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A BellA:BowdlIutbmwioa.Comp;my
TIlE SAnSFACTION OF POLICE OFFICERSAND TIlEIR SPOUSES WITIlI2-HOUR SIIIFTWORK SCHEDULES
BY
OSHARONBARTER 1lliNHOLM
A thesissubmittedtothe SchoolofGraduate Studiesinparti alfulfilment of the
requirementsforthe degree of MasterofScience
Department of Psychology MemorialUniversityof Newfoundland
September [997
St.John's Newfoundland
.+.
National Ubtary ofCanadaBibliotheQuenationale duCoanada.
Acquisitions and ~et Bibliographicservices 5eMCeSbibflO9raph~
»sW.-ngtDnSlrMt 3ll5.IWWeIingD'l ClawaON K1A (lN4 ara-ON K1AlN'
e:..- eo.-
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ABSTRACT
Thesatisfactionof police officersandtheirspouseswith two12-ho UTcompressed work weekshiftschedulesandtwotraditional8·bourshift scheduleswas examined.Data were collectedfromthree detachments of theRoyalNewfound land Constabularyusing structuredintervi ew andquestionnair e procedures.Ad ditional ly.the Dyadic Adjustment Scal e (Spanier.1987)was used in afellow- upmailsurvey of spousestoassess the impact of the stress of police workandshift workon thequalityof marital adjustment. The instrumentswere administeredfromMaytoSeptember.1994.
Ineachdetachment a number of groups were surveyed:theco nstabl eswo rkin gthe 12-hourshiftslli=:122);the shiftworkingsupervisors<H=:12):the dayworkin gsuperviso rs lli=7);and the spousesofthe constablesand supervisors workingtheIZ·hour shiftsili
=
77). Comparisons wen:drawn betweenthetwotypes of12- hour shift schedules andbetween the lz-hcurshift schedulesandthe two8-hour shiftschedules previously workedin the detachments. Comparisons ....ere also drawn between theconstables. supervisors. and spouseswithinthedetachm ents.
Thedataprovidedsupponfor the majorhypoth es is ofthis study:workers and their spousespreferred me12-hourcompressed workweekshiftschedules over the 8-hour shift schedules.Therewas no correla tionbetween the compos itesatisfacti onscores ofworkers andtheir spouses,implyingthat the factorswhich foster satisfactionfora wo rkerare different fromtho sewhich foster satisfactionfor that worker'sspouse.Surv eyedspouses had.on average. alowerlevelofadjustmentin their marri agesthandidrespondents from
i i
previouslystudiednon-policefamilies. The workersreported no changeintheir quality of sleep ortheirlevels of fatigue afterthechangetothe12-hourshift schedules.Thehigh preferenceandsatisfactionlevels were relatedto the longerperiodsof consecutivetime off andfree weekendtime.Overall.the12-bo ur compressed workweekshift sched uleappeared to meet thepsycho soc ialneeds of most ofthe policeofficersand the spousessurveyed.
ACKNO WLEDGEMENTS
[would like tothankfirstandforemost my advisor.ProfessorMalcolm Grant ofthe DepartmentofPsych ology.forhis guidance.instruction. and patience. Thanksare also extendedtotheothermembers ofmythesis committee.Dr.CatherineButton andDr.
Raym ondPenney.bothoftheDepartmentofPsychology.fortheirsuggestions and comm en ts.
In my time at Memorial UniversityI havereceivedassistan ce frommanymembers ofthe profes sional.teac hing,and officestaff.to themIalso extend my apprec iatio n.
Withan applied endeavour suchasthis,the cooperationofmany peopleis required.
Thisresearch would not havebeenpossible wereit not fortheopennessoftheofficers of the Royal Newf oundland Constabulary and the members of the Royal Newfo undland Co nstab ulary Association. ThestaffoftheCanadianPolice College Library and the staff of vario usPlanningand Research sectionsof many policeforces across Canadaprovidedmewith a multitud e of information to which (wouldnOIhave hadaccesswitho ut theirhelp and suppo rt.
Thegroupofpeople towhom[owethegreatestdebtismy family.Myhusband Barry.
mydaughterElena.andtheother membersofmy Family have provided mewith thesupport andencouragementI neededto makeitthroughthelongprocessofcomp leting (hisprogram.
While writingthisthesis myfather. DonaldBarterpassedaway.ItisfromhimthatIacquired my greatestassets.mythirst forknowled ge andmydesireto learn.Thanks.Dad.
iv
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT .
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .
TABLES .
..iv vii Chapter1
1.1
1.2 1.J 1.4
Chapterz 2.1 2.2 2.3
INTRODUCTION. . ...•.. . ... .. . ...\ Possibleadvantages ofcompressed workweeks ._.. _.. • .~ 1.1.1 Off dutyadvantages•.•. •••.•••. .•• • • ••• ..••• •..3
1.l.2 On dutyadvantages •.• _••_ ..5
Possib le disad van tagesofcompressedworkweeks ....7 Descripti on ofshiftworkschedules.... .. ... . . .10
Hypothesesandrationale.. . . 13
1.4.1 Theeffectsofconsecutivenightshifts... . ... .. .... ..13 1.4.2 The effectsofearlymorningstarttimes 15 1.4.3 Theeffectsofthephysical andmentaltaskloads ontheoptimal
lengthofshifts_. _ _ 15
1.4.4 The effectsofs bort intervals of time off betweentwo shi fts 16 1.4.5 The effectsofthe inclusionoffreeweekends ..16
1.4.6 Theeffects of forward rotation 17
1.4.7 Tbeeffects ofashift cycleofshortduratio n .17 1.4.8 Theeffec tsof aregul ar shift rotati on••. ..18 1.4.9 Theeffectsof familyfactorsonsatisfactionwiththet2-holUshift schedules... ... ...•. .•18
METHOD . 20
Respondents... .... . 20
Material s . . 23
Procedure . ._.25
2.3.1 Constablesand shiftworking supervisors. . 25 2.3.2 Dayworkingsupervisors. .. . . . .. .. ... .. .... . .27 2.3.3 Spousesof constables andshiftworkingsupervisors.. . ..27
2.3 .4 Dyadic AdjustmentScalemail-out ..29
Cha pter3 3.1 3.2
RESULTS
The effectsof co nsecutivenightshi fts..
The effectsof earlymorning stan.times
.. .. .30 .3\ .3\
3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10
The effects of thephysical and mentaltask loads ontheoptimallengthof shifts. __.. . . .. .. . •.............. . . .... .. . .. •. .34 The effectsof shortintervals of timeoff bctweentwosbifts.. . ..37 'Theeffects oftheinclusionoffreeweekends... .41
The effects of forwardrotation.. ... _..44
Theeffects ofasbift cycleofshortduration .44
Theeffects ofaregular shiftrotation 48
The effectsof familyfactorsonsatisfactionwiththe12·hourshiftschedules 51
Dyadic Adjustment Scale... .... .5S
.56 . .56
_ 57
_. .58
. ..58 ... ... . . . ... .59 ... . . .... . . .. . .. .... .60 ....61 63
DISCUSSIO N .
Preferenceandsatisfaction _ .
Familyfactors __ _
Comparisonof workersand spouses . Maritaladjustment ...
Sleepandfatigue Timeoff Conclusions...
Futureresearch Chapter 4
4.1 42 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8
REFERENCES . 65
APPENDIXI,DlAGRAMS OF TIlEFO UR SHIFT SCHEDULES .. ....70
APPENDIX2, MEMBERS'QUESTIO NNAIRE.. .80
__..139 APPENDIX3,SUPERVISORS'QUESTIONNAIRE(SHIFT WORKERS) 117 APPENDIX 4,SUPERVISO RS'STRUCTUREDINTERVIEW
(9 TO5WORKERS) .
