The schedulilng of hours of work is undoubtedly one of the major social problems of industrial society. Statistic estimates that 30% of Canada's workforce are involved in some kinds of shiftwork. Of those, 33% work irregular shifts, just under 30% work rotating shifts, 17% work long term evening shifts, 10% work on call, 3% work split shifts, 3% work long term night shifts and just over 3% are classed as "other". Present estimates tell us that before the trend slows, fully 35% of the workforce will work some type of shiftwork (Siroonian 123). Companies are feeling the need to maximize their efficiency by spreading their operating costs over 24 hours. However, on the other hand, working other than the standard dayshift can cause many problems for the worker. It can affect the worker's health and safety and the relationships with one's family and the community (Carpentier 14). In this essay, I will analysis the impact of shiftwork on humans and make some suggestions of how to alleviate some negative aspect of it. On one hand, shiftwork enhances economy advantages (Maurice 13). Adaption of shiftwork may result in a reduction in unemployment, or may provide work for those potentially unemployed (Perlow 46). In some cases, the choice may be between shift work and no work at all. In addition, shiftwork can enable full use of capital goods. James Walker suggests that from the point of view of the economy as a whole, the introduction of shift work, by reducing the stock of capital required to produce a given output, can encourage the entry of new firms into an industry and thus makes the economy more competitive (Walker 81). However, despite the economy advantages, we must take human costs into account too. Shiftwork has side effect on worker in the physicalogical aspect. The most common short-term ailment is a stomach or gastro-intestinal problem. One study found shiftworkers had twice as high a rate of ulcers as day work...
