$pagename = “Free Essays”;
= “The effects of shift work in the workplace | Business”;
$description =”Business Essay – Working outside normal hours either by extended days or shift work is a fact of industrial society (Harrington, 1995)”;
$subject = “Business”;
– an examination of issues facing one business in the aviation industry
Working outside normal hours either by extended days or shift work is a fact of industrial society (Harrington, 1995). Circadian rhythms are natural, biological ‘clocks’ which are regulated by light and dark cycles, and which in turn regulate physiological and biological processes within the body and brain. While in some areas, the economic advantages of 24 hour shift work must be weighed against detrimental effects on the individual worker in the form of circadian rhythm disturbance, poorer quality and quantity of sleep and increased fatigue (Harrington, 1995), there are some areas of industry where 24 hour shift patterns are a prerequisite of the industry, and cannot be avoided. One such industry is the airline industry, where flights not only take place at any time but may also cross time zones and so interfere significantly with circadian rhythms as well as daily lives of workers. Shift work is of considerable concern in terms of safety (Folkard and Tucker, 2003), particularly in the aviation industry, where levels of alertness and efficacy in role performance may affect the safety of all passengers and crew on board a flight.
This business essay will explore the potential effects of shift working on one company – Aer Arann, a small airline based in the Irish Republic. The background of this company will be taken into consideration, the potential effects of shift patterns on work, and potential ways of scheduling shifts to overcome some of the challenges of providing a customer-focused service will be considered. A review of the literature examining the basis for concerns around the health and wellbeing of workers will provide the basis of a discussion of the importance and complexities of initiating management processes which may serve to ameliorate the effects of shift working whilst maximising financial and workforce efficiency.
Aer Arann
Aer Arann operated its first commercial flight in 1970, out of Inishmore in the Irish republic (Aer Arann, 2007). For over 36 years, Aer Arann Islands have served Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Óirr year round; ferrying Islanders and visitors to and from the mainland (Aer Arann, 2007).
In addition to their regular services, Aer Arann Islands also provide charter flights for freight, passengers, scenic flights and other purposes (Aer Arann, 2007).
In the early 80s the company branched out from an island service to offering flight services within Ireland, beginning with the Galway to Dublin route, followed soon after by the company building their own airport and terminal facilities in Connemara, Co Galway (Aer Arann, 2007). In 1994 ownership of the company changed hands andthe untapped potential of offering a complete air link service between major cities throughout the island of Ireland was realised (Aer Arann, 2007). Currently, Aer Arann operates over 600 flights per week, across 40 routes in Ireland to the UK and Northern France (Aer Arann, 2007). Passenger numbers have grown from 12,000 in its first year to 1.1m in 2006.
As can be seen, Aer Arann characterises a growing company taking advantages of shifting market and social forces to maximise their potential in a competitive market. In particular, the expansion of services, following considerable investment, means an expansion in all areas of the business, requiring growing managerial and other systems for effective strategic management in line with its continuing vision. A significant expansion is in the amount of personnel and the need for a forward-thinking, proactive approach to employee management and support is evident.
Circadian Rhythm
A ‘circadian rhythm’is a roughly-24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings, which are endogenously generated, although they can be modulated by external cues such as sunlight and temperature (Dunlap et al, 2003). Circadian rhythms are also definitely related to light-dark cycles (Dunlap et al, 2003), which demonstrates their significance in relation to 24 hour shift working. Circadian rhythms seem to have some significance in defining the sleeping and feeding patterns of all animals, including human beings (Dunlap et al, 2003). The biological literature also shows that there are distinct patterns of brain wave activity, hormone production and regulation, cell regeneration and other biological activities and functions that are linked to and affected by this daily cycle (Dunlap et al, 2003).
In the era of air travel, travellers encounter challenges to established circadian rythms when crossing time zones or when changing lifestyles outside of an established pattern (Panda et al, 2003). The body ‘remembers’ the previous time zone or circadian rhythm, such that sleep-wake patterns, mental alertness, eating habits and many other physiological processes temporarily suffer the consequences of time displacement until the body adjusts to the new time zone or shift pattern (Panda et al, 2002). It follows that if time zones or shift patterns were to be constantly changing, there may be issues in adjusting circadian rhythms to suit.
Discussion
There is a degree of literature which suggests that shift work has a negative impact upon the health and wellbeing of shift workers (Costa, 1996; Knutsson, 2003). The effects of 24 hour shift patterns can include disturbances of the normal circadian rhythms of the psycho-physiological functions of a person, beginning with the sleep/wake cycle (Costa, 1996).
