Shift Work Research Paper

Work is something in which everyone is involved in one way or another. For example, people in rural area may work in their own small field and growing food to keep them alive whereas people in urban area may work as employers of servants or as employees in an office or factory for wage. In modern society, the working hours may differ from the traditional normal working hours and more likely moving towards pattern of working twenty four hours a day. There are companies employed night workers to operate their business continuously such as restaurants, petrol stations, and grocery or convenience stores to maximize efficiency and productivity (Geliebter, Tanowitz, Aronoff, & Zammit, 2000). Hence, the term “shift work” derived to describes the way

Stress, anxiety, irritability, and depression are most likelihood suffered from shift workers in long working hours (Harrington, 2001). On top of that, shift workers also reportedly suffered on self-isolation and restlessness (Agervold, 1976). Stress is highly faced by shift workers because shift work often involved night work which disrupted the normal sleep cycle. Our body follows the circadian rhythm or internal biological clock that we rest at night and carry out activities during the day. If our body sleep cycle is disrupted, the body undergoes severe changes and suffers sleep disturbance (Schultz & Schultz, 1994). For instance, night shift workers are more likely to experience sleepiness during their work compared to day shift workers because they have to keep themselves awake from following the circadian pattern to rest at night. This is supported by Pease and Raether (2003) reported that physiological and psychological stress is due to constantly change our body to adapt to new schedules. On the other hand, Ford and Kamerow (1989) reported that shift workers who have insomnia have greater risk of depression because shift work made them felt helplessness. A study had conducted by (Swenson, 1997, p.2) to study shift work more specifically mentioned that “Restlessness, nervousness and agitation can lead to impulsivity, carelessness and

Unlike the physical health, psychological effect and family life, job performance can be evaluated individually in the work place. The nature of work and environment in shift work brings several types of negative work attitudes to shift workers (Jamal as cited in Demerouti, E., Geurts, S. A. E., Bakker, A. B., & Euwema, M., 2004, p. 988). These negative work attitudes comprised of higher turnover rate, lower obligations and lower job satisfaction in the organization (Demerouti, E., Geurts, S. A. E., Bakker, A. B., & Euwema, M., 2004). According to Harrington (2001), he stated that individual work performance has a close relationship with circadian variation and it often brings negative impact when it compound with sleep disorder and tiredness of shift workers. These categories of people are likely to conduct mistake and involve in accidents (Madide, 2003). However, study had showed that night shift workers are more easily to engage in accidents than evening shift workers (Norman, 2011). It was also found that the number of accidents that occur among night shift workers were three times higher than evening shift workers in industries (Horwitz & McCall, 2004). For instance, a study on nurses has indicated that a number of fatal accidents were happening due to neglect or mistreatment of night shift nurses (Ohida et al., 2001). Hence, shift work can reduce the job performance of workers especially night shift