APPENDIX5,SPOUSEJPARTNE R STRUCTUREDINTERVIEW. 154
APPENDIX 6,DYADICADJU STMENTSCAL E .. . .173
APPEND IX 7,SURVEYINTRODUCTION MEMO RANDA ..178
APPENDIX8,SUMMARY OFQUESTIONSANALYSED . . 182
vi
TABLES
1.1 Dates for the shiftschedule initiationsforthethreedetachmentsareas 1.2 Acomparisonof the fourtypes ofshiftschedules utilized by theRoyal
Newfoundland Constabulary,accordingtothe optimal criteriaoutlinedinthisthesis 2.1 Characteristicsofthethreedetachment areas
2.2 R"?" ;pondenrstatisticsby surveygroup
3.1 Responsefrequenciesforthe workersinthethree detachments forthe questions on quan tityandqualityofsleep
3.2 Meanscores andstandarddeviationsfor the workers andspousesin thethree detachmen ts for thequestionsonresponde n ts'difficulty settingasidetime 3.3 Response frequencies forthe workersinthethreedetachments forthequestionon
fatiguefollowingatz-hc ur shift
3.4 Means forthenumberof timesworkersreportedfallingasleep.on average.on single shiftsof varioustypes
3.5 Response frequenciesforthe workersand dayworkingsupervisorsinthethree detachme ntsforthequestion oneffectiveness
3.6 Responsefrequencies for the workersand dayworking supervisorsinthethree detachmentsforthequestionon efficiency
3.7 Meanscoresandstandard deviationsfortheworkers and spousesinthethree detac hmen ts for thequestio n onadequacy oftimeotT
3.8 Mean scoresand standard deviationsfor theworkersandspousesinthe three detachments for the questions on satisfaction with timeavailabl e for nonwork activities
3.9 lntercorrelaticns betwee n the threequestions relating to workers'and spouses' satisfactionwith time available fornonworkactiviti es
3.10 Mean scoresandstandarddeviations fo r theworkers and spousesin thethree detachmen ts forthequestions on difficultysettingasidetime
3.11 Mean scores and standard deviatio ns fortheworkersinthethreedetachments forthe questionscomprising thecompositesatisfactionmeasure
3.12 Response frequenciesfor theworkersandday workingsupervisors in thethree detachments for mequestiononme respondents'preferredlZchourshiftschedule 3.13 Response frequenciesfortheworkers.spouses. and dayworking supervisorsin the
threedetachmentsfortherespondents'preferredshift patterns
3.14 Mean scoresand standard deviations for theworkers. spouses..anddayworkin g supervisorsinthe three detachmentsforthe respondents'preferencelevelforthe present shiftschedule
3.15 Meanscores andstandard deviationsforthe workers and spousesin thethree detachmen tsfor thequestiononease ofoff-duty activityplanning
vi ii
The Satisfactio Dof PoliceOfficenandtheir Spouses with 12-hour Shift WorkSchedules
Chap ler I INTROD Uc nO N
"Policework isa highstressoccupa tionthataffects. shapes.andalso scarsthe individualsand familiesinvo lved" (O'Neill&Cushing. 1991.p.33).Quoteslikethislead manyresearcherstoassumethat occupatio nalstraintoboth individualofficersand the ir familiesoccurs asaresultofstressors such asthe dangerspolice officers mustfaceand the individuals with whompolice officers must deal.However.thisconventionalwisdomhas beguntobechallen ged.Crank.andCaldera(199 1) reportedthatpoliceofficers ranked dealingwith superio rofficersandshift wo rk as thetwomost stressful aspects of their environmen tThe focus of the present study is on theseco nd of these stressors.shiftwork.
Shift workis a necessaryingredientof policelife asthepublicrequirespolice service tobeavailable24 hoursaday.seven daysa week.Because shift workis viewed bypolice officersas one of theirmost potentstressors(Crank&Caldera. 1991I,finding.ashi ft schedulethatmeetsthe needsof policeofficersandtheir familieswhilemaintaining constant availab i.lity ofpolice serviceisimperative.Most policeagencies use rotatingshiftschedules tomaintaintheirserviceavailability.Thisrequirespolice officerstowork a collection of day andnightshifts,orevenday.evening.andnight shifts. all withina veryshortperiodoftime.
Thenightshifts are taxing on the employeesfor.as Monk. (1986)puts it."there are two thingswrong with nightwork:having toworkwhenyousho uldbeasleepandhaving to sleep
workers'sleepschedules.Asa result,the studyofcircadianrhythmshasoccupied muchof theresearchinthe area of shift'NOrL Whilestudy of circadian rhythmsisimportant.it shouldnot leadtotheexc lusionofstudy onotherpoten tialproblems.such as the misal ignm en t ofshift workers'leisure and social timeswith those oftherestof society.
Thisalterati onof leisure andsocial times willcenainlyhave an effectonshift workers'friends.families.andespecially their spouses.Unfortunately,as Star k-Adame c (1993)has noted, the attitudesofthe spouseofthe shift worker tendtobeoverloo ked.The presentstudyattemptstoaddress thisissuebyfocussing on thesatisfaction of police officers andtheirspouseswithtwoI2-bourcompressed workweek shift schedul es.Inaddition.to examinethepossibilitythatthestressassociated with policeworkandshiftwork might have a negativeeffect onthemaritaladjustment between police officersandtheir spouses. a scale designe d tomeasurethequali ty of this adjustment,theDyad ic Adj ustm ent Scale(Spanie r.
1981).is included for usewiththespouses.
Manypolicedepartmentsnow utilize compressed workweekschedules that require more hoursof workperdaybut fewer days ofworkperweekthanastandard. 8 hoursa day.
5 daysa week schedule.A nwnberof researchers havepredi ctedthatthe pairingof a compressed. work weekwith ashiftwork schedule.asisseen attheRNC.will havepositive effectsOiltheshift workersinvolved(Atwater,1978:Cunningham.1990:deCarufel&.
Schaan.1990 :Rutenfranz, Colquhoun.Knauth.&Gbata,1977).These positive effects are thesubjectof the nextsectio n.
1.1 Possibleadvantages of compressedworkweeks
TIlebasic contention of proponents of compressedwork:weeksisthatthese schedules are more compatible withthe:schedules ofthe majo rity of society .Proponentscontend this compati b ility makes the work ershappierwhichinturnmak esthem bett er workers. The possib le advantages ofcompressedworkweekscan be dividedintotwocategories:offduty advantagesand on duty advantages.
1.1.1 Offdutyadvantages
Oosthoek.,Beecro ft.andScott(19 71),insurveyinga group of policeofficers, found thattheofficersbelievedthe12-hourshiftscheduleswerebenefic ial totheir fam ily lives becausethey providefreetimedwingtheweek andonweeke nds,aswellasa cross section of time off during theday,evening,andnight.allwithina week long period.This enables workers to plan around the leisure hours of non-shiftworking family members and friends (Wedderburn. 1980).BaxterandHolmes(19 89).intheir study of the circadianrhythm disruptio nsexperiencedby policeofficersworkingrotati ngshift schedules.also foundthat the longerperiods of uninterrupt edtime with familyand friends providedby compressed work week schedules were appreciatedbythe:officers.
Compressed work week schedules give the worker more off-duty weekends allowing the worker to maintain involvementinsocialandleisure activities (deCarofel&Schaan..
1990).Resul ts of surveysbyBanks (1956),Chadwick-Jo nes(1969).andStainesand Pleck (1984)suggestthatweekendworkisthe most displeas ing panof shiftwork. Based onthis
research, a reduction in the num ber of weekends worked shouldincrease workers' satis facti on.
More days off also give the worke rtime torecover from nightwo rk (Rosaet al..
1990).Hale.Jodouin,andKingsley(1980) notethatshort amoun ts of off-duty timebetween shift changes are avoidedin 12-hour shift schedules...'bereas the8-hour shift scheduleshad a"sho rt change-between rotationsonce everytwoweeks.providingarestperiod of only eigh t hours betweentheend ofoneshiftandthebeginningof thenext when.for example.
an officer switchedfromnightshift to day shift.
Peacock,Glebe.Miller.andClune (1983) conductedinte rvie ws withpoliceofficers during 8-hour and12-ho urshift schedules. Tbe officers were askedtoreportwhentheyhad sleptandfor bowlongonthenightsprevi ous to eachinterviewsession.The 12-hour shift scheduleresultedintheirsleeppatternsbeingdisru ptedononlytwonightshiftsof theeight day cycl e.insteadof the5 eveningand5nightshifts duringthe21 day cycleof the8-hour shift sch edule.The officers indicatedthat thedisruption thatoccurredon the twodayswas easierto deal withdueto the improve mentinthe qual ityandquantity ofslee p obtained during theothersix days.
Anincreaseinrelaxation timemayalsoimprove bornelife (Atwater. 1978). Powers (1992 ). inareviewoftheliterature on changingwork-force values.stated that amongpolice officers, there isarenewed emphasison familyactivi tiesandan increased deman dforleisure time.Thierry andJansen(1982) specula te thatshiftworkersoftenfeel social lyisola ted and
thus social supportmaybepanicularlyimportant forthem.Improvement of familyand social time maybeonewaytofoster greaterlevels ofsocial supportfor someofficers.
Workerson 12-hour shiftsched ules.comparedwith thoseon 8-hourshiftschedules.
also spendless timeand money commutingtoandfromwork(Baxter&Holmes,19 89).
Atwater(1978),contends that 12·hourshift schedules sho uld resultinless fatigue . commutin g time.andmileage fortheworkers leadingtomoretime for relaxation and sleep andlessmoney spentongasandvehiclemaintenan ce.
The comme ntsof policeofficerswho were surveyedwhiletheyworked aforw ard rotating,8-hourshift scheduleandagainaft.crtheyhadbeenswi tched toa12-hour compressedwork week shiftsched ule summarize whatthese other researchershavebeen finding;the 12-hourcompressed work week shiftschedulesca use significantlyless interfere nce with workers'personal activitiesand work schedule attitudes than do 8-hour shiftschedules(PierceandDunham.1992).
