Lip service, liability and shift work health
The effect of shift work on health demands effective wellbeing programmes
Mind the shift work health gap
We’re increasingly hearing the term ‘wellbeing washing’ used to describe the gap between how some organisations communicate their commitment to supporting employee health…and the reality experienced by the workforce.
This dissonance is predominantly seen as a reputational issue, but some of the legal professionals we work with are drawing parallels with ‘greenwashing’ (exaggerated sustainability claims).
They point to the increasing threat of regulatory action and civil litigation against organisations that do not manage foreseeable risk or promote unsubstantiated Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials.
Some believe we could potentially see stakeholders take action against management teams who should have been aware of the potential impacts of their organisation’s activities, and how ESG policies may therefore be misleading.
How is this relevant to shift work health?
There’s significant evidence, awareness and scrutiny regarding the effect of shift work on health, wellbeing and life expectancy…and the interventions being made by employers to address it.
A growing body of scientific research is pointing to shift work health effects being a contributing factor in a wide range of health and social issues from cancer, heart disease and dementia to obesity, pre-term pregnancy, suicide and relationship breakdown.
Recently Dr Zofia Bajorek from the Institute for Employment Studies was on BBC 5 Live Breakfast talking about tackling obesity in the workplace.
Dr Bajorek identified the need to look at the persons’ job design given the evidence that shift work can have an effect on an individual’s weight and wellbeing.
So this begs the question…are your organisations’ current ESG and wellbeing policies paying lip service to the increasingly known risks and effect of shift work on health?
Shift work health effects and solutions
Many wellbeing programmes are geared towards office-based day workers but shift workers frequently don’t have anything tailored to the unique pressures of their schedules, working environment and work-life balance.
It’s clear to us that adopting a proactive and data-led approach (underpinned by best practice, co-design and robust monitoring and evaluation) is both a moral and strategic imperative.
This isn’t just about risk mitigation regarding the effects of shift work on physical and mental health.
Effective support for shift workers also delivers direct business benefits including lower sickness absence, higher productivity and improved recruitment and retention.
This is a huge subject matter area, but at the highest-level organisations should be looking to…
– Engage employees: Building shift worker awareness, understanding and participation is fundamental to success. Think carefully about ensuring the programme is co-created with shift workers and how to engender a positive, trusting, collaborative and supportive environment.
– Understand the risks: Use anonymised data to baseline key shift work metrics across physical and mental health, sleep, nutrition, exercise and social aspects. The cumulative effects of a wide variety of variables can then be measured (e.g. impact of shift patterns and rotations, hours worked, rest time, work undertaken in shift) and it allows you to effectively zero in on what needs to be addressed and prioritised.
– Develop a proactive plan: You’re not going to tackle everything immediately. Create the strategy and framework for a continuous programme that effectively builds support for employees, is shaped by data insights and remains responsive to change (across the operating environment, workforce, legislative landscape etc).
– Affect real change: There’s a huge range of strategic, operational, practical and technical solutions available that actively help address the effects of shift work on physical and mental health. Passive, generic and non-evaluated platforms and programmes should be avoided where possible.
– Measure impact: Capture, track and analyse data to evaluate the impact of shift work health initiatives or interventions. This will inform continuous improvement of the programme and provide robust evidence to support employee engagement, ESG reporting and your employer brand.
Time to address the effect of shift work on health
It’s no secret that shift work is hard on the body, the mind and your personal life.
It should be a distinct consideration in wellbeing and ESG policies and employers should ensure they ‘walk the walk’ when it comes to looking after the health and wellbeing of their shift workers.
There are some fantastic initiatives being delivered by progressive employers to address the effects of shift work on physical and mental health.
We’ll continue to share best practice ideas and hopefully help drive this topic up the agenda.
Shift Pattern, Shift Work and Shift Worker services
optashift services help you attain optimum shift work performance.
They can be delivered individually or combined to create a unified programme of continuous improvement.
Our agile approach means everything we do is tailored to your organisation and shift workers.
Shift work is complex, sensitive and always changing.
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