Cole

The healthcare field is one that usually operates on 24 hour basis. Therefore the individuals who are employed in this field are expected to work in both daytime and night shifts. This in turn means that individuals who are searching for jobs in the healthcare field need to be ready to work on shift basis. Yet working on shift basis is not always easy. It can interfere a great deal with one’s social life. It can also have an adverse effect on one’s health: as it often entails having to interfere with one’s circadian rhythms. One therefore needs to have coping strategies, right from the outset. This is especially the case given the fact that, in many places, newly hired employees tend to be deployed to the most ‘unpleasant’ shifts.

To cope with healthcare work shifts, you need to:

1. Make a habit of checking your work schedules well in advance: This will help you identify the shifts you have been allocated in good time. Then you can start preparing for those shifts in good time. This is important if, for instance, you are transitioning from day-time shift to night shift. In that case, you find that you will need to change your sleeping habits. And you are likely to have an easier time if you start adjusting your sleeping and waking time gradually, as the date when you are supposed to transition to night shift approaches. Then when the d-day arrives, you would have a smooth rollover from daytime shift to night shift. The alternative here would be where you fail to check your work schedules well in advance. Subsequently, you realize that you are scheduled to, say, change from daytime shift to night shift one day before the d-day. Then you’d have a very rough time, adjusting your sleeping and waking times all of a sudden. Checking your work schedules well in advance also allows you to make adjustments in your personal life. Like if, for instance, you have previously been on a daytime shift, which allowed you to leave your baby at a daycare center. Then if you are transitioning to a night shift (when the daycare centers are closed), you’d need to make other arrangements — well in advance — for the care of the baby. Previously, checking your work schedules entailed making a visit to the HR department offices of the healthcare company you work for. Nowadays (thankfully), most of the healthcare companies have web-based portals, where you can log in and proceed to check your work schedule there. So it shouldn’t take too much effort for you to check your work schedules well in advance, and start making any necessary preparations for changes in the work-shifts you are allocated.
2. Prioritize your sleep: Whatever shift you are allocated, you need to ensure that you are getting adequate sleep. This is good for your health, and good for your career. Think about it: if you don’t get adequate sleep, you will be inefficient at work. And if you are consistently inefficient at work, your career progression will ultimately start suffering. We are advised to ensure that we get between 6 and 9 hours of sleep on a day to day basis. So that is what you should be aiming for, regardless of the shift you are allocated. Now whereas it is always easy to get enough sleep when you are working a ‘normal’ day-time shift, it can get tricky when you are put on night shift. But you should nonetheless do your best, notwithstanding the various daytime distractions, to ensure that you get adequate sleep even when you are on night shift.
3. Focus on spending quality time with your loved ones: Sometimes, the shifts you are allocated to work will make it impossible for you to spend as much time as you’d want with your loved ones. In such cases, you’d need to focus on making the best of the little time you manage to get to spend with them. So this is where the question of ‘quality’ time would arise – where you try to spend the little time available in an impactful manner, to ‘compensate’ for the time when you have to be away from your loved ones.
4. See the positives in all work shifts: Every shift has its advantages and disadvantages. So whatever shift you are allocated, you need to focus on its advantages, rather than its disadvantages. Like, for instance, if you are allocated the so-called ‘graveyard shift,’ you need to focus on the fact that it would allow you to be ‘off-duty’ during the daytime, when you can attend to your personal businesses. Furthermore, chances are that the workload during the so-called ‘graveyard’ shift is likely to be light, compared to the weight of workload you’d have to cope with if you were allocated day-time shift… So it becomes clear that even the most dreaded work shift has its advantages. On the other hand, if you are allocated the daytime shift, you’d have an opportunity to live a ‘mainstream’ life: because you’d be at work when you are expected to be, and off-duty when you are expected to be off-duty. Furthermore, being on daytime shift would allow you to sleep at night, which tends to be more restful (and hence healthier) than trying to sleep during the day… So whatever shift you are allocated, focus on the positive side of it, and you will have an easier time plowing through it.
5. Try to get allocated on one permanent shift: This is better than moving from shift to shift. Having a permanent shift can allow you to plan your life better. And it is definitely better health-wise, in terms of the impact on your circadian rhythms. So even if you are allocated one of the so-called ‘undesirable’ shifts, but then you are allowed to work that shift permanently, it will be better than moving from shift to shift. But if you have to be moved from shift to shift, you need to aspire for a situation where you stay on the same shift for a reasonable duration of time, before changing. So that is where, for instance, you work the night-time shift for at least some months, before transiting to the daytime working shift. That is better than a situation where you change shifts on a weekly basis. But if the management insists on moving you from shift to shift on a week to week (or even day to day) basis, the most important thing will be to at least ensure that you always get adequate sleep.