Other health problems are associated with deterioration of health that can be manifested in disturbances of sleeping and eating habits and, in the long run, in more severe disorders that deal prevalently with the gastrointestinal (colitis, gastroduodenitis and peptic ulcer), neuro-psychic (chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression) and cardiovascular (hypertension, ischemic heart diseases) functions (Costa, 1996; Knutson, 2003). Boggild and Knutsson (1999) show that shift workers have a 40% higher cardiovascular disease risk than those who do not work shifts. This risk is related to circadian rhythms, disturbed sociotemporal patterns, social support, stress, lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, diet, alcohol and exercise, and biochemical changes such as increased levels of cholesterol and triglycerides (Nakamura et al, 1997; Boggild and Knutsson, 1999; Knutsson, 2003). A study by Kawachi et al (1995) found that there was an association with the possibility that 6 or more years of shift work may increase the risk of CHD in women. Furlan et al (2000) found that continuous weekly changes of time of maximum and minimum in the cardiac sympathetic and vagal autonomic control may play a role in the excessive rate of cardiovascular diseases in shift workers. They also found that reduced values of the indexes of cardiac sympathetic modulation during night work might be related to the presence of sleepiness or diminished alertness, which in turn could facilitate errors and accidents (Furlan et al, 2000). Harrington (1999) highlights the link between shiftwork and gastrointestinal disease, a finding also supported by Knutsson (2003).
Schernhammer et al (2003) show that exposure to light at night has a suppressive effect on melatonin in the human body, a hormone which is has an antiproliferative effect on cancer cells. In their study, Schernhammer et al (2003) found an increased incidence of colorectal cancer amongst female nurses who worked rotating night shifts, especially in those who had done so for 15 years or more. There is some relevance here for flight crew, given the high percentage of female flight attendants in the airline industry.
Conversely, Zeeb et al (2003) show recent decreases in mortality rates among cabin crew. An exception to this is a high mortality among cabin crew due to AIDS and AIDS-associated cancers (Zeeb et al, 2003). This increase may have something to do with the lifestyles of cabin crew and may relate either to a number of other factors, perhaps related to the kinds of people attracted to the career and/or the kind of lifestyle supported by their working patterns. Whatever the reasons and concomitant factors, there can be no doubt that there are serious health implications associated with non-standard working hours.
Shift working patters have also been related to interferences with work performance and efficiency over the 24 hour span, with associated errors and accidents (Costa, 1996). According to Harrington (1999), there is evidence of poorer work performance and increased accidents, particularly on the night shifts. This is of particular significance for shift workers who are in more dangerous or demanding professions where the health, safety and wellbeing of others may be affected by their competence and skill. Harma et al (2002) in a study of sleepiness in railway drivers, found that the risk for severe sleepiness was 6-14 times higher in the night shift and about twice as high in the morning shift compared with the day shift. This suggests that the optimal shift patterns are those which reflect natural circadian rhythms, and so there is a real need to identify strategies for those who must work outside this pattern.
Night work in particular is associated with increased subjective and objective sleepiness (Akerstedt, 2003). It can take two, three or more periods of ‘normal’ sleep patterns to resolve this (Akerstedt, 2003), which has significance for employees and employers in terms of rostering. Another associated set of lifestyle risk factors are identified difficulties in maintaining the usual relationships both at family and social level, with consequent negative influences on marital relations, care of children and social contacts (Costa, 1996). Sleepiness or disturbed sleep can impact on all these areas of personal and social life (Akerstedt, 2003). Disturbed or problematic home and social life is likely to have a detrimental effect on job performance.
Shift work has been shown to have particular influences on women’s health, illness and reproductive function (Costa, 1996). Bisanti et al (1996) suggest that shift work is associated with various unfavourable pregnancy outcomes, including pregnancy loss, spontaneous abortion and low birth weight. The suggested underlying mechanism is the interference of shift work with the circadian regulation of human metabolism and, in particular, with the temporal pattern of endocrine function Bisanti et al (1996). Scott (2000) supports this finding, and further, associates shift work with the development of clinical depression in vulnerable individuals. MacDonald et al (2003) found that job stressors and fatigue had some effects on psychological wellbeing.
