Cost Reduction
CIRCADIAN’s comprehensive study of over five hundred 24/7 facilities has shown that working extended hours is associated with elevated employee costs compared to the daytime workforce. The good news is most of these costs are readily addressable.
Absenteeism
Absenteeism alone accounts for as much as US$2,100 1 in additional costs per year for shift workers as compared to day workers
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For shift workers, only one-third of days taken as sick days are for personal health reasons. The remaining two-thirds are typically due to conflicts with family activities or social reasons, as well as excessive fatigue due to factors such as poor scheduling or failing to obtain sufficient quality and quantity of sleep (lifestyle management).
1 CIRCADIAN Shift Work Practices Survey 2009
Employee Turnover
Elevated turnover rates caused by low morale and poorly designed work schedules increase expenses for recruiting, hiring and training new employees.
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With many shift work populations facing retirement of large percentages of their employees, attracting and retaining employees is becoming an increasing problem.
Health Care
Miscalculated staffing levels and sub-optimized shift schedules cause excessive overtime, often coupled with underutilised employee capacity.
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Shift workers tend to use coping substances and food to help them deal with the challenges of staying alert, particularly when working night shifts, and sleeping during daytime. The downside to this is that overuse of caffeine and alcohol, two of the most widely abuse coping substances, can cause other health problems and ultimately have a negative impact on performance at work as well as overall health. This ultimately leads to higher healthcare costs.
Overtime & Staffing Levels
Miscalculated staffing levels and sub-optimized shift schedules cause excessive overtime, often coupled with underutilised employee capacity.
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In most operations, the largest portion of direct expenses is from payroll. In a shift work environment, many operations rely on overtime to help get through busy times. While modest amounts of overtime are beneficial for both the shift worker and the company, excessive overtime can dramatically increase costs as well as the risk for fatigue related incidents and legal exposure.
Safety & Legal Liability
Fatigue causes accidents, and without adequate Fatigue Risk Management Systems companies operating 24/7 leave themselves vulnerable to legal actions and punitive damages.
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Fatigued employees make more errors, and when they fall asleep on the job the accidents can be disproportionately severe. The peak times of risk are at the circadian low points – in the early pre-dawn hours and in the post-lunch dip. It is not by chance that the most notable industrial accidents in the past 30 years – Exxon Valdez, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Bhopal all occurred between midnight and 6:00am when human errors of inattention are most likely to occur.