Availability of Employees

• Flexible schedule arrangements allow employees to select the start and end times for the shift they will work. Factories and manufacturing companies rely on employees to perform a task or duty that is one-step in the process for building products. Flexible schedules can create difficulty when planning production schedules. For example, workers who set a shift start time one hour later than workers further down the production line will halt production during that one hour.
  
  

Fatigue

• Compressed workweek schedules can include four 10-hour days or three 12-hour days during the week, allowing workers to have a greater number of full days off each week. The longer shifts can become difficult for factory workers who must stand to perform the duties of the job or operate heavy machinery. Fatigue can result in an increase in worker errors and workplace accidents. Second and third shift schedules can result in fatigued workers as well. Overnight workers require a minimum of a week to adjust when flipping the traditional sleep-wake schedule. Daytime interruptions and the inability to sleep during daylight hours can result in worker fatigue as well.
  
  

Employee Communication

• Some alternative work schedules rotate and lengthen the days of the week employees are on the job. For example, a manufacturing company may arrange a rotating schedule with three days of 12-hour shifts in one week and four days of 12-hour shifts the following week, resulting in seven days on the job during a two-week cycle instead of the 10 required in traditional work schedules. Two teams of workers cover the day shift hours and two teams of workers cover the night shift hours. The teams covering day shift hours never interact with each other as well as the night shift teams. The lack of interaction between teams can result in miscommunications.
  
  

Family

• Alternative work schedules can negatively affect the family responsibilities of workers. Single parents may be unable to find suitable child care to accommodate longer shift schedules. While workers on a longer shift schedule may gain more full days off, the time spent with family members on a traditional work schedule is reduced.