The attrition rate for shift workers is high, with about 20% leaving post within a short period of time (Costa, 1996). For those who remain in post, in shift work, there is evidence of different levels of adaptation and tolerance, with different manifestations and degrees of intensity. All of these factors are important when considering how to manage shift working patterns, workloads and rotas. While there are a number of managerial strategies which can be employed to minimise the effects of shift working and maximise the efficiency of workers, it is vital to remember that there are individual responses to shift working patterns. Costa (1996) suggests that the effects of shift working can vary widely among the shift workers in relation to what are described as ‘intervening variables’ concerning both individual factors such as age, personality traits, and physiological characteristics, working situations such as work loads and shift schedules, and social conditions such as the number and age of children, housing and commuting. Harrington (1999) also suggests that individual factors may be as important as workplace factors. Boyd and Bain (1998) cite a number of characteristics of the aeroplane environment and the conditions in which cabin crews work as problematic.
Potential solutions to the problem
It has long been recognised that the airline industry is a high reliability industry where accidents and effects of fatigue are of extreme significance. The aviation industry has recognised the significance of human error in accidents since the 1970s, and has been instrumental in the development of special training, designed to reduce error and increase the effectiveness of flight crews (Flin et al, 2002). These crew resource management programmes focus on "non-technical skills" critical for enhanced operational performance, such as leadership, situation awareness, decision making, team work and communication (Flin et al, 2002). These have proven to be effective in addressing many issues, but cannot fully address the effects of shiftworking, which leaves non-standard working hours perhaps the most significant remaining factor affecting the lives, health and wellbeing of airline workers.
It could be that shift scheduling is one of the keys to addressing this issue (Harrington, 1999). Focusing on shift patterns has been shown to reduce risks of diseases such as cardiovascular disease (Orth-Gomer, 1983). Gunes (1999) defines workforce scheduling as the problem of optimally matching available labour resources to the needs of an organization considering all applicable constraints. This suggests a number of issues for the Aer Arann problem. The first to consider is available labour resources. If the number of staff is adequate, there should be ways to manage these resources effectively to maximise efficiency and minimise negative results of shift schedules. However, it is an issue to consider in this organisation, whether or not increased numbers of staff might be a solution to shift problems – more staff working less shifts less often, or more staff allowing all staff to work less unsocial shifts in a given time period. Gunes (1999) also states that one solution to managing staff as a resource is that the work schedules are developed for each employee, specifying the working and rest times through the planning period. This is the typical practice of any large organisation with a 24 hour working requirement, such as the aviation and, for example, healthcare industries.
There are several requirements that must be considered in the planning process, Depending on the particular conditions and the policies of the organization (Gunes, 1999). Some of the conditions for workforce scheduling are listed in Table 1 below.
Table 1 Conditions of Workforce Scheduling (from Gunes, 1999).
• Nature of demand for personnel such as constant or varying over the days, cyclic or non-
• cyclic.
• Type of work schedule used -The most common is standard 5 day, 40 hour workweek. Other approaches to this include compressed workweeks and flexitime, which may improve productivity ,employee morale and absenteeism Examples for compressed workweeks include 4 day, 10 hour/day week and alternating 3 and 4 day, 12 hours/day week. Flexitime allows workers to choose his/her starting and stopping times of work, as long as he/she works in the core hours", usually 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Number and pattern of allowable daily shifts – there may be day, evening and night
• shifts, with alternative start-end times and break periods allowed.
• Work rules concerning the days on/off patterns for the workforce – The number of days should be consecutive or not, rotating shifts may be allowed or not etc.
• The maximum workstretch (i.e. the number of consecutive work days) allowed
• Workforce attributes – There may be different skills of workers, part-time workers may be considered.
Taking into consideration all of these factors above, the task is then to find a feasible and economically sound schedule that meets the needs of the service (Gunes, 1999).
In addition to these complicating factors, the main difficulty of the workforce scheduling problem is that it deals with human beings (Gunes, 1999). So the cost of a schedule is far more than the resulting total wage burden on the company (Gunes, 1999), and as can be seen in the aviation industry, the costs of scheduling can be viewed as far broader and long term than simple notions of paying workforce wages. Attrition, levels of sickness and absence, all are factors which present a cost to the organisation. Similarly, other costs are related to accidents, efficiency, customer satisfaction, litigation and responses to all of these. Gunes (1999) also adds that the training costs, suggests that hiring and firing, overtime costs, health and safety factors should also be taken into account while preparing work schedules.
The characteristics of a work schedule that should be considered while making the scheduling decision are displayed in Table 2.
Table 2: Characteristics of a work schedule (from Gunes, 1999).
• Coverage: The existence of minimum required number of workers for each time period.
• Quality: Measure of the desirability of the schedule for the worker who will work it.
