique perspective on how working nonstandard days and nonstandard times, individually, impact the employment relationship.Practical implications– Better work schedule management, with increased flexibility and control, may be one way of reducing negative employee reactions to nonstandard schedules.Originality/value– This study goes beyond the typical examinations of standard vs nonstandard shifts, to study multiple nonstandard shifts and examines the relationships of these schedules on employee retention variables, focussing on both shift and weekend work.

Emergency medicine doctors should have “fair equality of leisure time” to compensate for unsociable hours, College of Emergency Medicine says

Doctors working in emergency medicine should have a “fair equality of leisure and family time” to compensate for night, evening, and weekend work, the College of Emergency Medicine has said. Speaking at the college’s conference earlier this month, Kevin Reynard, its vice president of the college, said that efforts to boost the total number of doctors working in the specialty needed to focus on retention. “It is clear that the issue isn’t about recruiting people into the specialty,” he said. “The issue is about retaining them once they get there.” Reynard said that developing “equitable terms and conditions” would be key to this. “This isn’t just going to happen by crossing our fingers and hoping,” he said. “We need to change the way we work and the conditions that people work in so we don’t drive people away.” He said that the organisations that would need to be involved in implementing such developments already acknowledged that changes had to …

Nonstandard employment and nonwork activities, time alone and with others: Can weekend workers make up lost time?

To what extent can weekend workers reschedule nonwork activities or time with significant others to weekdays? From the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey 2006, a sample of employed persons aged 15–64 ( n = 3860) is drawn to examine associations between weekend work and time spent in nonwork activities, time spent alone, and time spent in the company of family (partners, children, nonresident family, and elders) and friends, on days worked and over the following week. All analyses examine differences by gender. Workers’ lost weekend time is not recovered over the week; rather, in some instances there are persistent negative effects. Sunday workers are most affected. The findings add to knowledge about work–family conflict and gender differences in managing boundaries between employment and private life. There are implications for workplace policy, as the results offer support for penalty rate payments for weekend work.

Weekend Work and Leisure Time With Family and Friends: Who Misses Out?

The authors explored links between weekend work and leisure time shared with partners, children, other resident/nonresident family, and friends, using the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey 2006. Drawing a sample of employed persons (n = 3,903), they tested associations between weekend work and shared leisure time on the day of work and to see whether shared leisure time is made up on other days over the following week. Analyses were stratified by three family types: (a) couples without children, (b) couples with children, and (c) singles without children. For all groups, weekend work was associated with significantly less shared leisure time on days worked. Some weekend workers (e.g., part‐time employees, men) recouped some shared leisure time (notably with friends) over the following week, but most did not. Indeed, for some forms of shared leisure—most importantly, with partners and children—there were further negative associations on weekdays.

0246 Weekend work and Psychosocial Well-being in Korean workers

ObjectivesTo identify association between weekend work and psychosocial well-being in a representative sample of Korean workers.MethodWe analysed the associations between weekend work and psychosocial well-being in 29 711 workers using...