1.1.2 On duty advantages
Generalincreasesinmoraleareamong the most impo rtan t potentialadvantages resulting froma change00atz -hc ur shiftschedule(Atwater,1978).Chen.Chisho lm.Co le . Dick. Dickson,and Hegne y (nodate),inastudyprepared for the MetropolitanToronto Polic e, id entified officermorale asone ofseveral criteriatobeconsideredin evaluating compressedwork week schedules.Theresearchersfoundincreased levelsof identificatio n amongco-workersand increased feelingsof stabilityafterthe implem enta tion of the12-hour shift schedule.Theseresults are importantbecauseincreasesinmorale andteamidentity can
have extensive positive effects onabsenteeismrates.job satisfaction.andjo b performance (Atwater.1978 ).
Thesmallernumber ofconsecutive shiftsofonetypemay lesse nboredom and thus increase officers'productivityandefficiency (Atwater.1978;Pierce&Dunham1992 ).In a survey of the Coquitlamdetachment of the RoyalCanadian Mounted Po lice (RCMP).
officersstatedthatthe increaseinavailable continuoustimeforwork.on a particular case led to an increased motivationtofinish caseswithina singleshift; thus they were more likely towork intensive lyon policematters when working compressedwork week schedules (Oosthoe k etat.,1977) .
Bette r coverage duringpeak hours ispredicted because changeover times occ ur
during low demandperiods (Atwater.1978).For 8-ho urshift schedules .the timesofshift changeare normally8:00a.m.• 4:00p.m.•and midnight These times coincidewithpeak demandperiodsformany policeagenciesandthus itiscommonforincidentstooccur during the shift changeover.
Areductioninovertimeexpendituresis oftenpredictedforthefoHowing reaso ns: thereis more timeavailabl eona 12-hour shift. makingit iseasiertocompletea task:two ofthe busier shift changetimesforthe8-hOW"shift schedules are avoidedin the12-hour shift schedules;andworkers are probablyless inclined orabletowork overtim e followinga12·
ho ur shiftthan they wouldbefollowing theshorter8·hour shift.thuslead ing to a decrease inworker initiat ed req uests forovertime (Atw ater.1978).
1.2 Possibl edisadvanuges or comp ressedwork weeks
There arealsopotentialdisadvantageswithcompressed workweekshift schedul es.
Thepossibledisadvantages mostoftenproposed arenegativeeffects onworkers healthand well being.Theseeffects havebeen studiedforman yyears.but becauseof the difficu lty in conducting controlledresearchinthearea.node finitivefindings havebeenreported and the issueremains controversial(Colquho unandRutenfranz.[980).
Muchof theresearchcarriedoutinthisarea dealswithfatigue. Threefactors influenceworkers'levels offati gueandtheir abilities tocopewithshiftwork:(I)circadian rhythms,(2)sleeppatterns,and(3 )domestic life(Tepas&Monk., 1987).Circad ian rhythms aregovernedbythe biological processesthata penon cycles throughduring the24-hour day.
Shiftworkcandisru pttheserhythmsandthiscancausehealthproblems (Tepas&Monk.
1981).Sleep patternsdeal with quantity and qual ity ofslee p.Domesti cfactorsarethose linkedtohome life routines.
Even ifa worker'scircadianrhythm andsleep pattern cantheoretical lybe adjusted to matcha shiftsched ule.domestic and soc ialfactorsmaypreven tthisfromhap pe ning (RutenfranzetaI.•1977;Tepas&Monk.1987). Psych o- soc ialproblems.suc hasthe disruptio n of familyroutinesandinterferencewithsociallives, maybeviewedbytheworker asmoreimportantthan physicaladaptation(RutenfranzetaI.•1977).Therefore.ashift schedule mustbe abletoachievea balance between all three of these factors.
Themainissuewithrespect tophysical adaptatio nisthe effect ofconsecutive night shifts.Twodifferentpositions havebeen.proposedtominimizefatigue .Oneposition isthat
a longseries ofnight sbiftsshouldbeusedtoattain a completere-entrainment ofcircadian rhythms. Thispositionissupponedbyresearchers suchasBaxt erandHo lmes(1989)who cite thefindingsof RutenfranzetaL(1977)that social environmentandaware nessofcloc k time are peoples' dominantcuesintheenvironme nt forregulatin g sleepandwakingpatterns. Baxterand Holmes (l9 89)then contendthat these cuescanbechan ged artificial lytoallow the comp lete re-entrainmentof circadian rhythmstooccur.The secondposi tionis that completere-entrainmentisnotpractical because ofsocialcues such asfamilyschedules and timing ofleisureevents and has only been demonstratedinartificial.tightly controlled laboratorysitua tions(Rosa etal.,1990).
Wedderburn(1980)citeshumans' reluctanceto abando nsocialcontacts for prolonged periods astheforem ostcause forlack ofcomplete: re-entrainment, This observati on is supportedbyearly research byVan loon (1963)thatshowedthatworkers' temperaturesrevertedtoadiurnal patternfortwoorthreedaysafterweekends.orother days of rest. Van loon (196 3), andlaterCompe ratore and Krue ger(1990),foundthat this occurredbecausenight workers on theiroff-dutydaysreverted.todayschedulesto indulge insocial activities.Asa resultofthesefindings.. Vanloonadvocated an increaseinthe speedofrotation ofshifts.whileescbewingthe unrealistic idealof completere-entrai nment, According[0VanLoon.itwouldbesocially unacceptablefor theworkerstoremove themselves fromdaytime acti vities foranextended periodof time.
Theinco mp letere-entrainme nt caus ed byworkers reverting[0dayschedules on theirdaysoff couldbebarmful[0theworkers'health. KnauthandRutenfranz(1982)cite
laboratory andfield researchw'hichsuppo rtstheirconclusionthatdis:tuptionsof workers ' circadianrhythmsareminimizedbytheuse of schedules with few night shifts in succession.
Withthistypeofschedule.incomplete re-entrainmentis avoidedbecause aworker experiencesonlytwodaysoutofeightof disruptedsleep. not a sufficientperiodto causethe re-entrainment processtobegin. Forthese reasons G1ube (1981).Rutenfranzetal.(197 7).
and TotterdellandSmith(1992)sup port a quicklyrotatingshonseriesof night shifts.as is entailedbyacompressedworkweekschedule.Thisisthenextbestoption tocompleteand permanent re-entrainmentandachievesthe least interfere ncewith socialanddomestic routines.Glebe's(1981) researchshows that thefewernumberofnight shiftsand me greater num ber of restdays com pensa te forthelon ger shift.
In additiontothe number ofconsecutive nightshifts.taskloadisan importantfactor contributingtofatigue.Jobs notrequiring much physicalexerti onorones thathaveample naturalrestperiodsare the mostsuitable for extended shifts. Work that requires an individual to exerciseconstantattentionorcognitiveenergyisless amenab letolonger shifts (Stones. 1987).Oosthoek eta1.(1971).intheirstud y of t2·hourshiftsched ules in the RCMPinBritish Columbia. proposedthatin thesho rt-run,fatigue wouldhavethegreatest effecton the routineaspectsofpolicin g, noton the tasks highinurgency andstimulation.
The~tsofthe researchbyPeacocketat.(1983)provide a good swnmary for the debate overthepresenceor absenceoffatigue for workersoncompressed work week schedules. The results providedno evidencethat the com pressedworkweekt2-ho urshift schedulewas worsethanthenon-compressedwork week 8-hourshift schedulewith regard
00physio logical.psycbologicalor subjective measures of alertness. The main advantages ofthe 12· bo urshiftschedul ewererelatedtothepossibilityof impro vedsleepconsistency andthesupport for thenew schedule amongtheworkers . The authorsrecommende d adoptionofacompressed wo rkweek tz-bourshiftschedule.
1.3 Desc ri ption orshift worksched ules
The police departmentstudied inthisresearch is the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary(RNC).theprovincialpolice agency for the provinceofNewfoundl andand Labrador.Canada.The compressed work week schedules studiedin thisresearchprojectare twolz-hcurshiftsched ules beingused in the patrol divisio ns of three detachmentsofthe RNC.Thethreedetachmentsare locatedinSt.Jo hn's,Come r Brook,and labradorCityin the provinceofNewfoundlandandLabrador.Canada The12-bo ur shiftsched ules were requestedbytheRoyalNewfoundJand Constabulary Association (RN CA)wttich represents the constab lesandnon-commissioned officersof the RNC. Themana gementof theRNC agreedtoimplementtheshiftschedulesona trial basis.Thetrial periodbegan on August I.1993.
