Working hours, work-life conflict and health in precarious and "permanent" employment

• Published in: Revista de saúde pública Vol. 38 Suppl; no. suppl; pp. 19 - 25
• Main Authors: Bohle, Philip, Quinlan, Michael, Kennedy, David, Williamson, Ann
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo 01-12-2004; Universidade de São Paulo
• Subjects: Adult; Condições de trabalho; Conflict; Conflito; Employment; Emprego; Family; Family - psychology; Família; Female; Health Policy & Services; Health Status; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Job Satisfaction; Jornada de trabalho; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational health; Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; Saúde ocupacional; Shift work; Time Factors; Trabalhadores; Trabalho em turnos; Work hours; Work Schedule Tolerance - physiology; Workers; Working conditions; Workload; Saúde ocupacional; Work hours; Emprego; Família; Shift work; Trabalho em turnos; Jornada de trabalho; Employment; Workers; Conflict; Condições de trabalho; Occupational health; Family; Working conditions; Conflito; Trabalhadores
• ISSN: 0034-8910; 1518-8787; 0034-8910; 1518-8787
• DOI: 10.1590/s0034-89102004000700004

The expansion of precarious employment in OECD countries has been widely associated with negative health and safety effects. Although many shiftworkers are precariously employed, shiftwork research has concentrated on full-time workers in continuing employment. This paper examines the impact of precarious employment on working hours, work-life conflict and health by comparing casual employees to full-time, "permanent" employees working in the same occupations and workplaces.
Thirty-nine convergent interviews were conducted in two five-star hotels. The participants included 26 full-time and 13 casual (temporary) employees. They ranged in age from 19 to 61 years and included 17 females and 22 males. Working hours ranged from zero to 73 hours per week.
Marked differences emerged between the reports of casual and full-time employees about working hours, work-life conflict and health. Casuals were more likely to work highly irregular hours over which they had little control. Their daily and weekly working hours ranged from very long to very short according to organisational requirements. Long working hours, combined with low predictability and control, produced greater disruption to family and social lives and poorer work-life balance for casuals. Uncoordinated hours across multiple jobs exacerbated these problems in some cases. Health-related issues reported to arise from work-life conflict included sleep disturbance, fatigue and disrupted exercise and dietary regimes.
This study identified significant disadvantages of casual employment. In the same hotels, and doing largely the same jobs, casual employees had less desirable and predictable work schedules, greater work-life conflict and more associated health complaints than "permanent" workers.