by Moe Zilla

Created on: September 21, 2010

There's a surprising number of advantages when you're hired for a shift work job. Instead of 40 hours of work, spread across five consecutive weekdays, you might learn that you're working four-day weeks, and then enjoying three-day weekends! Employers can arrange your working hours in a variety of different ways, but the pay rate is usually the same as a typical 9-to-5 job. The only real difference is when you're actually performing the work!

The classic example of shift work is the lonely night watchmen who patrols from midnight until dawn. There's a strange sympathy we have for the idea of lone employee working in isolation, rolling in to their duties while it's still completely dark outside. But once your body adjusts to the different sleep schedule, it can also be an exciting experience. After all, there's fewer people around to interfere with your productivity, and it's like having the world to your self.

In some late-night shift work, there's other workers on the same shift, and it can feel as though you're part of a secret club. But many shift work assignments involve only daytime hours, which are just distributed in an unusual pattern. One of the most common is to shift employees into four ten-hour work days. This allows companies to shut down operations on the fifth day - which in many cases can save the employers a lot of money in operating costs.

In fact, that's one of the main reasons companies are using shift work: it saves money, which in theory means they're less likely to need to enact layoffs. The advantage for employees - besides keeping their job - is they get to enjoy much longer weekends. Some shift workers even get a four-day weekend every week. They work four 12-hour shifts, over four days, and then get four work-free days (where they can rest up). In the end, they're actually getting paid for working more hours - but they also enjoying much longer weekends.

Obviously that creates a shifting work schedule, in which the (four-day) weekend ends up starting a day later every week. One big advantage of this is being free on what's traditionally a work day for traditional 9-to-5 workers. All the stores are still open for your errands, but now there's fewer people clogging the aisles and the check-out lanes. And if you need to contact your bank or another professional office, it's always much easier during "standard business hours". You may be enjoying a four-day weekend - but they're not!

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