The shiftscheduledesignated 8A throughtheremainderof this thesisisthe 8·hour equalallocationshift schedule worked byallofficers priortotheimplementati on ofthe 12·
hourshiftschedules.Itisascheduleof day shifts followedbya changetonightshifts and then a chan ge to eveningshifts.Therearefive ofeither day.evening. ornightshifts worked in a row.withtworestdaysfallingnear the middl e ofoneof thethreestretches.depend ing
10
on the worker'sassigned rotation,A four-dayweekend offisalsoprovided once everythree weeks.
The shift scheduledesignated88is the split8-hourshift schedule. This wasused duringatwoyearperiod attheSt. John's detachment,only.It isapeakdeployment schedule.
in which themosthumanresources are available during the highestdemandperiod s.Itis simi lar tothe 8-hourequalallocationshiftscheduleinrotationstylewith themain difference being thepresen ce ofoverla ppingshifts.
The shift scheduledesignated12Aisa lz-bcur,2+2 sbift schedule.This refers[0a scheduleoftwo12-hourdayshifts. followed bytwo12-hour nightshifts..andthen four days of rest- This sched ulewasusedfor aone-yearperiod durin g 1990 and1991 at all detachments of the RNC andiscurrentlyineffectat the St.John's detachme nt.Here.each platoo n hashalfitsofficers workingaiD-ho ur night shiftonthefirstnightof the rota tionand theothe r half workingaID-hour nightshift on the second nightoftherotatio n. This isdon e to avoid accruinghoursof work over the amountallowedbythe collective agreement
Theshiftschedule designated 128isa 12-hour.3+2shiftschedule.This refers to a scheduleof eithertwo orthree day shifts. followed bytvo"Oorthreedaysofrest.before switchingtotwoorthree night shifts. There are always two orthreerestdays between groupsof dayandnight shifts.This sched uleiscurrentlybeingusedinthe Com er Brook and labrador City detachments .Herethenight andday shifts areboth12 ho ursin length .The officersare allo wed toaccrue their extra time and then sched uleitoff inafullshift:thisis practicalin thesedetachments becauseoftheirsmallersizes. Tab le 1.1 provid es the dates
Tablei.t.
Datesforthe shi ft.sched uleinitiatio nsfor tb; tb m: d;IaCbm;nJ.!j areas
Shift Schedule St.John's CornerBrook labrador City 12A Jan uary15.1990 January 15.1990 Jan uary 15.1990 12-hour2+2
8A
8-hourEqual February10.1991 February 10.1991 February 10.1991 Allocation
88 June2.199 1 Not lniti ated NotIniti ated
Split8-bour
8A Co ntin ued from Con tinued from
8-hourEqual June 20.1993 February 10.19 9 1 February10.1991 Allocation
l2-hour August I.1993 August1.199 3 August 1.1993
l2Aand128 l2A 128 128
(2+2and 3+2 (2+2 ) (3+2) (3+2)
12
thatthese shift schedules wereinitial edin thethreedetachments.Diagramsanddefming characteristi cs ofthe fourshift schedulesare providedinAppendix 1.
104 Hypot hesesandrationa le
(0previous sectionsme possible social advantag es of compressedwork week schedules wen: describedalong with findings indicating that incompl etere-entrainment may bemoreharmful than disrup tingcircadianrhythmsfor a smallporti on of the workcycle.
Rutenfranz etal.(1977). Knauth and Rlrtenfranz( 1982).and Tepasand Monk(1987)mak e recomm eodari ons for meoptimizationofshift schedulesand me reductio nof coping problems for workers.Each of the following subsections describesone of their suggestions.
documentsmeextentto\\-hich[he suggestionismelinthe lz-bcur shift. schedulesinuseat theRNC.andprovides ahypo thesis based ona com binationofthe[WO.A summaryofthe extenttowhicheach schedule meetsor failsto meet thesesuggesti ons isprese nte d inTable 1.2.
1.4.1 The effectsof censecu tiv enigh t shifts
Acco rdin g toTepas and Monk«(981). there shouJdbeno morethanfour12-ho ur night shiftsinarow without days otT.However.some authors recommend.singl enigh tshifts rather than consecutive nightshifts(R.utenfranzetal.•(977).Theprese nt compressedwo rk weekschedulesutilize onlytwo orthree. The 8-hourshift.schedulesusedpreviouslyhad fivenight shiftsina row.The decreasednumber ofnight shiftsinarow for the 12-hour shift.
schedulesas co mpare d tothe 8-bo ur shiftschedulesshouJd resultinwo rke rsrepo rtingan improvementinthe quantity andquality oftheir sleepon bamwork daysandoff-dutydays.
Tuble1.2.
Acomna riso n Qrthefourtypesof shiftschedyles ytili zedby theRoyal Newfmmdlaod ConstabularyAccontj ngIQIheQptimalcriledo ounmertmlhlslh!!SIS
Shin Number DayShift NightShift Sbonest Frequency Directionof Durationof Regularity Schedule ofNight StartTimes Length Interval of'Free Rotation ShinCycle of'Rotetion
Type Shiftsin Compared Between Weekends
Succession WilhDuy TwoShifts WId
Evening Shift Lenutha
8A 5 8:00a.m. Some 8Hours lin) Backward 3Weeks Irregular
8·Hour Equal Allocation
811 5 lI:oo u.m. Same 8110urs Iin) Backward 6Wccks Highly
Split Irregular
8·Hour
12A 2 11:00u.rn. Shorteron 12Ilours 3in II Forward 8 Weeks Regular
12-llour
v,
or the2+2 Ni'hiShins
1211 2or3 1I:00 u.m. Same 12Hours Iin2 Forward 4Weeks Rcgulnr
12-Hour 3+2
104.2 Theeffects orearlymorn ingstart times
Tepasand Monk (1987) suggestthata day shift should notstartearlierthan7:00a.m.
in order to avoidconflict withsleep patterns and familyinvolvement. The present schedules use 8:00a.m.morningstarttimes.Thestarttimes forthe day shifts of the 8-hoursched ules are identicalto thestarttimes forthe day shifts ofthe12-hour schedules. sothere shouldbe no differencesinsatisfactionwiththe mornin g start times. However.workers and spouses may reporta decreaseindifficulty of setting asidetime formeals together withfamilyand takingcareofchildren as a result ofagreaterratioof morningstarttimestootherstarttimes on the 12-hourshift schedules(1:1)versustheratioon the 8-hour shiftsched ules(I:2).
IA.J TheeffedSofthe pbysicalandmen taltask loadsODtbeoptim a llengt bofsb ifu Critical monitoringtasksand heavy physicalworkloads are not amenable to lz-hc ur shiftschedules (Te pas&Monk. 1987).To my knowledge therehasbeenno research conducted todefine the types of tasksin patro l shifts.Howe ver. a variety of tasks occur in asingleshift. soitseems that neither critical monitoringtasksnor heavyphysicalwork dominatesfo r the entireshift.
The presentnightshifts are longer than the 8-hournight shiftsoftheprevious schedules. Thisincreaseinthe length of theshift mayresultinan increaseinself reported fatigue attheendofshifts.Reportsoffatigueor fallingasleepon dutymay be more frequent forthe12-ho ur nightshiftsthanforany othershifts.This shouldbeconsideredalongwith the workers'percep tions of changesintheireffectivenessas police officers and their perception of the changeinthe percentageof on-dutytime used efficiently.
I... The effectsofshortiatenralsor time offbetwee ntwoshifts
Shortamounts ofoff-duly timebetween shifts arc avoidedunderthepresent schedules.Rutenfranz er al.(1977)suggestallowingatleast24hoursofoff-dutytime after each night shift.Atpresentthere arc only12hoursbetween successive nightshifts .
Ho wever.theRNCIz-bcur shiftsched ules domeetthesuggestedcriterionof Tepas andMonk(1987) whosuggestbaviegatleast48hoursoff afterabloc k ofnight shifts.The off-dutytimesforthepresent schedules range fromaminimum of 48hours toa maximum of96hours .The 8-bourshiftschedules includedan 8-hourrestperiodbetweena change of shiftsonceeverythreeweeks or twice everythree weeks.dependingon the rotationbeing worked. This shortrestperiodisavoidedunderthepresentschedule.The absence ofthis
"short.change"should resultintheworkersandtheir spouses beingsatisfiedwiththeamoun t
of time off between work periods forfamily related activities. 1....5 The effrcts orthe inclusioner tr ee weeke nds
The 12~hourshiftschedulesprovidemoreweekendsoffthando8-ho urshift schedules. Rutenfranzet al. (1977)emphasize the need forfreewee kends fo rtheworkers to participateinthe social life oftheir non-shiftworkingfriends.Schedule128provides everysecond weekend offwhereas12Arequires an officer to work.one partialweekend.then threefullweekends.thenanotherpartialweekendina rowbeforegettingthreefull weekends off.Schedul e12Athusmakes italittlemoredifficulttoparticipat einsocial orfamily eventsthatoccuronweekends.However. both12~hourshiftschedules allowfor mo refree weekend timethandidthe8~hourshiftsched ules;therefore. satisfactionwiththeamo unt of
16
freeweekendtimeshouldincrease.Workersshouldfinditeasiertoplan off-du ty activities onme12-hourshift schedules.Inaddition.theyshould havelessdifficultysettingaside time forleisure time togetherwithfam ily and friends .andforparti cipa tio n in cluband organizationactivi ties.lngeneral.workersshould havemore timeto spen dontheir personal interestson the 12-hourshift sched ulesthanonthe8-hourshiftschedules.
