According to a recent Statistics Canada study, shift workers suffer from role overload and are dissatisfied with their work-life balance.
A Statistics Canada study released in August of 19- to 64-year-old full-time workers showed that 30.9% of shift workers suffered from role overload, vs 27.2% of regular day workers. And while 75.8% of the latter said that they were satisfied with their work-life balance, this was true for only 69.1% of shift workers.
The main reasons for their dissatisfaction included lack of family time and too many hours on the job. According to Statistics Canada, this suggests that work-life balance and role overload are linked not only to workers’ schedules but also to a complex interaction between hours worked, self-perception and general feelings of well-being.
About 4.1 million people, or 28% of working Canadians are on shifts. Shift work comprises regular evening or night schedules, rotating or split shifts, on call or casual work, and irregular schedules. Some occupations are more likely to work shifts because of the nature of the job, such as those that provide 24/7 service like the health care sector (doctors, nurses), transport, accommodation, and protective services (police, security guards). Shift work is also quite common in primary industries and in sales and service.