• Stability: Measure of the extent to which the workers know their future days off and on duty.
• Flexibility: The ability to handle changes, such as from passing from full time to part time, and emergence of special requirements of workers.
• Fairness: The measure of extent that each worker is affected same by the schedule, in terms of undesirable shifts etc.
Gunes (1999) thus demonstrates that not all feasible schedules can be judged as best solutions for the workforce scheduling problem. In particular, the notions of flexibility and quality may be particularly problematic for the aviation industry. The general steps involved in analyzing and solving a workforce scheduling problem are listed in Table 3 below:
Table 3: Steps for analysing and solving a workforce scheduling problem (from Gunes, 1999).
• Determine quantity of work to be done based on current service provision, flight patterns and market.
• Determine staffing required to do the work (for each time period) and coverage.
• Determine total staff size adequate to do the work effectively.
• Determine personnel availability and identify areas for recruitment or strategic redeployment of staff.
• Match personnel to staffing requirements.
• Determine if labour needs and availability mismatches are significant.
• Investigate changing the work demand pattern.
• Investigate altering the time availability of personnel.
• Develop a work schedule.
• Develop a workforce scheduling management system.
Aer Arann obviously has already undergone a similar process in order to function competitively in the current market and to allow them to expand their business to the extent that they have already achieved. However, in order to take into account the effects of a necessarily varying shift schedule on staff, this author would like to suggest that a new model should be developed for this company, taking into account some of the issues discussed below. A suggested model can be seen in Table 4 below.
Gunes (1999) does acknowledge the particular challenges of the aviation industry in relation to scheduling. For air crew scheduling problems a different model can be used (Gunes, 1999). A tour of duty (TOD) is defined as a feasible sequence of unbroken flightsights between two ports with given departure and arrival times (Gunes, 1999). The coverage constraint is then that for every flight a crew must be assigned, rather than for every time period minimum required number of workers must be assigned (Gunes, 1999). There are some additional complicating constraints related to the location of flight destinations which affect the duration of flights and therefore the duration of work periods . Therefore, determining alternative feasible work tours is also an important problem to solve for aircrew scheduling in contrast with typical workforce scheduling (Gunes, 1999). There are significant problems with applying standard solutions to scheduling to this employment model. Algorithms based on vehicle routing heuristics and column generation approaches are some examples of solution approaches for this problem (Gunes, 1999).
A variety of shift patterns have been alluded to in the literature on the subject. For example, in the study by Kawachi et al (1995) the participants worked rotating night shifts of at least three nights per month in addition to day and evening shifts. There are lessons to be learned from this. Harrington (1999) seems to suggest that for rotating shifts, rapid forward rotation is the least disruptive option. Optimal hours for the working week cannot be formulated on present scientific evidence, though working more than 48-56 hours a week probably carries serious health and safety implications (Harrington, 1999), as evidenced by the relatively recent implementation of the European Working Time Directive. But there still remains the option to opt out of this directive.
The compression of the working week into 12 hour shifts seems popular, but there is as yet insufficient evidence of the effects of such a working pattern on the health and wellbeing outcomes already highlighted (Harrington, 1999). However, there are considerable attractions to this shift system, the greatest of which might be the fact that workers get four ‘days off’ per week, and work three days. The problem might relate to staffing though, and to the nature of the flights. Twelve hour scheduling might suit Aer Arann because of the relatively short flights which constitute its usual outputs. Conversely, these might pose a challenge in terms of length of flights and scheduling of the flights themselves. Setting the times of twelve hour shifts may be difficult due to the need to cover the flight schedules. Thus there might need to be a rotating pattern of 12 hour shifts, which might do little to alleviate the problems associated with disturbances in circadian rhythm.
Harma et al (2002) found in their study that the risk of severe sleepiness was not consistently related to the time-off period before shifts, which suggests that in relation to scheduling, it is the quality of rest rather than the quantity of time off that may be important. Harma et al’s (2002) findings indicate that adjustments for shift timing, length and off-duty time, in addition to actions aiming at extending the main sleep period, would probably decrease severe sleepiness in railway transportation. The transferability of this kind of finding to Aer Arann’s workforce would need some consideration, but could be taken into account in terms of staff rotas and schedule planning.