1.4.6 The effectsof forwa rdrotatio n
Forward rotati onis usedinthe presentschedules.Forward rotationinshiftsresults ina synchro nizatio n with thedirec tion of workers'circadian rhythms. Hwnans' circadian rhythm s shift forwardintime each day because the body'sinternalclock is basedonaperiod greaterthan24 hours (Comperaroreand Krueger.1990). The direction of thebody's adjustment is forward. making iteasier for anemployee toadjusttoamov e from workin g days toworkingnights withshanperiodsoftimeoffinbetween.thantoamove fromnights todays.The s-bourshift schedules were backwardinrotation.that is.the shifts proceeded fromnightstoevenin gs to days.The forward rotation of the12- ha ur shiftsched ules should lead toan increase in the adjustment totheschedules and thus improvemen tsin the quantity andqualityofsleepfortheworkers. compared with the levelsforthe previous8-hour shift schedules.
104.7 Tbedfecu ofasbi ftc:ydeofs bortdu ratio n
Sche dule12Ais eight weeksindurationwhile 12Bisfour weeks:the sho n ershift duration shou ldleadto ahigherlevelof satisfactionwith128.The 8-hourshi ft schedules werethreeandsix weeksinduration.Thecycledurati onof128iscomparable to thecycle
duration of8Aandshorterthanthecycledurationofthesplit 8-hourshift schedule.
Therefore,theofficers working128 should notreporta decreaseinsatisfacti ononthis criterion .AccordingtoRutenfranz et al.(1971), thelon ger duration of the12A cycle should leadto adec reaseinworkers'satisfaction with12Acompare dwith their satisfactionwith the 8·h our shi ft schedules.However.this is oneofthe few disadvantagesofa12-hour shift schedulerelativetoan 8-ho urshift sched ule.andtherespondentsmaynotconsiderit impo rtan t enoughtoaltertheir overallprefere nces.
1....8 Thedf~ctsof.aregulae shift rutaricn
Regul ar schedulesof rotation.suchas thepresent shiftsched ules.are preferred to the irregular schedulesfound in 8-hour shiftschedules because irregularschedules makeit difficulttoplan (Rutenfranzetat.•1977). Sched ule 12Aiseasytopredict from daytoday.
but12Bisproba blyeasiertopredic toverlongerperiodsbecauseofitsshortrotation. The different advan tagesofeachshiftschedulewillprobablyleadto simi larlevelsof satisfaction forboth. Thesatisfactio nwith the12-hourshift schedules shouldbe higherthan the satisfactionwithmemore irregularand complicated8-hour shi ft schedules.Planningoff- dutyactiviti esonmel2-hour shift schedulesshouldberelativelyeasy.
...9 Theeffl:'Ctsof familyfa cto rs00sati5fa crioowith the l2-boursbiftsched ules The predictionsgivenherearebasedprimarilyupon research on physical adaptation as thisisme area in whichmost researchhas been conducted.However.as was notedearlier.
shift workersgenerally refuse toforego social involvementwithfamilyand friends who are governedbyweekdayschedul es andtherefore completere-entrai nment cannotberealized.
18
The strong effectsocialcues haveonshiftworkers thusnecessitatestheuseofrotating shift wo rking schedulesinsteadofpermanentday.evening. or nightshifts.
Meetingalltherecommendationsinoneshiftsched uleisdiffic ult. butthe majori ty ofrecommendarionsare metbythepresent 12-bo ur shift schedules in use atthe
RNe.
Itis thushypothesized thatthere willbeahighlevelof satisfacti onwiththecompressedwork wee kschedulespresentlyin use especially among thoseworkers who have spousesor partners workingoutside thehomeon full-time, fixeddayshiftschedules. andworkerswith children ofschoolage(ages 5toi8years ).Thesocialcues of workers are thuspredictedto have a profound effect on their satisfactio nwith the schedules.Thesatisfactio nof the workers mayalsobecorrel atedwiththe satisfaction oftheir spouses.Cb.apter2 METHO D 2.1 Respo nden ts
Data werecollected from three detachmentareas:St.Jo hn's.ComerBrook.and LabradorCity.The St.John' sdetachme nt. thelargestofthethree.servicesthe capitalcity of the Province.me neighbouring city of Mount Pearl.andthesurrounding area. This isa mostlyurban andsuburbanregion.The officersworking in thisdetachmentlive forthemost:
partinthe jurisd ictiontheyserve.
The ComerBrook detachmentservicesthethirdof meProvince'scities.Thecityof ComerBrook isthe siteof alargepaper mill and is a servicecentreforthesurro undingrural areas.Theofficers assignedtomeComerBrookdetachment liveineitherthe city orone of severalruralcommunitieswithina 30- to 45-minute commute.
TIleLabradorCitydetachmentis ooe oftwo detac hmentsservicing LabradorWest.
'Ibe otherisa two-persondetachment in ChurchillFalls.Labrador West is aruralareawith itscore populationin Labrador CityandWabush,twocommunitiescentred aroundiron ore mines.Allofficersassigned to meLabradorCity detachmentlivewithin this community. Moredetails onthe detachme nts are provi dedinTable2.1.
Thetotalpopulation.or number of individ ualswhowere askedtoparticipateinthe surveysandinterviews .was287.Of'tbese. 218 responded.Constables accounted for122 ofthe respondents.shift working superviso rs12.day working supervisors 7.andspouses 77.
Therespondentnumbersare furtherbroke ndown byphysicallocationandsurvey grouping inTable 2.2.
Table 2.1.
Cbaract erimC1j ofthe tbI«d;tacbmeu t areas
Characteristic SLJohn's CornerBrook LabradorCity
Population 169.735 22.410 12.189
SquareMiles Policed 315 61 27.315
SWOrn Officers 273 42 21
Non-sworn Employees 61 7 4
SwornOfficerStrength 1:622 1,534 1:580
to PopulationRatio
TotalStrength U08 1:457 1:488
toPopulation Ratio
Tabte22.
Respondent statisticsbysury;ygrmm
Respondent St.John's Com erBrook LabradorCirv Group.
popula!iol'l ""'Y' population ~...". population SUTYc:ys
-, ...
~m" " "-"' ..
Constables 120 89 27 22 15 II
Shift Wodcing 17 8 4 4 0 0
Supervisors
DayWorking 2 2 3 2 4 3
Supervisors
Soouses 56 44 28 22 II II
22
The subgroup list of spousestobecontactedintheSt, Jobn'sdetachment area\\0"3.5 takenfroma computer generated random ordered list.Thenumbe r includedwas restricted bylimitatio ns ofavailableresources.suchas trained interviewers.transporta tion.andtime.
Attempts were madeto con tactall thespouses of officers working atthe ComerBroo k and labradorCitydetachmentareas asthenumber ofpotentialinterviewees\\0<\5lower.Intotal.
14 spouseswerenot contactedafter several attemptsora meetingtimewasnot possible.4 chose nottoparticipate.andTlspouses completed interviews.A follow-up mail-out forthe spouses resultedinSOresponses ofa possible15.
2.2 Materi a ls
Two versionsofa questionnaire.one eachforthe constablesand theshi ft working supervisors. andtwostructuredinterviewformats, oneeachfortheday workingsupervisors andthe spouses.wereprepared, Questionnaires were utilizedfor the constablesbecause of the largenum berof potentialrespondents involved.Questionnaires werethusalsousedfor the shiftworkingsupe rvisorsto allow forcombini ngoflike data,The smal lernumbers of day workingsupervisorsandspouses aswell asthedesire formo re detailedresponsesmade itpractical and desirabletoutilizestructured interviewsfor these groups.
Each surveyinstrument included several sections. each with itemsthatwerebased upon. selected. or adaptedfromitemsusedinpreviousstudiesinthisor acomp ara ble area ofresearc h. Theitemschose n were oneswhich.inthe assessmentof theresearcher.
addressed theissues ofconce rnto both the managementof the RNC and the RNCA.
Addi tionalitems were formulatedas a result of feedback fromfocus groupsheldwith
constablesandnon-commissionedofficers.The focus groupparticipantshadfonnerly workedinone ormore ofthethreepatrol divisionsandhad experience with rwctypesof8~
hourshiftschedulesand a12-hourshift sched uleusedpreviouslybytheRNC.Fonner patrol officers wereusedforthesefocus groupssoasoa ttodecreasethe numberofpossibl e respondentsforthedata gathering phase.
