The dark night rises

As we covered last week, night shifts can wreak seven shades of havoc on a person’s life if they aren’t careful. We left you with all the symptoms, none of the cures, and toddled merrily off on our way.

However, good as our word(s), we’re back this week to highlight some of the best ways to mitigate any night shift shenanigans:

Install brighter lights that simulate daylight

As half the issues with night shifts stem from sleep cycle disruption and having more circadian rhythm problems than a narcoleptic tango dancer.

Fortunately, much like umbrellas and wigs, mankind has developed methods of outsmarting Mother Nature. Artificial lights can be used to trick the body into adjusting its circadian rhythms, allowing for a more painless transition to a nighttime work pattern.

Consider ways you can encourage staff to eat more healthily on their night shifts. For example, giving them access to a fridge/microwave, or ensuring the vending machine contains more than Double Deckers and economy-size bars of Lurpak

Working a night shift not only flips breakfast into dinner, it puts people in a difficult position vis-a-vis putting food in their mouths. Unlikely to be able to go out to get lunch, it is tempting to rely on snacks or kebabs rather than tasteless bean and leaf wraps. And over time, that can do a number on their insides.

Better to offer the opportunity for people to not degenerate into The Blob, and allow them at least the chance to make food at home and bring it with them.

Provide an orientation session that prepares staff to cope with the changes to their bodies and their social lives when they’re on night shifts

Most people don’t think too hard about what the knock on effects of night shifts are, or at least underestimate some of the possible dangers.

Providing a quick briefing on what to look out for and be aware of can nip some of the worse tendencies in the bud, before some of them (mostly literally) sleepwalk right into them.

Increase the number of allowable absences for night workers

This can be especially useful if night shift workers operate any kind of machinery or anywhere that accidents could be dangerous. Being more permissive with absences can decrease the accident rate by up to 50%, which ends up being a lot cheaper than a few extra absences.

Encourage the planning of social events, such as daytime bowling games, so that co-workers on night shifts can spend time together the way that daytime colleagues do

Impacts on social life can be pretty crippling, and this can take its toll on both mental and physical health.

Allowing workers to select their shifts to match up with their friends so they can co-ordinate socially is a smart policy, and if that is not possible, then at least encouraging workers to socialise together during their off-hours can serve to soften the blow to their social lives.

Remind night shift workers to have regular physical exams so they can be screened for diabetes, colorectal cancer, and other common problems of working night shifts

Information on health risks should be included in any orientation, but it doesn’t hurt to drop a reminder every now and then.

Basically anything you can do that removes a little bit of thinking out of a night shift worker’s life is a bonus, because they’ll probably be too caught up in orbiting the coffee machine to remember to schedule health checkups.

About the author

Jerome Langford

Jerome is a graduate in Philosophy from St Andrews, who alternately spends time writing about HR and staring wistfully out of windows, thinking about life’s bigger questions: Why are we here? How much lunch is too much lunch? What do you mean exactly by ‘final warning’?