Flexible Schedules and Shift Work.

Abstract

Traditionally, much of the American labor force has worked in a structured environment, with the work schedule following a set pattern—what many people have termed the “9-to-5” workday. Recent studies show that employers are beginning to recognize that many workers prefer schedules that allow greater flexibility in choosing the times they begin and end their workday. Consequently, increasing numbers and proportions of full-time workers in the United States are able to opt for flexible work hours, allowing workers to vary the actual times they arrive and leave the work place. For some workers, however, the nature of their jobs requires that they work a schedule other than a regular day shift, what may be termed an “alternative shift.” Examples of such alternative shift workers are police officers, emergency room physicians, and assembly-line workers at a factory. In contrast to the increasing proportion of workers with flexible work schedules, the incidence of shift work has not changed since the mid-1980s. If not for the sizable job gains in service occupations, the overall proportion of workers on shift work would have edged down in recent years. Recent data on flexible work hours and shift work are from information collected in the May 1997 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). This article uses that supplement to examine both the incidence and trends in flexible work hours and alternative shift work and, also, the relationship between the jobs in which people work and the prevalence of these digressions from the more traditional “9-to-5” workday.

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