[407] - Stop Replacing Shift Workers. Start Asking Why They're Leaving.

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Stop Replacing Shift Workers. Start Asking Why They're Leaving.

If your organisation is constantly recruiting shift workers to replace the people who are leaving, there may be another question worth asking:

Why are they leaving in the first place?

Staff turnover in 24/7 workplaces can have many causes, including leadership, pay, career opportunities, workload, workplace culture and personal circumstances. But there is another factor leaders should consider.

How much is the experience of living around shift work contributing to good people eventually saying, "I can't keep doing this"?

In this episode of A Healthy Shift, I draw on more than 40 years of frontline shift work to explore the connection between shift work, chronic fatigue, work-life balance and employee retention.

Sometimes people don't leave because they hate their profession. They leave because they're exhausted by the life that has developed around it.

Poor sleep becomes normal. Days off become recovery days. Exercise disappears. Relationships become harder to maintain. Friends stop seeing each other. Family time suffers. And eventually a worker who once loved their job starts questioning whether they can continue living this way.

For organisations struggling with staff turnover, unplanned leave, fatigue and morale, recruitment is only one side of the equation.

Retention requires asking what is happening to the people you already have.

I explain why helping shift workers understand sleep, daylight, movement, nutrient timing and fatigue management can give them greater control over life around their roster.

And importantly, the goal isn't simply to make people better at working.

It's to help shift workers have more energy to do the things they love outside work.

Because when shift workers have more energy outside their shift-working life, they're in a better position to thrive within it.

This final episode in the four-part Shift Work Champions™ series also brings together the Enterprise Framework: workforce education as the foundation, followed by developing Shift Work Champions™ to help build sustainable internal shift work capability.

Shift Work Champions™ won't solve every cause of employee turnover. But if the experience of working shifts is contributing to good people struggling or considering leaving, it's a factor worth addressing.

In this episode

•  Why constantly recruiting doesn't necessarily solve a retention problem 
•  The difference between leaving a profession and leaving the life surrounding shift work 
•  How chronic fatigue can affect life outside work 
•  Why days off can gradually become recovery days 
•  The relationship between shift work education and sustainable work-life balance 
•  Why generic 9-to-5 health advice often doesn't fit 24/7 workers 
•  The role of sleep, daylight, movement and nutrient timing 
•  Why "Control the Controllable" matters for shift workers 
•  Moving workplace wellbeing from reactive support towards preventative education 
•  How Shift Work Champions™ builds internal shift work capability 
•  Why employee retention has to consider the human being behind the turnover statistic 

If you're a CEO, operational leader, People & Culture leader, HR professional or wellbeing manager dealing with staff turnover in a 24/7 workforce, ask yourself:

How much of our retention problem is connected to the way our people are experiencing life around shift work?

Learn more about Shift Work Champions™ and the Enterprise Framework below

"Because it doesn't have to be this way."

Support the show

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Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

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Disclaimer: Roger Sutherland is not a doctor or a medical professional.  Always consult a physician before implementing any strategies mentioned in this podcast. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Roger Sutherland will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of the information contained in this podcast, including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness, or death.

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