Here's a useful tool for frequent business travelers: the Sleep Travel Trading Co. . The site is full of tips from John Stallcup, author of "How to Sleep on Airplanes," and it has an intriguing Sleep FAQ with insights such as this: "17 hours of sustained wakefulness can lead to a decrease in physical and mental performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05% (legally drunk)." That suggests that international travelers and many other professionals--investment bankers working on deals, say, or doctors handling marathon shifts in hospitals--might not be in a suitable condition for their responsibilities...
Related Stories: | Topics:Work/Life, Travel, Sleep Travel Trading Co., John Stallcup, Business, Culture and Lifestyle, Travel and Tourism |
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Recent Comments | 2 Total
April 5, 2005 at 1:18pm by Dan Seidman
The sleep problem is increased by certain business strategies.
I've always been confused by organizations that rotate shift workers. For example, a local juvenile home moves their employees around every month. Your sleep is "re-structured" every shift change. And a bonus is you get to either disappear on your friends and family or find new ones (well, only friends, hopefully) until your work load moves back to "normal."
Why not let people select the shifts they prefer, as manufacturing companies do, and build their personal lives around that schedule?
Dan Seidman, SalesAutopsy.com
"One of the top 12 sales coaches in America" (Ultimate Selling Power)
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April 6, 2005 at 2:52pm by Marykat
What manufacturing company have you worked at? I have either worked at or done business with close to 2 dozen different manufacturing facilites (spread over several different industries) and I have never heard of people being able to "select the shifts they prefer." Most often people are assigned to a shift and may be able to get it changed going through the HR department. I am sure there are a lot of companies that have straight shifts, and it may be a more feasible option there, but you also have to keep in mind the balance of the workforce.
I have worked at many places that only have swing-shift and in this case you must work ALL shifts (unless you have the ability to swap with your co-workers). With respect to the original topic, swing shift is one of the worst things a person can do to yourself both physically and mentally. I only worked swing-shift (7 day swing, 8 hours shifts, forward rotation..the worst) for a little over 9 months but that was long enough for me to know.
However, even facilities that have straight shifts either need to work 12 hour shifts (agian, does wonders for your body and personal life) with 4 crews or have at least ONE rotating crew out of 4 if you work 8 hours in order to keep running 24/7. And in this economy you would be hard pressed to find a company (as wrong as it may be) to give up the volume variance for the sake of its workers.