ill be beneficial to both Command Center effectiveness and staff performance and welfare. The outcome of this study is a recommended action plan to improve the functioning of the Command Center by addressing the shift work issue.
In the overall American work force, 15.9 percent of workers are assigned to shift work. Within the context of shift work, 6.3 percent of all American workers work evening shifts, 4.3 percent work rotating shifts, 2.7 percent work night shifts, 0.7 percent work split shifts, and 1.9 percent work some other type of shift (Presser & Altman, 2002).
Among the critical services (health assessment and treating occupations, air controllers, police and safety personnel, governmental operational command centers ù civilian and military, and so forth), 31.3 percent of workers are assigned to shift work ù more than double the national average for all occupations. Within the context of shift work, 8.3 percent of workers in critical services work evening shifts (one-third higher than the average for all occupations), 12.1 percent work rotating shifts (2.9 times the average for all occupations), 8.3 percent work night shifts (3.1 times the average for all occupations), 0.1 percent work split shifts (one-seventh the average for all occupations, and 2.6 percent (37 percent greater than the average for all occupations) work some other type of shift (Press & Altman, 2002).
A wide variety of problems are reported by workers engaged in shift work. Some researchers argue that these problems are attributable to the fact that shift workers find themselves out of line with established physiological and social rhythms. Workers engaged in rotating shift work have been found to exhibit less favorable work behavior when compared to workers on fixed-shifts. Rotating shift workers also report lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and higher frequencies of job absence (Grosswald, 2003).
Workers o...