There are, however, definite limitations in the use of scheduling to address the negative effects of shift working. According to Turek (1986), it has been suggested that in order to minimize the time needed to readjust circadian rhythms to a new work schedule the work time of shift workers should be rotated in a delaying rather than an advancing direction. But Turek (1986) suggests that delaying or advancing the work time does not imply that the sleep-wake cycle is also shifted in a similar manner, which reflects some of the findings elsewhere in the literature. It is Turek’s (1986) opinion that after a complete rotation between the day, evening, and night shifts the sleep time will be advanced once, delayed once, and not shifted once, regardless of whether the workers are on a delaying or an advancing work rotation schedule, which means that circadian rhythms are likely to be perturbed in a similar manner whether the work schedule is rotated in a delaying or an advancing direction. This presents difficulties for addressing issues of fatigue and other related health factors through scheduling alone.
Scheduling therefore might not be the only means of addressing this issue within this particular company. It might be that the inherent conflict between the interest of the worker and the enterprise over unsocial hours may be mitigated by improvements in working conditions, especially at night, and by advice to the workers on coping strategies (Harrington, 1999). Knauth and Hornberger (2003) suggest that there are a number of strategies which can be employed during night shifts, such as opportunities to contact colleagues, on-duty naps, exercise, adequate light levels, a cool workplace, music and breaks.
There could be other ways to minimising the effects of shift working. Primary care practitioners may intervene by providing medical surveillance and educational programs for shift-working patients and their families (Scott, 2000). In the light of this, Aer Arann could perhaps seek out partnerships with local primary healthcare providers to instigate such actions in consultation with staff. However, the staff themselves would have to be compliant with such a scheme. Costa (2003) suggests periodic health checks by occupational health personnel, aimed at detecting early signs of difficulty in adjustment or intolerance that may require prompt intervention at the organisational as well as the individual level. This may be a simple and practical prevention strategy which may have the added benefits of fostering a feeling of being supported and ‘looked after’ by the company, adding to employee wellbeing.
Another potential approach would be the use of specifically designed therapies to minimise the circadian disturbances associated with shift working. Boivin and James (2002) describe an intervention designed to promote circadian adaptation to night-shift work. This intervention involves controlled exposure to light and darkness and has been found to be efficacious in promoting circadian adaptation to night-shift work under field conditions (Boivin and James, 2002). In particular, the level of controlled exposure to light and darkness appears to be significant (Boivin and James, 2002). Horowitz et al (2001) in a study of light and darkness therapies found similar results. It would therefore seem that scheduling of sleep/darkness should play a major role in prescriptions for overcoming shift work-related phase misalignment in circadian rhythms (Horowitz et al, 2001)
This may be a potential intervention for Aer Arann, but there are significant challenges, as these studies were carried out on workers who worked permanent night shifts within a set rota. This suggests that there would be a need to have set night shifts and to allocate workers to only working night shifts over long periods. While this might suit many workers, there may be those who would prefer more flexibility. Rigid allocation to day or night might also not meet the needs of the service itself, with differing flight times, delays and the like. Therefore the use of such an intervention would likely need to be piloted in Aer Arann and evaluated in the light of the practicalities of service provision.
Akerstedt and Torsvall (1985) suggest that napping can be related to shift working and may have positively beneficial effects on workers’ wellbeing. The napping behaviour was closely related to the length of the major sleep episode, which depended on the shift worked and on diurnal type (Akerstedt and Torsvall, 1985). It would appear that for most shift workers napping compensates for sleep loss caused by the temporal displacement of sleep and modified by diurnal type (Akerstedt and Torsvall, 1985). Purnell et al (2002) found in their study that taking a single 20-min nap during a first night shift significantly improved speed of response on a vigilance task measured at the end of the shift compared. But they also found that on the second night shift there was no effect of the nap on performance (Purnell et al, 2002). In this research taking a short nap during either night shift had no significant effect on subjective ratings of fatigue, the level of sleepiness reported while driving to and from work, or subsequent sleep duration and sleep quality, but overall Purnell et al (2002) suggest there is some merit in a short duration nap taken in the workplace to counteract performance deficits associated with the first night shift.
This might be a simple and positive behavioural intervention which could be encouraged in cabin staff and flight staff, and could be built into employment policies and even scheduling and rostering. This might be contrary to current company and organisational culture, however, which is another issue which may need to be addressed. In many organisational cultures, napping behaviour is forcibly discouraged, and so there may need to be more than the simple introduction of policies. Educational programmes, meetings and feedback sessions might also be useful to encourage and support these kinds of coping mechanisms. It would also be necessary for the company to carry out an internal audit of the practicalities of implementing supportive policies towards napping. How the individual differences associated with these kinds of behaviours can be addressed or accounted for might be a significant challenge.
