Making Shift Work Work

Roughly 20% of shift workers arrive, by common sense or luck, at a healthy balance between their odd work hours and the rest of their lives, consultant Susan L. Koen estimates. The rest, she says, need a lot of help.

“There are no models,” explains consultant Marty Klein. “You didn’t see Beaver Cleaver get chewed out for bouncing a basketball in the driveway while his father was trying to sleep on Sundays.”

Filling the knowledge gap is a large part of the work of Koen, Klein and other shift work experts. When they overhaul an organization’s work schedules, they also urge management to alter job designs and alert employees to the life style changes that can help them cope better with the rigors of shift work.

What follows is some of the experts’ advice, drawn mainly from three sources: Koen, of Matrices Consultants in Norwalk, Conn.; Klein, of SynchroTech in Lincoln, Neb., and Jon A. Wagner, a safety engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Minneapolis.

SLEEPING

* Start changing your bedtime several days before you rotate to a new shift to give your body a chance to slowly adjust.

* Night workers should sleep at least a few hours during the day on their days off, to sustain day-sleeping abilities.

* Don’t use alcohol or sleeping pills to induce sleep; they disrupt, rather than assist, the process.

* “White noise” from a fan, air conditioner or noise-generating machine is the best sound track for sleep.

* Darkness is essential. Blinds won’t do; heavy drapes or blankets hung over windows are better.

DIET

* Fight for the company to make hot, nutritious food available at night. A diet of sugary snacks, coffee and caffeinated sodas is not a substitute for a good nighttime “lunch.”

* Easy-to-digest foods make the best lunch for night-shift workers: fish, poultry, rice, soups, whole-grain breads, fruits and juices.

* Eat high-protein foods at breakfast and high-carbohydrate foods before bedtime. In general, avoid spicy and fatty foods.

FAMILY

* Compromise with family members. If you have the weekend off but must be at work Sunday night, explain to relatives that you have to stay up late Saturday and sleep in Sunday morning. In exchange, strive to be in a better mood during the time you spend together Sunday afternoon.

* Post your schedule well in advance on the refrigerator and distribute it to friends, so family activities and socializing can be planned around it.

* Take advantage of your free time. If your schedule doesn’t allow you to picnic with the family on Saturday, arrange to pick your child up after school one weekday and go to the park.

ON-THE-JOB STRATEGIES

* Try to work exercise breaks into your job routine.

* Press for a work system allowing employees to alternate tasks on the night shift.