Thefirst sections were comprised of demographicquestions from which thedata wereusedtogrouprespondentsfor comparison purposes (Operations Research-F"Division Royal Canadian MountedPolice.1993). The policeofficers were asked operational quest ionsto assesstheeffects ofthe12-h our shiftonthe operational requirements ofthe RNC(Cunningham.1990;OperationsResearch"E-Division RoyalCanadian Moun ted Police. 199 3: Pierce&Dunham.1992;Tho rvaldso n, 1984).Shift workersandtheirspouses were askedabout the l z-bour shift'simpacton theirleisure and family schedu les (Burke.
1993;Mayn ard&Maynard.1982;Stenmark. DePiano.Wackwitz. Cannon.&WaIfish.
19 82 ).Shi ftworkerswereaskedtoreportho wthey wereaffected with respect to fatigue.
health.moral e andjobinvolvement (Brooke.Russell&Price.1988;Crank&Caldera.1991:
deCaru fel&Schaan, 1990;Stenmark,DePiano.Wackwitz. Cannon.&Wal fish.1982: Zedec k,Jac kson.&Summers Merce, 1983 ).All respondents were askedtoreport their preferenceswithrespect tovarious shift scheduleaspects.as well astheirperceptions ofand satisfactio nwith12~and8~hourshift worksched ules(Crank&Caldero.1991; Cunnin gham, 1990 :Pierce&Dunham.1992;Thorvalds on.1984 ).
24
Thequestionnairesandstructuredinterviewswere pilo ttested.on several former patrolofficers. Feedbac k from thesesessionswasusedtoadjust the questionnai resand structured interviews.The approxima tetimeneeded foran individualto completethe instrumentswas20to30 minutes.
Cop ies of the Mem bers' Questionnaire. the Supervisors' (Shift Workers ) Questio nnaire. the Supervisors' (9 [0 SWorke rs) Structured Intervie w. and t:he Spouses'lPanners'Structured Interview are providedin Appendices2to5.TheDyadic Adj ustment Scale(Spanier. 1981)usedinthe foUow-upmail-outtothespousesispro vided inAppe ndix6.
2.3 Procedure
At thebeginningof May 1994,mem oranda fromthe researcher.the Chiefof Police.
and the Presidentof theRNCA.weresentto allofficers of the patroldivisions of the St.
John's,Come r Brook.andLabradorCitydetachments.Thememorandaaddressed the plannedsurveyandits purpose. \\/here applicable.the officersworkin g:12- hourshift scheduleswere asked totake the memorandahome to their spouses.sothe spouses wo uld be awareof the survey before theywere contactedandaskedto participate. Copies of the memoran daareprovidedinAppendix7.
2.3.1 Consta blesandshift workingsu pe rvis o rs
During thelast wee k of Mayand thefirstweek ofJune1994.the Members' Questionnairewasadministeredto theco nsta bles working12-hourshift sched ulesinthe patroldivis io n oftheSt,lohn's detachmen t.Half the platoonswereworkingnightshifts
(8:00p.m.to8:00a.m.)duringthis period.Following the pre-shiftissuingofassignm e nts and briefmg.balf the constablesonduty wereaskedto stay behindto completethe questionnairewhilethe otherhalfinitiatedtheir assignedduties.Atthispointthe consta bles werereminded of thepurpose forthe survey,giventhequesti onn aire.andinstruc tedto co mp leteit on theirown. Theyweretoldthatit would take roughly20 to30minutes to completethe questionnaireandthat anyquestions shouldbedirectedto the researcherso as nottodisturbthe otherpartic ipants.Astheseindividualsfinished.they were deployedso thatthe other individuals couldrerumtoparticipateinthesurvey.Thisgroupwas instructed in the samemanner. Any consta bles arrivinglatewere taken aside andinstru cted individually.
The otherhalf oftheplatoons wereworkingdayshi fts(8:00 a.m.to8:00p.m.). In these instances theprocedurewasessentiallythesamewiththe exception that half were surv ey ed on thetimdayof their two-daystretchandtheother halfweresurveyed on the secondday.
Duringthe third weekoflune 1994.the Members'Questionnairewas administered inthe LabradorCity detachment. The procedure previousl yusedfortheplatoonsworking night shiftsinSLJohn's wasusedhere forbothdayandnightshifts.During the fourth week of June t994, the Members' Questionnai rewas administeredinthe Com erBrook detachment,utilizing the sameproced ure as wasusedinLabrado rCity.
Whiletheconstables ineachareawerecompletingtheMembers'Questionnaire,the sergeantsandstaffsergean tsassigned to the platoonscompletedtheSupervisors'(Shift
26
Workers) Questionnaire. For reporting purpo ses. me constablesandshift working supervisorsweregroupedtogetherand willbe referred. to as the workers.
2.3.2 Day workingsuperv tsors
Structured interviewswereconductedwith theday working supervisors of thepatrol divisionsoftheLabrador CityandCome rBrook detachments during thethird andfourth weeks of June 1994. The dayworking supervisors atthe St. John'sdetachment were interviewedinearlySeptember 1994.Thesupervisorswereinterviewedat their convenience and were giventhe instructionsprovid ed at the beginningofthe Supervisors '(9 to 5 Work ers)StructuredInterview.
2.3.3 Spo usesofconstab lesandsbiftworki ngsuperv is ors
Two weeks before the researcher's tripstolabradorCityand ComerBrook. all spousesof theofficers assignedtothepatrol divisions ofthesedetachments workingthe12- how-s hiftscheduleswerecontacted andaskedtoparticipatein a structuredinterview.If an officer's spouse wasalso an officerwho worked the lz-bc urshift schedules.that spouse was emitted fromthelist ofpotentialinterviewees so astoavo id the possibilityofsurveying that ind ividualtwice. runes convenienttotheintervieweeswerechosenforappointmen ts.
Whenthe researcher arrived intheregion. each respondent was called toreconfirm appointmenttimes.Structured interviewswere conductedinthe respondents' homes. The intervieweeswereremindedof the contentsof the memorandadefining thepurpo se of the survey,or weregivenacopyof thememoran d aiftheyhad not receivedthem orco uld not recal lthecontent. They wen:giventheinstructions pro vided atthe beginning of the
SpouselPartner Structured latervi ew beforetheinterviewbegan. At the conclusionof the interview.therespondentswen:informedlhey would be receiving a mail-cutquestionnaire in the comingmon thsand werethankedfor theirtime andcooperation.
Uponreturn from these researchtrips.asubgroup ofspouses wasrandoml y selected.
froma comp lete listofthespouses cfthe constabl esand.shiftworki ngsu perviso rsassigned to thepatroldivision oftheSt John'sdetachment .Theindivi dualsfrom the su bgro upwere contactedand asked to participate.Thesame proc edure used fortheLabrador City and Comer Broo k interviewswas followedfortheStJohn 's detachmentinterviews.Thesetook place during thefirst. second. andthirdweeks of August 1994.
Inordertocompare the satisfaction of'theworkersandtheirspousesit wasnecessary todevise a systemthatwould allowpairs of surveystobematc hed..To this end. instructions were given torespondents onhowtoconstructa code numbe rthatwould be identicalfor the wo rkerandspo useof eachpair .Itwas expectedthat theresearch er wouldbeabletopair every workerwithhis orher spouse.as longashomhad beensurveyed.
Unfortunately.aperfect match couJdnot be achievedfor severalreasons.First. not all workers whose spouses were surveyed were present whentheworkers'questionnaires were administered. Second. notall respondents constructed a code numberbecause.
althoughtheybad.been assured otherwise.theyfeared theycould be identified if the researc herhad accesstotheir personnel files.Finally.somepartsof the codenumbers were erroneously generated by eithe r theworkerorthe spous e. Thirty-nin epairs of workersand
28
spouses were identified usingthecodenumbers constructed by the respondents and responsestodemogra phic questio ns.
2.3.4 Dyadi c:Adj us tme n tScalemail-out
Duringthe first week ofSeptember1994.the Dyadic AdjustmentScalewasmailed outtothespouses.alongwithacove rletterreminding the participantsoftheprevious interviewandthe purposeofmestudy.Instruc tions on completionandreturn procedures were alsoprovided.A self-addressed,postage- paid rerum envelope wasincl uded forthe convenienceof eachrespondent.Two of the respondentsfromthe firstphase had moved since the interviewsand the officers to whomthey weremarried were now ",..orking a differentshiftschedule thanatthetime ofthe initial interviews. Therefore. these two spouseswe renot incl udedin themail-out,
Chapter 3 RESULTS
Compariso nsweredrawnbetweenthe workers'perceptionsofandsatisfactionwith the12Aand 12Bshift schedules and the8-hour shiftschedules.Comparisons were also drawnamongthe various groupsidentifiedwithinthedetachments.Schedule12A isused intheSt.John 'sdetachment ....tille128isusedinthe Comer BrookandLabrador City detachments,leading resultstobeconfoundedbydetachmentandtypeof12-hourshift schedule.
