Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, German Journal of Human Resource Management: Zeitschrift für Personalforschung, ? (?), 2018, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2018 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the German Journal of Human Resource Management: Zeitschrift für Personalforschung page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/gjh on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The cost of shiftwork
T2 - absenteeism in a large German automobile plant
AU - Frick, Bernd
AU - Simmons, Robert
AU - Stein, Friedrich
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, German Journal of Human Resource Management: Zeitschrift für Personalforschung, ? (?), 2018, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2018 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the German Journal of Human Resource Management: Zeitschrift für Personalforschung page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/gjh on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
PY - 2018/8
Y1 - 2018/8
N2 - Using a balanced panel of some 400 organizational units in a large automobile plant, we analyse changes in absenteeism following a company innovation intended to improve worker health and well-being. During the period under consideration (January 2009–December 2011) the firm replaced its traditional shift schedule associated with high health risks for workers with an ergonomically more advantageous system. Our findings show that this innovation was accompanied by a statistically significant and economically relevant decrease in absenteeism. However, when workers started to express discontent with the new system, management after a few months implemented another shift system that was, from an ergonomical perspective, again associated with higher health risks than those associated with the second one. Absentee figures quickly returned to their initial levels. This suggests that short-term leisure preferences can override long-term health concerns in worker responses to the implementation of different shift schedules.
AB - Using a balanced panel of some 400 organizational units in a large automobile plant, we analyse changes in absenteeism following a company innovation intended to improve worker health and well-being. During the period under consideration (January 2009–December 2011) the firm replaced its traditional shift schedule associated with high health risks for workers with an ergonomically more advantageous system. Our findings show that this innovation was accompanied by a statistically significant and economically relevant decrease in absenteeism. However, when workers started to express discontent with the new system, management after a few months implemented another shift system that was, from an ergonomical perspective, again associated with higher health risks than those associated with the second one. Absentee figures quickly returned to their initial levels. This suggests that short-term leisure preferences can override long-term health concerns in worker responses to the implementation of different shift schedules.
KW - Shift work
KW - absenteeism
KW - organizational change
U2 - 10.1177/2397002218788839
DO - 10.1177/2397002218788839
M3 - Journal article
VL - 32
SP - 236
EP - 256
JO - German Journal of Human Resource Management
JF - German Journal of Human Resource Management
IS - 3-4
ER -