Despite the rising cost of living that, data from Deputy’s inaugural Shift Worker Happiness Index shows that Australian shift workers are feeling positive, with 83 per cent stating they feel “good” or “amazing” after their shifts.
In particular, 40 per cent of shift workers in healthcare reported feeling happy after their shifts this year, as well as 56 per cent of hospitality workers and 46 per cent of services workers. Logistics, distribution, and freight workers were the happiest across all industries at 93 per cent, followed by delivery and postal service workers at 87 per cent.
In the hospitality sector, 88 per cent of cafe workers and eight per cent of restaurant workers reported high spirits after their shifts, even though they find themselves working an average of 191 and 163 hours per month respectively, which is above the full-time equivalent.
The research noted that 12 per cent of critical and emergency services workers indicated they are “stressed” or “frustrated” after their shifts, compared to 4 per cent across Australia, as workers in thsi sector are putting in 30 per cent more hours than were initially rostered in the first quarter of 2022, this number grew to 31 per cent in the first half of 2023.
The data also noted that employees who are being granted too few shift work hours are equally as unhappy. In fact, retail workers in auto, electronics and appliance stores, who are being granted an average of four shifts a month (well below the average of 17 shifts across the retail sector more broadly) emerged as the unhappiest workers across the country. 15 per cent of employees in this category reported feeling “stressed” or “frustrated” at the end of their shift.
Call centre workers also find themselves in a similar situation. While they are rostered to work an average of 12 hours per shift, workers in this sector are only working seven hours per shift on average. This has resulted in seven per cent indicating they are “stressed” or “frustrated” after their shifts.
“As the cost of living increases, there is a clear appetite among Australian shift workers to put in extra hours at work,” Deepesh Banerji, Chief Product Office at Deputy said. “Generally, our data shows workers who are being granted more and longer shift work hours are happier. Of course, it is still important for business leaders to strike a balance between capacity and hours rostered, to avoid high levels of stress and burnout, as can be seen among critical and emergency service workers.
“One way to do this is to schedule shifts in advance,” Banerji added. “By giving two weeks’ notice of upcoming shifts, workers have enough time to inform their managers should they be unable to commit to a shift and businesses will be able to plan ahead accordingly. This also gives employees the chance to plan their schedules around their personal lives. Amid the ongoing labour shortages across many industries, it’s the little things that make the biggest impact on reducing employee turnover.”
Deputy’s Shift Worker Happiness Index measures the feelings hourly workers across these four industries have towards their work, with 846,440 Shift Pulse Survey responses from across Australia being analysed for the report.