An holistic approach, however, may be warranted in the case of Aer Arann, particularly in terms of flight attendants, a large proportion of whom are female (Williams, 2003). It is important to consider the effects of the working environment, and the variables within that environment, in order to consider how to maximise employee work outputs and wellbeing (Williams, 2003). Variables such as whether flight attendants feel valued by the company show that the airline management context is highly influential in the way in which the work environment, and the emotional labour associated with work within the airline industry, are experienced (Williams, 2003). Williams (2003) also suggests that it may be necessary for higher level managers to develop an understanding of the complex relations in this important area of service work where flight attendants, airline crews, airline management and passengers have convergent and conflicting interests. It is no great leap to consider whether coping with the demands of working life in this context may be affected by shift patterns. MacDonald et al (2003) suggest that targeted efforts to reduce selected job stressors and to enhance social support may be important steps toward improving the well-being and satisfaction of female flight attendants, for example. Such approaches however must take into account the lessons to be learned from chronbiology (Eriksen and Akerstedt, 2006).
Another thing to take into consideration are fitness standards of airline staff, which are the legal responsibility of the employer (McGregor, 2003). Many airlines already invest considerably in this area, which is a financially sensible approach to assessing much lower levels of future medical and litigious risk (McGregor, 2003). Regular meals are also important (Knauth and Horberger, 2003), which would be a relatively simple adjustment to scheduling and work practices.
Table 4: Steps for Analysing and Solving Aer Arann’s Workforce Scheduling and Employee Wellbeing Problem (adapted from Gunes, 1999).
• Determine nature and demand of workload.
• Determine staff required to carry out the work (for each time period) and the crew components required.
• Determine total staff size enough to do the work and determine the optimal number of crews.
• Determine personnel availability and skill mix within crews.
• Match personnel to crew requirements.
• Determine if labour needs and availability mismatches are significant, identify gaps in crews and recruit or redeploy accordingly.
• Determine effects of scheduling of breaks and meals on workload management on coverage and staffing requirements.
• Investigate alternative models of staffing provision, such as ‘ghost’ crews or reserve staff, to allow for coping strategies such as sleep or rest periods.
• Initiate proactive Occupational Health programmes which include focusing on social support and all available help.
• Investigate time management within teams.
• Investigate organisational culture from ground level up and determine the acceptability of interventions such as alternative crew rotations, rostered and individualised nap periods and flexible working patterns for targeted staff.
• Develop a work and crew staffing schedule based on these investigations
• Develop a workforce and crew scheduling management system.
• Initiate internal audit and evaluation as a cyclical process
• Engage with local primary healthcare providers for proactive health promotion and disease prevention.
• Investigate recruitment practices and evaluate staff retention and attrition.
Conclusion
It would appear from this examination of the issues of shift working, health, wellbeing and coping and management strategies that there are a number of complex and interacting variables which affect the outcomes analysed here. The business under consideration, Aer Arann, may not necessarily encounter all of the problems cited in the literature, due to its particular company size, the nature of its service in the provision of short-haul flights, and the effects of this limitation in provision on working patterns. What is most apparent is the fact that the complexity of the problem defines and limits any potential solutions. While the literature shows that there are ways of managing workforce scheduling for aviation businesses, these scheduling algorithms, formulae or programmes do not address the factors already highlighted in relation to employee health and wellbeing.
Health and wellbeing of these personnel is a serious consideration for the business, being a legal as well as a moral responsibility of the employer. It is also a major financial consideration, and an area which warrants and indeed demands further investigation and investment, as there are significant financial gains to be made if the company can streamline its scheduling, instigate measures to reduce stressors and improve health and wellbeing, and identify and address the individual characteristics of its personnel which can contribute to their wellbeing, functionality and efficiency in their work. There are no simple solutions to be identified in the literature, but there are innovative approaches which may be applicable. The problem with innovative approaches is that they may prove costly to pilot, particularly if the pilot proves unsuccessful.
Such intervention may be particularly timely for Aer Arann, with its gradual expansion from a small, local business to a national service. If this growth is to continue, it can only spell further impacts on employees, particularly flight crews, who may be faced with more demanding, longer working hours as a result of expanding coverage. Similarly, expansion leads to an expanding workforce, which will need the development of new management systems to address an increasingly demanding area. Overall, it is imperative that any management system is individualised and tailor-made for the company itself, taking into account what theories and tools are available in the literature, and learning from the lessons of other companies and research which highlight where the company can maximise financial integrity through proper management and support of its employees.
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