Introduction
There are several advantages and disadvantages of choosing to work either during the day or in the evening or late at night. The night and day shifts present a myriad of challenges to workers as well as several benefits. Currently, “technological, economic, and social pressures have led to an increase in the number of shift workers” (Kazemi et al. 203). For the ones who have the privilege of making a choice about their shift, there is research and verified data to show which type of shift is appropriate for each individual.
Day and Night Shifts
Comparing day and night shifts requires employees to consider some variables such as the worker’s family situation (whether they have children or a spouse) and other responsibilities, obligations such as the medical disposition of the employee, and school duties. All variables should be taken into consideration before deciding on the most appropriate shift to work, such as “personality, experience, and motivation” (Conte et al. 69). Choosing the type of shift to work is one of the considerations any employee will confront in the course of the working life.
Night Shifts
The night shift has its demerits such as having work and life imbalance, exposing laborers to security threats when commuting to work at night or late in the evening, and the likely health effects. However, the merits of the night shift outweigh the ones of the day shift. There are numerous advantages of working in the evening or at night: Most of the organizations have nighttime differential compensation to entice the workers so that they can choose the shifts that are less appealing. If a worker can mitigate the effects of working at night, there are several financial opportunities that they can acquire that are not available to the ones who work during the day. Working late in the evening or at night has an added sense of freedom because the main management staff works during the day; therefore, they are not available at night. Since the senior staff is absent the workers will have the autonomy to fashion their work the way they want. This sense of freedom together with the potential of an increase in pay for the night shift means that several benefits can be accrued by having a night shift.
There are very minimal disruptions at night because the working environment is quieter making it easier to give maximum attention to the assigned tasks. In other fields apart from the healthcare sector, the workload given at night is less than the one given during the day, leaving the employees not fatigued. Also, working at night brings a smooth, and less stressful commute because there is a significant reduction in traffic at night or late in the evening. Most people are either at home or headed home in the opposite direction which reduces traffic. Working at night gives one ample time to work on their errands during the day. Night shift workers can attend to passion projects that can generate some extra income for their personal use. An employee who works at night is a superstar because they perform important duties at a time when the rest of the people are sleeping. The night shift work has an element of sacrifice irrespective of the additional financial benefits associated with it.
Day Shifts
Working during the day also has its benefits although they are not as many as those of the night shift. The day shift workers get ample time to sleep during the night because the mind is usually scheduled that the night is for sleeping. The employees who work during the day have more support because most of the workers are around. The senior management team is also available during the day, making it easier to solve any issue that arises. Day shift workers have the advantage of being aligned to the rest of the world’s schedules because most people are asleep at night, one can get an opportunity to meet with friends during the day.
While there are advantages of the day shift, they are outweighed by their disadvantages. The demerits include smaller payments for day shifts compared to night shifts due to the allowance given to the employees who work at night. Employees who work during the night are not as productive as the night shift staff. The decline in productivity is due to disruptions, and the usual office chats. Working during the day does not give you ample time to attend to personal issues such as meeting friends and relatives.
Although the night shift is not preferred by most employees, there are several factors to be considered in determining which shift is better. Still, the night shift is better because of several benefits such as the freedom to work and the extra remuneration its employees get. It is therefore important that after putting some of the factors such as increased payment and freedom of working into consideration, one chooses to work at night in order to benefit from the available gains.
Works Cited
Conte, Jeffrey M., and Frank J. Landy. Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Wiley, 2018.
Kazemi, Reza et al. “Field Study of Effects of Night Shifts on Cognitive Performance, Salivary Melatonin, and Sleep.” Safety and Health at Work, vol. 9, no. 2, 2018, pp. 203-209.