It has been established that atypical working hours – that is, those that fall outside the traditional 9am-5pm framework – can have a negative impact on workers’ physical and mental health, as well as on their social and family lives.
Now, a new long-term study published in the journal PLOS highlights the harmful effects on those who adopt atypical working hours early in their careers.
Wen-Jui Han of New York University drew on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, which surveyed over 7,000 Americans over a 30-year period. The researcher wanted to determine whether working atypical hours at the start of a professional career had adverse repercussions decades later once people reach their 50s.
It emerged that the majority of participants in the study worked standard 9-to-5 hours more or less regularly. Conversely, 17% had worked standard hours when they were in their 20s, before shifting to atypical or “volatile” working hours (evenings, nights, etc.).
Some 12% had a similar pattern of employment: they started their careers working standard hours, before transitioning to more variable working hours.
Han found that people who had worked atypical hours during their working lives had more health problems in their 50s than those who worked from 9am-5pm. They were more likely to present depressive symptoms at the age of 50, and tended to have disturbed sleep.
Over the long term, the adverse effects of atypical working hours were particularly marked in working people who had stable working hours in their 20s, before changing to an atypical working schedule in their 30s.
Moreover, Han noted that certain categories of the American population were more exposed to these risks than others. Women who worked atypical hours were more likely to suffer from sleep disorders than their male counterparts.
But it’s Black women, in particular, who suffer most from the adverse effects of volatile work schedules.
“Across all education categories, Black females who had the ‘early ST-volatile’ employment pattern” – that is, those who had stable working hours at the start of their career before adopting a more atypical work pattern – “reported the highest likelihood of having poor health among all groups examined”, the researcher explained.
The findings show the extent to which atypical hours can affect the health and wellbeing of those who work them. The medical risks involved vary according to the schedule; for example, working nights has a greater impact on sleep quality than working evenings or weekends.
Whatever the case, preventive measures need to be taken within companies to reduce the risks associated with alternative working patterns.