The Cost of Shift Work on Employee Health and Performance: Can Organizations Afford to Ignore the Consequences?

Research on outsourced operations has primarily focused on working conditions in call centers. This study sought to focus attention on other outsourced operations to document employees' experience of shift work. In-depth interviews with both management and employees at two Indian organizations suggest that the negative consequences of shift work and working conditions are not merely individual problems, but they have adverse consequences for organizations as well. In particular, the study suggests that high attrition rates in the outsourcing industry may be an indirect result of shift work, indicating that shifting operations from India to other offshore locations may not resolve the issue. A model linking the effect of shift work on employees to attrition rates is proposed, and implications for future research and strategies organizations can implement to minimize the impact of shift work on employees' health and performance are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]