The surveyinstrumentsutilized for thisresearchwere developedtomeetthe applied researchneedsofamonitoringcommittee consisting ofRNC managementandmembers of the RNCA. Therefore.theinstruments inc ludedmanyoperationalandothertypesof questionswhicharenotpartofthe focus of thisthesis.Datadirectlyrelatedto the focus of this thesiswereanalyzedandthe resultsan: presentedinthis chapter.The questionsan:
providedintabularfonninAppendix8.
Responsestoquestions thatweredesignedtoassessthesame construc tweretested for their intercorrelations. Responses onscales ofthesame formatthatwere significantly correlatedwereaveragedtogiveasinglescore. For example, allconstructrelated and intercorrelated responses on7-pointlikenscaleswere combinedtogive onescore.Insome cases oneorman: questionswen:statedinadirection oppositetothatused.forthemajority of theotherquestions.Thismadeitnecessarytoreversethescoringof these questions beforetestin gtheinterccrrelaticnsand combinin g theresponse s.
3.1 The effectsof ee nseeunv enight sbifb
Theworkers wereaskedaseries ofqucstio nsontheeffectof the shift change ontheir quantityand qualityofsleepover workperiodsanddays off.Theresponsefrequenciesfor theworkersinthethree detachments are reponedinTable3.L Aswillbethecase throughout thisthesis.the questionnumbersandwordings give ncorrespondtothose used inthe Members' Questionnain::andthe numbersandwo rdings fortheother instruments may vary slightly.
Inresponsetothese fourquestions onchangesinsleeppatternsandtwoopenended questionsas tohowthequalityofsleephaschanged,fewer than half of the workers (42.54%.
M""57)feltthat their sleep patternshadimproved. However.on thepositiveside.only a
mino rity of workers(23.13'Y..,t:l..31) reported any negative effectofme shift change on their sleeppatterns.Theremainderof the workers reported no changeinthe quantity and quality of their sleep.
3.2 Theeffectsof ear lymorningstarttimes
Theworkersandspouseswere askedtoreport cbanges inlevelofdiffic ulty setting aside timefor meals togetherwithfamily andtaking care ofcbl ldren.The mean scoresand
stan darddeviatio ns forthe workers and spousesinthethreedetachments are reponed in
Table 3.2.
The responsesforallquesti ons onsettingaside time were givenon asev en point Likertscale.Forthe workers. one represented"Much LessOften"and seve nrepresented
TobleJ .!.
Respon sefreQuenciesforthe workersintbetlues:,I,!pcb!)),"t!forthe questionson qUAolilyandaUAlilypfslccp
SI. John's Comer Labrador Brook City 41,flasthequantity(amount)of yoursleepoverwork pertedsincreased. decreased,
orremained thesamesince the initiation or the 12hourshiftschedule?
[lJ Increased 21 9 I
12J Decreased 19 2 2
(3) Remainedthe same 53 15 8
42.liasthequalityof yoursleep overworkperiod. changedsincethe initiationofthe 12hourshillschedule?
[I) y" 28 10 2
121 No 68 15 9
44.Hasthequantity(amount)of yoursleepoverday.offincreased, decreased,or remainedthe samesince the initiationor the 12hourshiftschedule?
[II Increased 30 6 I
[21 Decreased 5 I I
[ll Remainedthe same 62 19 9
45.liasthequality ofyoursleep overdays orfchangedsince theinitiationof'rhe 12 hourshift schedule?
[IJ Yes 36 7 2
2 No 59 17 9
32
Table3.2.
MenD scoresandstandarddeyirujonsforthl:workersandarousesjnthl:threeds;t3cbmenlstil[theQyestions onrespondents'difficulty seujnggsjdetjme
32.Sincetheshiftschedulechangehave St.Joh n's ComerBrook LabradorCity you and yourspouse/partnerhaddifficulty
Workers Spouses Workers Spouses Workers Spouses settingasidetime foreachcf'thefollowing
lessormore often: (M)M
sn ~) :m ~) :m ~) sn (~) sn I ~) sn
A.Mealstogetherwithfamily? 4.J5 1.78 2.27 1.45 4.68 2.10 2.48 1.21 5,00 2.05 2.64 1.36
(92) (44) (25) (21) (11) (11)
C.Takingcareofchildren? 4.37 2.11 2.13 1.43 4.68 2.11 2.65 1.22 4.45 2.16 2.60 1.51
(62) (31) (19) (17) (11) (10)
Composite Measure 4.23 1.78 1.84 0.92 4.79 2.06 2.62 0.94 4.73 2.00 2.30 1.42
1(62) 31 (19) 1(17) 1( 11) (10)
~.TheresponsesfortheabovequestionsweregivenonasevenpointLikertscale.Fortheworkers.one represented"MuchLess Often"and sevenrepresented"Much MoreOtten."Forthe spouses,onerepresented"Much LessDifficult"andseven represented
"MuchMoreDifficult."
"Much MoreOften..- Forthe spouses.one represented"Much LessDifficult"andseven represented"MuchMore Difficult,- This scaleisusedthroughoutthe results section.
An alpha levelof.05wasusedforallstatisticaltests.The responsesferthe[WQ
statementsweresignificamlycorrelated.r(148)"".74.~<.001.andwere thereforeaverag ed forease ofreporting.The workersreportednochanges inthelevelofdifficulty setting aside timeforthese activities(M
=
4.40 ).The spouses reported"moderate"dec linesinthelevel ofdifficultysetting asidetime(M=
2.15).with82.76%lli=
48) ofspouses reportingsome decreaseindifficultysetting aside time.The spouses reportedsignificantly largerdeclines inthelevels of difficulty settingaside timethandid theworkers.I(148)=8.39..IJ<.00 t.3.3 Theeffectsof thephysicalandmen taltaskloads on theoptim a l length ofshifu workers were askediftheyfelt more tiredatthe end ofaI2-hourshiftthanat theend of an 8·hourshift.The response frequenciesfor the workersin the threedetachm ents are reported in Table 3.3. Themajorityofworkers(63.64%.l::l
=
84) reported feeling nomore tired at theendof a 12-hourshiftthanatme end ofan 8-hourshift. while36.3 7%ill""48) oftheworkersreportedfeeling more tiredatthe endof a l2-bourshift.Oflhose workerswho reported feelingmoretiredattheendof a12-oourshift.,onlyoneworkerfe lttheincreased fatigue had a negativeeffect onwork performance.Inorder to further assessthefatigueofworkersonthevarioustypes of shifts.the workerswere askedtoreport bow often.,onaverage. they fellasleepon a singleshiftof each type.The overallmeansof the frequenciesreported bytheworkers areprovidedinTa ble 3.4.The largest differenceswerebetweenthedayand night shifts.Thescores forthe night
34
Table3.3.
Responst; fmtuenciesforthe WQrkers inthethree dcqc;hments fortheqUestioDonfatigue followjnga J2.ho nrshift
37.Doyou feelmoretiredattbeend ofa t2 St.John's Comer labrador hourshiftthanattheend of an8 hourshift? Brook City
Ig!
YesNo 3956 197 29Table3.4.
Mg, nsforthenum berQfpmc:swodcrorr;oorn;dCaIJjn gasleepQnaveljl g;Qnsin g!;shifts o[varjoy stypc;s
Shift
Nieh t
ScheduleTvoe Dav Evening
8-Hour .01 .02 .52
tz-Hour .01 NotApplica ble .43
36
shiftswerenot asdisparate.The scores forthe8-bour night shifteM-.5 2)wereonly slightly higherthanthoseforthe12-hournight shifteM-.43).
Inresponsetotheitemassessing perceivedeffectiveness, themajo rity of workers (8 1.34%. N==109) felt tbat theireffectivenesshad increased.2.24%ill=3)ofworkersfelt theireffectivenessdecreased,and16.42%ill==22) felt it remained thesame.Two oftilesix day workingsupervisorsrespondingfelt themembers'effectivenessaspoliceofficers increasedsincethechange from the 8-hour shiftscheduletothe12-hourshiftschedule.One dayworkingsupervisor felttherewasa decreasein effectiveness.andthree felt thelevelof effectiveness remai ned the same (seeTable3.5).
Themajo rity ofworkers(66.17%.1i
=
88)reponedmal thepercentageof on-duty timeusedefficiently increasedsince the changetothe12-hourshift schedule.2.26%ill- 3) of workers reportedthatthepercentagedecreased.while31.58%G::f==42)reported it remainedthe same.One dayworkingsupervisorreportedthatthe percentage ofon-dutytime usedefficien tly increased. Two day working supervisorsreported thepercentage decreased.whilethreereportedit remain edthe same(see Table3.6).
