Shelley MacDermid and Robert Perrucci

This project is a partnership with Professor Robert Perrucci, Department of Sociology at Purdue, an international labor union, and an Indiana manufacturing plant. We are studying the impact of shift work on workers, their families, and their community activities. The first stage of the project involves collecting baseline data on workers and their families. The second state will involve a labor-management team effort to modify shift work arrangements. The third stage will involve assessment of the impact of the intervention introduced in stage two. The project is concerned with three main questions:

• How do workers experience working nonstandard schedules compared to regular daytime schedules? What are the implications for marital quality, family relationships, and interactions with children?

• How do gender, family structure, and life cycle interact with reactions to shift work? How do the presence and ages of children influence families' experiences with shift work?

• How does worker and family participation in shaping alternative work arrangements affect their subsequent response to the time demands of work?

Funding: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Bemis Corporate Foundation, ILGWU Foundation

Learn more about the Expanding Options for the Time and Timing of Work in a Continuous-Operations Environment: A Labor-Management-Research Partnership

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