Periodic self-rostering in shift work: correspondence between objective work hours, work hour preferences (personal fit), and work schedule satisfaction

Abstract

ObjectivesThe main objective of the present study was to investigate relative personal fit as the association between rated needs and preferences for work hours, on the one hand, and actual work hours, on the other hand, in three groups (hospital, call-center, and police) working with periodic self-rostering. We also examined the association between personal fit and satisfaction with the work schedule and preference for a fixed and regular shift schedule, respectively. MethodsWe collected questionnaire data and objective work hour data over 6-12 months from the computerized self-rostering system. The response rate of the questionnaire was 69% at the hospital and call-center and 98% among the police. In total, 29 433 shifts for 285 shift workers were included in the study. Data was analyzed by means of mixed ANOVA, Kendal tau correlations and ordinal (proportional odds) logistic regression. ResultsThe results show that evening types worked relatively more hours during the evening and night hours compared to morning types as an indication of relative personal fit. Relative personal fit was also found for long shift, short rest, and morning-, evening-and night-shift frequency, but only personal fit related to morning, evening and night-shift was associated with satisfaction with work hours. Reported conflicts at the workplace about work hours and problems with lack of predictability of time for family/leisure activities, was associated with poor satisfaction and a preference for a fixed shift schedule. ConclusionsThe present study shows that periodic self-rostering is associated with relative personal fit, in particular with respect to night, evening, and morning work. Personal fit seems to be associated with satisfaction with work hours and may be a moderator of tolerance to shift work exposure.

Sleep and need for recovery in shift workers: do chronotype and age matter?

“…self-rostering), it might therefore be worthwhile to incorporate the 'chronotype' of a shift worker next to age. Ingre et al (2012) have shown that self-rostering is related to personal fit, reflected by later chronotypes working relatively more hours during the evening and night compared with earlier chronotypes. While self-rostering seems a promising method to accommodate individual differences, such as chronotype, in terms of satisfaction with shift schedules (Nijp et al 2012), it is still unknown whether this kind of shift systems will indeed diminish adverse long-term outcomes (and thereby enhancing sustainable (shift) work participation).…”

Worktime control access, need and use in relation to work-home interference, fatigue, and job motivation

“…• RQ 4: How is WTC use related to employees' WHI, fatigue, and job motivation? In line with person-environment fit models (42,43) and studies on fit between working-time preferences and working hours (24,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35), lack of access to WTC is expected to have the most unfavorable impact on employees with a high need for WTC. We, therefore, hypothesize that employees with a negative mismatch (need>access) report higher WHI and fatigue and lower job motivation than employees with a WTC match or a positive mismatch (access>need).…”

“…Although it has previously been posed that consideration of individual preferences is essential in work-hour research (24,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35), as yet such individual preferences have not been studied within the context of worktime control. The current study contributes to theory by demonstrating how individual needs play a role in the association between available WTC opportunities and employees' outcomes.…”

Worktime control: theoretical conceptualization, current empirical knowledge, and research agenda

“…program failure (32)]. For example, one of the studies of this special issue indeed shows that self-scheduling individuals reported only moderate average scores on WTC and that personal fit (ie, the association between preferred and actual work hours) was present but not large in magnitude (30).…”

“…With the current thematic issue, we aspire to make a valuable contribution to the contemporary knowledge and literature. As such, this issue starts with a systematic review study on the association between WTC and employee as well as organizational outcomes (15), followed by two studies on the practice of self-scheduling (30,31).…”