Workload and Quality of Working Life in Shift and Nonshift Workers of a Water and Wastewater Contracting Company in 2018

Workload is one of the most important factors leading to the occurrence of work‑related injuries that can have impacts on quality of working life (QoWL). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare workload and QoWL in shift and nonshift workers of a water and wastewater contracting company.

In this  cross‑sectional study, workload and QoWL for all workers of a water and wastewater contracting company were investigated. Fifty‑one shift workers and 38 daytime workers completed NASA Task Load Index (TLX) as well as QoWL Scale by Van Laar et al. The data were analyzed by R software.

The results showed that physical demands of NASA‑TLX in shift workers were higher than those in daytime ones. Among the dimensions of QoWL Scale, only the difference between the average scores for home–work interface was significant in a way that the conditions for the group of shift workers were more favorable.

The results of this study showed that the volume of work and the quality of work in shift and nonshift workers are not significantly different and One reason is that the shift group had 12 hours more work and 24 hours more rest. The correlation between the dimensions of workload and QoWL demonstrated that increased workload would lead to a decline in QoWL.