Work assignment duration effects on employee health and productivity

¶ … Duration and the related health and safety issues, advantages and disadvantages. The reference page appends three sources.

Work Assignment Duration

In search of augmented productivity, decreased employee or labor turnover and improved quality of work and product, extensive research and surveys coupled with thoroughly analyzed studies have been conducted by some of the best experts in the related field. On the same account, for employee work-related satisfaction and high morale, much emphasis has been placed on the significance of work assignment schedules or work assignment duration or WAD. Be it any field of work or any kind of work condition or environment, work assignment schedules play a vital role and interconnect all the factors that either increase or result in an alarming decrease in employee job satisfaction, morale and productivity as well as staff turnover. This is because, both flexible and inflexible work schedules assigned to employees working at various levels of an organization determine the success and failure of a business venture. Nonetheless, each kind of work assignment duration formulated and designed particularly for a specific work group or field offers different advantages and obvious disadvantages. Work assignment duration can be discussed with respect to their impact on the work pattern of employees either under the heads of flexible or inflexible or in terms of long or short work assignment schedules.

Proposal Project Area

This research proposal covers a wide array of sub-fields and areas involving human resource development, management, employee satisfaction and morale and health issues.

Objectives

Following are some of the primary objectives of this research paper:

To understand the meaning of work schedules.

To comprehend the significance of flexibility in work assignment schedules and the relation of the same with employee job satisfaction, employee morale, productivity, quality, management and so on and so forth.

To establish a clear connection between work assignment schedule and staff sleep cycle, health and work patterns and conditions.

To list down the advantages of a specific work schedule and assignment as well as shift arrangements.

To list down the disadvantages of a certain work arrangement.

Plan of Work

Our research proposal follows a clearly defined plan involving the following steps:

Determining the need as well as the scope of the research title and topic.

Closely analyzing the issues involving the topic.

Hunting down possible ways to conduct an effective and relevant research.

Working out ways to conduct primary research.

Working out ways to conduct secondary research.

Conducting primary and secondary research.

Compiling and organizing data.

Forming opinions and providing research findings and conclusions.

Research Methodology

Our research paper follows the common methodology of compiling, presenting and organizing relevant primary as well as secondary research data and material.

Resources

This research paper has taken into consideration various research resources including web-based content, research articles, peer-reviewed articles, empirical research-oriented studies, surveys, journals both electronic and library journals, management magazines and so on and so forth.

Greater opportunities for secondary employment

Disadvantages of long work assignments include the following as researched and cited by Nollen (1982), Dunham et al. (1977), Simcha and Sophia Primps (1981) and Breaugh (1983): (* All pointers that follow are extracted verbatim) (Vega & Gilbert, 1997)

Fatigue, leading to lower productivity, on-the-job injuries, mistakes and complaints

Coverage

Scheduling

Productivity

Supervision

Moonlighting or additional employment

The disinclination to return to work following a long time away and employee discontent over long work hours

History

The topic under consideration, close scrutiny and thorough discussion has a history that dates back to the times when the concept of labor and employment facilities and health issues emerged with the emerging business ventures and job markets. Thus, the topic of work assignment schedule and the related issues have rich and an old history that reveals the significance of WAD in today's challenging working milieu.

Research Findings, Executive Summary and Conclusion

Hence from the above discussion it is evident that research findings and extensively researched studies provide sufficient evidence for the following conclusions:

Work assignment schedules play a vital role in employee health and safety issues as well as determine productivity and staff turnover.

Different groups of employees, with different designations and nature of jobs respond differently and show distinct preferences to the discussion on work assignment schedules.

Research shows that compressed work assignment schedules can be made use of in an efficient manner without an adverse impact on productivity, risk and safety of employees or the entire staff at all levels. (Vega & Gilbert, 1997)

The extra leisure hours offered by the compressed work assignment schedule to the employees helps them to spend quality time with their family members thereby striking a balance between their professional, financial, economical as well as domestic spheres of life (Vega & Gilbert, 1997). This is because, compressed work assignment schedules provide an opportunity to the employees to opt for additional employment offers if and when they are made. (Vega & Gilbert, 1997)

Drawn out recreational hours further help organizations particularly the law-enforcement agencies in ameliorating on-the-job performance and increases employee morale (Vega & Gilbert, 1997).

Nonetheless, due to the compressed work assignment schedules employees often complain of work-related extreme stress and fatigue that results in on-the-job injuries, fatal mistakes while on duty, lack of concentration span, affected productivity and sleep debt at times. (The Work Practices of Marine Pilots: A Review)

However, carefully researched case studies suggest that compressed work weeks that induce employee satisfaction and augment productivity can be considered workable options in comparison with the conventional five day, work schedule, which does not suit many fields of workers like police officers and the traditional work schedules also fail to provide similar benefits to the law enforcement departments, utility stores staff and so on and so forth like that of compressed work weeks. (Vega & Gilbert, 1997).

Research further proves that the schedules with long duration shiftwork "should not involve anymore than three night shifts in succession" (The Work Practices of Marine Pilots: A Review (1998). Moreover, it has been observed that in case of marine pilots with irregular work assignment schedules compelling pilots to remain on duty and keep performing at a stretch for long duration, it is their sleep that suffers the most. Hence, it is evident that longer work assignments make marine pilots "susceptible to exhibiting fatigue-related performance decrements induced by a cumulative sleep debt" (The Work Practices of Marine Pilots: A Review (1998).