E-Books: Managing your shiftwork

This book Managing your shiftwork has been produced to help people understand the nature of shiftwork and is designed to assist individuals in coping with this lifestyle. Everything in it has been extensively researched both inside and outside of the industry for shift workers and is based on the most up-to-date information available.

This guide has been produced for both shift workers and those who interact with shift workers’ family and work colleagues. It is to help inform them of how and why working shifts can affect their lives. On a basic level, for many shift workers, it is sometimes difficult to reconcile the needs of their working time arrangements with their domestic and social arrangements. At the outset, however, please note that it is not expected that you are experiencing, or will experience problems. This is not an encouragement to have difficulties with your shiftwork! In fact,
shiftwork can be a positive aspect of many people’s lives.
Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the extensive research and anecdotal evidence that shift and night work can have detrimental effects at some point in many people’s shift working careers and it would be neglectful to ignore this.
Shift working can negatively influence your behavior, health,, and wellbeing. Shift workers tend to get less sleep when compared to dayworkers, for a host of reasons, and not just when working nights. This lack of sleep can result in tiredness and fatigue, which in turn can affect a person’s performance at work, their social interactions at home, and also potentially their health.

By attempting to understand why we feel the way we do when working shifts, it is possible to develop (individual) coping strategies to alleviate the effects of shiftwork. Most of us are on shifts by our own free will, it’s our choice based on a balance between the pro’s (chosen career, more pay and time off during the week) and the con’s (tiredness, loss of social opportunities, etc.) Some people cope better than others, however, most could potentially cope better than they currently do.