Graveyard shift hours are the night shift or the midnight shift where the night watchman needs to work in the late hours of the night, which means it begins late at night and ends early in the morning. Let us know about the ‘Graveyard Shift Hours Pay’.
Graveyard shift hours pay
Graveyard shift hours or the midnight shift are considered night duty in which the payment of such hours varies from duty to duty. Having a graveyard shift be challenging but if working in a good company, one can be paid more. As many companies and working places provide their employees with a good number of incentives for working during the graveyard shift, which can in a way impact the family’s financial condition the employer. There are many benefits of working during a graveyard shift as there is less competition because not everyone can give up their comfort zone and work through such odd times. Also, many people fancy working in a quitter atmosphere, this shift hours are best for such work enthusiasts as it provides a person with fewer distractions. Through this one can also emphasise their other activities during the daytime which would help them grow on personal levels as well.
Drawbacks of Graveyard shift
There are always pros and cons to every situation. If the graveyard shift has benefits, it has drawbacks as well. Working a night shift completely changes a person’s bio clock, which means he\she misses out on social engagements, spends less time with family and encounters constant mood swings due to lack of rest. Talking about cons, the major impact of a graveyard shift is on the overall metabolism. Other than health issues it has many disadvantages. Like, if in a family there’s just the man working and the female or kids (if any) are alone at home, it becomes difficult for the families to maintain safety and also sometimes the family relations get disturbed. Or, couples who live in a nuclear family mostly hesitate in growing their family further, as they feel that having a kid would be very hectic handling family and work together or they feel they would have to leave their kid in creches. On the other hand, most of the workers don’t get the proper amount of sleep at night and a few of them also find it difficult to sleep during the day which indirectly relates to sleep deprivation.
Graveyard shift hours pay in the States
Graveyard shifts have never been fun, but it is seen that approximately 3 million Americans work the nightshift. The western culture is more of a busy self-oriented lifestyle, and the night shifts have become a part of the 24*7 growing society, where up to 18% US work force is working alternate shift schedule. These days two in five Americans work during the nonstandard times. According to a study it is explored that there’s a large association between the night shifts and diabetes, majorly in Europe, Asia and the USA. With the increase of digitalisation and connected world commerce, most of the white-collar employees are taking over the work during the night shifts, but still the rate of night work is highest among the blue-collar workers particularly the food, security and cleaning services.
Psychology of Graveyard Shift Workers
As we’ve already talked about graveyard shift not being fun, it can also cause a psychological disorder known as the SWSD-Shift Work Sleep Disorder. In this, the worker suffers from lack of concentration, headache, irritation, hair fall, grey hair and dull skin. It is said that people who have a proper schedule or a sleep cycle, tend to have a better and healthy lifestyle. According to a study, where 20,000 women who worked night shifts were found that they have more chances to suffer from breast cancer than women who did not work night shifts. The side effects of a night shift are not only limited to physical effect but also impacts overall mental well-being as well. People who work at night have a day that is characterised by sleepiness and reduced performance in all terms. Other than this, a person working night shifts is prone to gaining weight and suffering from obesity, they have an increased risk of heart attack, a heightened risk of depression and the most common risk is associated with a workplace injury.
Payment for a Graveyard shift hour pay
Talking about the payment of a graveyard shift hour, generally, the workers get a rough rise of 10% or sometimes even more than their normal payment, they are also paid a premium amount in which they compensate for their social life, this is because they have to work in undesirable conditions. The Fair Labor Standard Act is the Department of Labor in the USA, which is responsible for the minimum wage, child labour and overtime pay. It says extra pay for working weekends or nights is a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee (or the employee’s representative). The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require extra pay for weekend or night work. But despite getting paid a little extra than usual, the workers are not able to satisfy their family’s general needs which compels them to work extra shifts even during the daytime, or some also get into crime. In America mostly incline towards night shifts, therefore they work much more erratically and energetically during this hour. In many cases, some companies also provide incentives, increased wages or shifts to premium for their employees who work night shifts.
Conclusion
Having a graveyard shift is having a lot of disadvantages as well, so there’s no use in taking up one unless you want to give up on your healthy biological clock or schedule. The lack of social interaction also raises feelings of depression, separation and rejection, and because of this, some people might also experience guilt for not being able to give time to their family and being unable to fulfil their social responsibilities. Other than this the company should take care of their employees who work during the night shift not only by increasing their wages but by supporting them mentally and emotionally so that they do not get distracted or impacted by any social dilemma.
Therefore, in my conclusion, I would like to say that a graveyard shift is never equal on a balance beam, but we being the makers of society should be able to analyse the pros and cons of our surroundings and make it fit as a fiddle.