One of the major roles for the HR departments in healthcare companies is that of creating work schedules for the rest of the employees. The task of creating work schedules for employees is not always an easy one. There are so many things you have to take into consideration. And there are so many unforeseeable things that you have to keep at the back of your mind, while creating work schedules for the employees. Yet when all is said and done, if you are in charge of HR at a healthcare company, you have to somehow come up with work schedules for the employees. And you have to ensure that the work schedules you come up with are as good as possible.

While creating work schedules for healthcare staff, you need to:

1. Ensure that there is adequate manpower at all times: This is the most important thing for you to keep in mind, while creating work schedules for healthcare staff. And in this regard, it is very critical for you to ensure that you don’t ever end up with too few workers at any given point in time. Remember, if you find yourself short of manpower at any given point, that may lead to a situation where the wellbeing of the patients is compromised. So this is something you need to take with the seriousness it deserves. On the other hand, it is also important for you to ensure that you don’t end up with too much manpower – more than you need, at any given point in time. If you end up with too much manpower at any point, it would mean that you would be spending more on HR costs than you need to. So you would not be making efficient use of your human resource and that is bound to have an impact on your healthcare business’ bottom-line. You find that it is really a tough balancing act, where on the one hand, you are keen to ensure that you don’t end up with too much manpower at any point, and where on the other hand, you also want to ensure that you don’t ever end up with manpower shortfalls. So the most important thing here is to carry out surveys, to find out when you are likely to have most patients and when you are likely to have just a few patients. Then you need to ensure that you allocate more staff at the points when you are likely to have lots of patients, and then allocate fewer staff at the points in time when you are likely to have fewer patients. You can then have staff who are off-duty but ‘on call’ — that is, ready to be called in in case there is a workload spike at any given point in time.
2. Make contingency plans for unforeseeable circumstances: There are many unforeseeable circumstances that are capable of messing up with your work schedules. For instance, some of the employees who were scheduled to be on-duty may fall ill suddenly, making it necessary for you to replace them on short notice. Or there may be a sudden spike in the number of patients who need to be seen, making it necessary to adjust your work schedule accordingly. The most important thing here is for you to have backup measures. Thus if, for instance, one of your employees is to call in sick, you need to have someone who can take his place on short notice. That is where the aspect of having employees who are ‘on call’ comes in: where you tell some of the employees who are scheduled to be off-duty to be ready to be called in, in case need arises. This is also where the question of having part-time staff comes in, including doctors who can be called on ‘locum’ basis.
3. Consider the employees’ input in the schedules: In this regard, for instance, it would be a good idea to consider asking the employees about the shifts they would prefer to be placed in. This is also where you need to consider asking the employees when they’d prefer to be off-duty – rather than allocating them off-duty days arbitrarily. Of course, there are situations where you will be forced to place an employee on a shift different from the one he would have preferred. But you would at least have shown him consideration, and you would need to communicate to him the fact that his needs couldn’t be accommodated. He would probably then appreciate the gesture. Remember, when employees are allowed to choose their shifts, some will surprise you by opting for the ‘less desirable’ shifts on their own accord (because personal preferences vary from person to person). You should therefore not fear taking the employees’ input while creating the work schedules.
4. Make the schedule available to the employees in good time: The objective is to get the employees to know when they are scheduled to be at work and when they are scheduled to be away from work in good time. They can then plan their lives accordingly, in good time. If you are still using the olden paper-based timetables, you’d need to print them out and pin them on the noticeboard in good time, for the benefit of the employees. If you have a web-based HR portal for your employees, you’d need to make the work schedule available in the portal well in advance: so that when the employees log in, they can get to view it. Remember, the work schedule is not something to be taken lightly – it is something that the employees are expected to plan their lives around.
5. Consider making use of software tools: There are software tools that are designed to enhance accuracy in staff scheduling, while also making the scheduling task easier. You really need to consider making use of these tools. Some of them can be downloaded (or used online) for free. And the software you use in your office can be configured to have work scheduling capabilities – like where you input certain formulas into an Excel sheet, turning it into a work scheduling tool. If you make proper use of software, you will be able to avoid some of the common mistakes that are associated with employee scheduling. Like for instance, with the right use of software, it is highly unlikely that you would find yourself double-scheduling an employee, or scheduling an employee for the wrong job.