Development of a new personalized staff-scheduling method with a work-life balance perspective: case of a hospital.

Burnout rates and dissatisfaction among healthcare workers remain high due to long working hours. One possible solution to this problem is to let them choose their weekly working hours and starting times in order to achieve a work-life balance. Moreover, a scheduling process that responds to changing healthcare demands at different times of the day should increase work efficiency in hospitals. In this study, a methodology and software were developed to schedule hospital personnel, taking into account their preferences regarding working hours and starting time. The software also allows the hospital management to determine the number of staff needed at different times of the day. Three methods and five working-time scenarios characterized by different divisions of working time are proposed to solve the scheduling problem. The Seniority score Priority assignment Method appoints personnel prioritizing seniority, whereas the newly developed Balanced and Fair assignment Method and Genetic Algorithm Method aim for a more nuanced distribution. The methods proposed were applied to physicians in the internal diseases department in a specific hospital. Weekly/monthly scheduling of all employees was carried out with the software. The results of scheduling factoring in work-life balance, and the performances of algorithms are shown for the hospital where the application was trialled.

Working time preferences and early and late retirement intentions.

Career decisions are based on the fit between an individual and his/her environment. This study explores the effect of person-environment fit regarding actual and preferred weekly working hours on early and late retirement intentions in a sample of 7,859 employees aged 50 to 65 years of age living in Germany. Findings from multinomial logistic regression analysis show that a preferred decrease in working hours was associated with an increased risk for early retirement compared to regular retirement intentions (OR = 1.82). A preferred increase in working hours was associated with higher odds for a late career (OR = 1.87).

Mismatch in working hours and workaholism in permanent waged workers.

OBJECTIVES: A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate whether working hours mismatch is associated with workaholism. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study used the data from the 17th wave (2014) of the nationwide Korean Labor and Income Panel Study. Workaholism was evaluated using the Workaholism Analysis Questionnaire. The final study involved 3157 subjects who answered questions regarding both workaholism and working hours mismatch. To identify the association between working hours mismatch and workaholism according to weekly working hours, a stratification analysis was conducted by dividing the number of working hours/week into 3 groups (≤40 h, 41-59 h, and ≥60 h). The odds ratios were calculated using a multiple logistic regression model, which was adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: The workers working more hours than desired showed the greatest frequency of workaholism. As regards workaholism, in all weekly working hours groups, the odds ratios of the group working more hours than desired were 4.28, 95% CI: 2.29-7.99 (≥40 h), 2.14, 95% CI: 1.34-3.43 (41-59 h), 3.40, 95% CI: 1.60-7.21 (≤60 h), which were statistically significant compared to the reference (matched) group. There was no statistically significant relationship between working hours and workaholism when stratified according to the mismatch in working hours. CONCLUSIONS: The workers' working hours mismatch can be significantly related to workaholism. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2020;33(2):187-94.

The Association between Long Working Hours and Self-Rated Health

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine the number of hours worked per week by full-time wage workers by using the data of the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), which represents the domestic urban area household, and to determine the association between weekly working hours and the level of self-rated health. METHODS: We used data from the 11th KLIPS conducted in 2008. The subjects of this study were 3,699 full-time wage workers between the ages of 25 and 64 years. The association between weekly working hours and self-rated health was analyzed considering socio-demographic characteristics, work environment, and health-related behaviors. RESULTS: Among the workers, 29.7% worked less than 40 hours per week; 39.7%, more than 40 to 52 hours; 19.7%, more than 52 to 60 hours; and 10.9%, more than 60 hours per week. After controlling for socio-demographic variables, work environment-related variables, and health-related behavior variables, the odds ratio (OR) for poor self-rated health for the group working more than 40 hours and up to 52 hours was calculated to be 1.06 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.89-1.27) when the group working less than 40 hours per week was considered the reference. The OR for the group working more than 60 hours was 1.42 (95% CI, 1.10-1.83) and that for the group working more than 52 hours and up to 60 hours was 1.07 (95% CI, 0.86-1.33). After stratification by gender and tenure, the OR of the female workers group and that of the group with a tenure of more than 1 year were found to be significantly higher than those of the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that workers working more than 60 hours per week have a significantly higher risk of poor self-rated health than workers working less than 40 hours per week. This effect was more obvious for the female workers group and the group with a tenure of more than 1 year. In the future, longitudinal studies may be needed to determine the association between long working hours and various health effects in Korean workers.