ABSTRACT
Many organizations now operate on 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week schedules. The factors contributing to the need for these schedules include globalization, technological developments, the use of round-the-clock production strategies, and increased customer demand for 24-hour access to services. As a result, people increasingly work on schedules that differ from the traditional notion of a work week composed of five eight-hour days with Saturdays and Sundays off. For example, in the United States, although estimates vary depending on the year, operational definitions, and data sources, at least 30-40 percent of employees now work on non-standard work schedules (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006a; 2006b; Presser, 2003). It is unlikely that the forces driving the utilization of non-standard work schedules will abate and such work schedules probably will be increasingly common in the future.
