The tyranny of erratic work schedules is obvious to employees who don’t know what their schedules will be tomorrow or have to call in to see if there is work. And the effects have been well documented in articles and oral histories. Increasingly, the anecdotal evidence is being confirmed by research.
A recent paper in the peer-reviewed journal Ergonomics looked at Dutch workers who were on call when they were not scheduled to work. It found that being on-call, even when one is not called, decreases an employee’s well-being and increases the need for “recovery,” (read: sleep and time off).
Other research reviewed in the paper also found increased stress, anxiety, irritation, fatigue and family conflicts among on-call workers. One possible reason is that not knowing whether one will be called is a stressor in itself. Another is that being on call makes it hard to detach from work and recoup. One paper found that without a chance to recover, extra effort has to be exerted at the start of each work period “to rebalance the suboptimal psychological state” (read: to face the day). Chronic need for recovery, the research notes, “might lead to long-term ill health.” (How could it not?)
[For more of this story, written by Teresa Tritch, go to http://takingnote.blogs.nytime...s-chaotic-life/?_r=0]
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