Characteristics of job rotation in the Midwest US manufacturing sector

Abstract

Job rotation has been advocated as a suitable intervention to control work-related musculoskeletal disorders. However, little is known regarding the prevalence of job rotation, methods used to identify jobs for rotation or the benefits or limitations of job rotation. A web-based questionnaire was developed to survey job rotation practices from Midwest US manufacturing companies. Results indicated that 42.7% of the companies contacted used job rotation, where the median time for which they had used job rotation was 5 years. Job rotation was used mainly to reduce exposure to risk factors for work-related injuries and to reduce work related injuries, whereas supervisor decisions and ergonomic analyses were used to select jobs for the rotation scheme. Major limitations to successful implementation of job rotation included rotation of individuals with medical restrictions, decreased product quality and lack of jobs to rotate to. These findings suggest that further study is needed to determine if exposure to risk factors is reduced through current efforts.

Examining the link between HRM Practices and Employees’ performance in Nigerian public sector

“…The HRM practice of moving employees to work at different tasks or positions within the organization for a given periods of time in a planned ways through lateral transfers that allowed employees to acquire a range of knowledge skills, and competencies is called Job rotation (Jorgensen et al, & Dunning, 2005). Job rotation provided employees with the opportunities to learn multiple skills, knowledge and outlooks (Eguchi, 2005).…”

Increased production capabilities by job rotation through simulation.

“…The increase in operator skill, decrease in work related injury, and increases in employee satisfaction were among the highest "benefits" reported. The results however determined a negative correlation between the number of years a company had been utilizing job rotation with turnover and absenteeism (Jorgensen et al 2005). A major finding of the results contradicted what NIOSH and OSHA have established for the use of job rotation as a temporary control to further prevent WMSDs while engineering actions are being talcen to correct the concerns.…”

“…The findings of the survey stated that the median duration for a company to be using job rotation was 5 years. The "results suggest that job rotation maybe being used as a permanent intervention strategy, rather than an interim control strategy" (Jorgensen et al 2005).…”

“…Jorgensen et al(2005), developed a survey to try and determine how many companies were using job rotation schedules in their manufacturing. Focusing on the Midwest of America, 178 companies contacted responded to the survey.…”

Lean job design and musculoskeletal disorder risk: A two plant comparison

“…The effectiveness of job rotation in reducing WMSD injuries is also a future research question (Frazer, Norman, Wells, & Neumann, 2003;Jorgensen, Davis, Kotowski, Aedla, & Dunning, 2005). Job rotation was practiced, in part, to reduce ergonomic stress at NUMMIa lean manufacturing plant joint venture between Toyota and General Motors (Adler et al, 1997).…”