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

Abstract

This 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.

Shift work and physical inactivity: findings from the Finnish Public Sector Study with objective working hour data

“…Odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) for the association of register-based shift characteristics with physical inactivity in the register cohort based on a longitudinal fixed-effects model, adjusted for the time-varying confounders (working hours, having small children, and worktime control). (33,48) and is associated with changing from shift work to day work (49). To encourage physical activity among shift workers and also to maintain the workforce, future studies should examine the barriers to engaging in physical activity among shift workers with young children.…”

Fatigue risk management for cabin crew: the importance of company support and sufficient rest for work-life balance—a qualitative study

“…Other studies have shown that long work hours and/ or family responsibilities are associated with obtaining insufficient sleep, irrespective of gender 44,45) . Furthermore, shift workers are more likely to report difficulties combining work and life in comparison to day workers, particularly when work characteristics include minimum rest opportunities between periods of work, night shifts or weekend work 46) . The work schedules of cabin crew flying long haul and ULR include all these characteristics, as well as frequent time zone changes.…”

Auswirkungen verkürzter Ruhezeiten auf Gesundheit und Work-Life-Balance bei Vollzeitbeschäftigten: Ergebnisse der BAuA-Arbeitszeitbefragung 2017

“…Neben gesundheitlichen Risiken betrachten weitere Studien auch mögliche Auswirkungen auf die Vereinbarkeit und Work-Life-Balance von Beschäftigten. So scheinen verkürzte Ruhezeiten die Konflikte zwischen Berufs- und Privatleben zu verursachen und mit Einschränkungen der Vereinbarkeit von Privatleben und Beruf einherzugehen (Åkerstedt und Kecklund 2017;Karhula et al 2018Karhula et al , 2017. Die überwiegende Mehrheit der Studien zu den Auswirkungen von verkürzten Ruhezeiten fokussiert auf Schichtarbeitende und dabei vorwiegend auf Beschäftigte im Krankenhaus.…”

“…So kann davon ausgegan- gen werden, dass lange Arbeitszeiten bzw. Überstunden die Zeit für familiäre und soziale Kontakte sowie nicht-berufsbezogene Tätigkeiten (Presser 2005;Wirtz 2010) und die Zufriedenheit mit der Work-Life-Balance reduzieren (Beermann et al 2017;Fagan et al 2012;Karhula et al 2018Karhula et al , 2017Ng und Feldman 2008).…”