JA The effectsofshortintervalsoftimeoff between twoshifts
Theworke rs and.spouseswere askedifthepresentschedule allowstheworkers adequate timeoff betweenworkperiods forfamilyrelatedactivities.The mean scores and standard deviations fortheworkers andspousesinthethreedetachments are reponed for this questioninTabl e 3.7.Both groups"moderatelyagreed"thatthe12-hourshi ftschedules
Table3.5.
RrswD5efrequenci es forttx;"p rlcea andday WQrldng5lI!2CJ"fiSOI'Sinthe[hra: detac hments for theque sti o n on effectiy(or;ss
22.Doyou feelthatyour
effectiveness asa police St.John's Comer Brook LabradorCity officerhasincreased.
decreased.orremainedthe samesincethechange from
the 8 hour shiftscheduleto Workers Sup. Workers Sup. Waders Sup.
the12hourshiftschedule? (9-5) (9-5) (9- 5)
[IJ Increased 79 2 20 0 10 0
I ~il
DecreasedRemained thesame 162 00 51 01 0I 0338
Table3.6.
Responsefmmepcies for the workers anddaVy;nrkingsuperviso rs inthethree det ac hments forthequest iononeffici en cy
27. Has the percentage of SL John's ComerBrook Labrador City on dutytimeusedefficiently
increased, decreased,or
remainedthesame since the Workers Sup. Workers Sup. Work ers Sup.
changetothet2hourshift (9-5) (9-5) (9-5)
schedule?
[ll Increased 64 0 16 0 8 I
[il
D« reasedRemained the same 302 01 9I 20 03 02Table3.7.
Mean'iC:prr;:;and mndarddr;vja tjq ns forthe worken andSPOugs in thetbm:det a ch ments fQr !hequestion90adeq!!ac:yof tjms off
31.Mypresent shift scheduleallowsme adequate timeoff'be tween work periods for familyrelated activities.
51.John's ComerBrook LabradorCity
Workers Spouses Workers Spouses Workers Spouses
M SQ
~
SQ M SQ M SQ M SQ M SQCHI CHI CHI CHI CHI
5.95 1.42 6.18 1.0 8 6.44 .96 6.27 .70 6.45 .69 6.50 .8 5
(94 ) (44) (25) (22) (II) (10)
N2Ic.Theresponsesfortheabovequestionsweregiven on aseven point Likertscalewhere one represented "Strongly Disagree"andsevenrepresented-Strongly Agree."
40
allowedtheworkersadequatetime offbetween workperiodsfor familyrelated activities(M .,6.08 and M"6.25 .respectivety.j(204)""·.96.0$).
Partofthe questionnairewasdesignedtoallowtherespondentsanoppo rtunitytolist the posi tive andnegativefactorsassoc iated withthe 12·and8-hourshi ftsche dules.
Comm entson the absen ceofthe"shortchange"were amongthosemo st oftencitedas a positivefactor associatedwiththe12--hourshiftschedulesandcomments onthepresenceof the"shortchange"wereamong those mostoften citedasa negative factorassociatedwith the8-bourshiftschedules.
3.5 The effects ofthe Ieetuston offreeweekend s
Three questionsrelating toworkers'andspouses'satisfactionwithtimeavailablefor non-wo rkactivities werepresented. The mean scoresandstandard deviationsforthe workersand spousesinthethreedetachments are reportedinTable3.8.The responses on thes e questionswereaveragedinsuchaway thathigherscores reflectedhigherlevels of satisfactionwiththeeffectsof the12-hourshiftschedules. Thecombined mean forworkers (M"6.02)wassignificantlybigher than thatforspouseseM'"5.39.J (207)-4.29.12<.001).
Responsestoallitems weresignifican tlyintercorrelated (see Table 3.9).Thestandardized item alphavalue forthethreereply compositemeasure is.45.
Respo nsesto two questionsrelating to workers"and spouses" levels ofdifficulty settin g asidetimefor leisure with childre n,spouse andfriends andtimeforparticipatio nin club andorganizationtypeactivitie s weresignificantly correlated.I (183)- .80.12<.001.
Table3.8.
Mean scores nndstnndumdeyjutjoosfor theworkersAndS!l!l!!se$inthethree de!pehmc O!s(or the'JI1I"$tjon,on snljsfqc ljQOwjth time availablefornon workactivities
St.John's ComerBrook LabradorCity
Workers Spouses Workers Spouses Workers Spouses
~)
SIl~)
SIl~)
SIl(~)
SIl(~)
SIl~)
SIl28.IIisquiteeasytoplanoff-duty 6.18 1.28 5.77 1.68 6.92 .27 6.14 1.08 6.7l 047 6.l6 .92
activities onmypresentshin (97) (44) (26) (22) (11) (II)
schedule.
29.Ihaveto decrease some off- 2.64 1.6l l.64 1.84 1.92 1.20 2.91 1.77 l.OO 2.14 l.O9 1.97
duty activitiesbecause of my (97) (44) (26) (22) (II) (II)
present shiftschedule.
35.Ingeneral, lhavemoretime
tospendonmy personal interests 6.09 1.14 5Al 1.65 6.54 .86 5.s5 1.22 l.OO 1.00 6.09 .94
sinceIbeganworking the12hour (95) (44) (26) (22) (II) (II)
shift schedule.
CompositeMeasure 5.89 .96 5.19 1.28 6.51 .62 5.59 1.00 5.91 .96 5.79 .79
I
(95) (44\ 26\ (22\I fill
II~.Theresponsesfortheabove questions weregivenonusevenpointLikertscalewhereonerepresented "Strongly Disagree"
andsevenrepresented "StronglyAgree."
42
Table:3.9.
rntmom;lationsbetween !hethm: questio nsrelatingtoworkers'andSPOuses' satisfactioD -I hi fj
-h.
WJlnmeavala eQrDODwo-
asnnnss
Ouestion 29 35
28 .30 ,25
(2\1) (209 )
11<·001 12< ·001
29 .39
-
(209)12<_DOt
35
-
The responses onthese questionswereaveragedinsuch a waythathigh scoresreflected higherleve ls ofdifficulty settingasidetimefor activities onthe12-hour shift schedulesthan on the 8-bour shift schedules. Spouses reported signifi cantl y more improvemen tinthe ability tofind time forcertain typesoffamilyand social/leisureactiviti esonthe co mpos ite measure (M=2.47)thandid the workers(M=04. 48) U(l83)·7.85.12<.001). The results are reportedby detachmentinTable 3.10.
Theincreaseinthe amount offreeweekendtimewaspartof the response category thatwasmo st often cited asapositive factor associatedwiththeprese nt 12-hourshift schedules and thelack of freeweekend time waspartof theresponse categorythatwas most oftencitedas anegati ve factorassociatedwiththe8-hourshiftsched ules.
3.6 Theeffectsofforward rotation
Astheresults reportedinsection 3.1indicated.,fewer than half of the workers reportedthattheirsleepparrernshadimprovedsince the change to theforward rotating 12- hour shiftsched ules.
3.7 Theeffectsofashi fteycleofsho rt durati on
Themean scores and standard deviations on the eightquest io ns comp risingthe compositemeasure of satisfactionfor the workersinthethreedetachmentsare reportedin Table 3.11.Theresponses onthesequestionswere averagedinsuch a waythathigher scores refl ectedhigherlevelsofsatisfaction withtheeffectsof thelz-bourshiftschedules. The standardizeditem alpha value forthe eight reply compos ite measureis.76 . This val uewas
44
Table3.10.
MenDscoreslIDdslQDdard dcy jul jons[or the workersandspousesin thethree delnchmenl9[orthequestionsOildifficultysell inI'
Ililik.1inu:
32.Sincethe shiftschedule SI.John's Comer Brook LabradorCity chancehaveyouandyour
spousc!partnerhaddifficulty Workers Spouses Workers Spouses Workers Spouses settingaside timeforeachofthe
followinglessormoreoften:
~,
SO~,
SO(~\
SOI~'
SO~,
SO~,
SOD.Leisuretimetogether with 4.69 2.05 2.18 1.06 4.44 2.24 2.23 1.34 4.9 1 2.21 2.55 1.29
children,spouse/partnerand (90) (44) (25) (22) (II) (I I)
friends?
E.Participationinclubs, 4.34 1.74 2.55 1.48 4.35 2.08 3.06 1.20 4.18 1.47 2.70 1.70
organizations,etc.? (95) (33) (23) (17) (II) (10)
Composite Measure
I i9~~
1.81 2.44(32) 1.01ii~;
2.13~i~~
1.17I i·
11155 1.6 8I
2.35(10) 1.36till1s::,Theresponses[or theabovequestionsweregiven ona sevenpoint Likenscale.Forthe workers,one represented"Much
LessOften"andsevenrepresented"Much MoreOlien."Forthespouses,onerepresented"MuchLessDifficult"andseven represented"Much MoreDifficult."
