March 1, 2004—Among US companies with extended hours operations, only 21% reported that they provided human resource coverage to evening, night, and weekend shifts. This is the finding of the Shiftwork Practices Survey by Circadian Technologies, which surveyed over 1,000 companies representing more than 150,000 extended hours employees.
“Human resource managers hold the key to uncovering the hidden costs of extended hours operations and developing effective programs to reduce these costs. Unfortunately, in most companies, human resource managers are absent members of the extended hours operations management team. Since human resource managers are not usually on duty during the evening, nighttime, or weekend shifts, impacting these excess costs is challenging,” said Acacia Aguirre, M.D., Ph.D., Circadian medical director and one of the principal authors of “Human Resources Management in the Extended Hours Workplace.”
Besides limited access to human resources, other support services such as medical services and employee assistance programs were also reportedly provided only to a limited degree to extended hours workers in 2003. If a percentage of the workers at a facility have limited awareness of and access to support services, then the benefits of providing the services (potentially less turnover, higher morale, and healthier workers) are not fully realized, says Circadian.
To help workers cope with the specific challenges presented by their extended hours work schedules, interventions tailored to the specific needs of the target group, such as medical surveillance of workers, implementation of health promotion programs, and disease management programs have proven to be efficient and to present a good return on investment. Circadian’s data indicates that an adequate work schedule, taking into account both operational needs and workforce characteristics, is key to minimizing accidents and injuries.
An executive summary of “Human Resources Management in the Extended Hours Workplace” can be obtained by contacting Circadian Media Relations Coordinator Tracy Maddaloni at 781/676-6924.
