Boom In It And The Bpo Sector Sociology Essay Example

circadian rhythm can lead to shift work sleep disorder (SWSD), especially during extended periods of night shifts.

SWSD is characterized by insomnia and excessive drowsiness while working non-standard schedules. Symptoms include frequent short naps, falling asleep on the job,
poor quality
and shorter duration of sleep overall,
decreased work performance,
reduced mental accuracy,
irritability,
anger,
mood swings,
and depression.

A survey conducted in India on dairy workers working in the dark revealed that these workers experience higher work stress, negative mental health outcomes, and overall life stress compared to day shift workers. The study found that overload of responsibilities, increased work-home conflict, and role ambiguity were significant indicators of increased stress levels and mood states. Furthermore, dark shift work resulted in physical, physiological, psychological, and social problems. The findings support previous research suggesting a link between dark shift work and depression (Srivastava, 2010).

According to the survey, nurses are significantly affected by dark displacement, which impacts both their physical health and mental well-being. This disruption in their circadian rhythm leads to a decline in their quality of life, negatively impacting their work performance and social relationships. The study also suggests that the limited schedule imposed by their job can result in reduced participation in social activities, leading to depression and affecting personal and social life alike. The adverse effects include burnout, fatigue, exhaustion, irritability, anger, as well as psychological symptoms like depression. These not only affect overall well-being but also have repercussions on social life and marital satisfaction. Consequently, these adverse effects are reflected within one's marriage through diminished quality, stability, satisfaction levels while adding to existing stressors.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the satisfaction levels of dark displacement workers in their marriages and

how they fulfill their marital responsibilities. The analysis will concentrate on defining matrimonial satisfaction and recognizing the factors that are relevant. Stone (2007) suggests that marital satisfaction involves an individual's viewpoint on the pros and cons linked to their marriage. If a spouse imposes more costs, it results in decreased satisfaction; conversely, if there are more perceived benefits from the marriage and spouse, it leads to increased satisfaction.

The satisfaction of a marriage encompasses multiple factors, including leisure time spent together, communication, and conflict resolution. Nevertheless, individuals who work shifts encounter difficulties in their marital relationships due to the demands of their work schedule. This can necessitate modifications in their domestic life, particularly for women who have additional roles and responsibilities. To promote a thriving marriage, it is crucial to allocate quality leisure time for bonding. Regrettably, individuals working night shifts experience a decline in the quality of time they spend with their partners due to the nature of their work schedule.

Engaging in preferred activities and pursuing shared interests can have a positive impact on married spouses' quality time. Weekends play a crucial role in allowing workers to spend leisure time with their partners. However, night shift workers often use weekends to recover from the week's stress, which can result in lower quality leisure time together. Research has shown that engaging in preferred activities as a couple is closely related to marital satisfaction (Heather, Zabriskie, Hill & Brian, 2009). Additionally, night shift workers face limitations in contributing leisure time to their marriage due to the mismatch between their days off and the family's schedule. This interference from work can lead to the worker being absent or

too tired to participate in important family rituals such as meal times, going out together, attending community events, etc.

The worker may either work during the night or be sleeping and recovering from work.

Social and Community Life.

Since most community and societal activities occur in the evening, a night shift employee may struggle to find time for such events. While weekends offer time for social activities, a night shift employee may be too tired and unable to fully participate in social activities due to their schedule and lifestyle inconveniences. A study conducted on families of workers with a modern shift rotation found that 67.2% of employees reported that night shift work often interfered with their social life.

The difficulties faced by women who work shifts are many and can result in a lack of social support if they do not maintain a balance between work and socializing. Furthermore, having social support has positive effects on an individual's psychological state, mood, and self-perception.

Challenges Faced by Women Shift Workers.

The workforce is changing as more women enter and choose non-standard work schedules. This shift challenges traditional gender roles and alters family dynamics. Female shift workers encounter various challenges such as managing multiple roles, including meeting family and work responsibilities, fulfilling their family's demands and expectations, participating in community activities to meet social obligations, and carrying out their duties at work.

Work-home balance is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as the proportion of time dedicated to one's job compared to that spent with family and participating in enjoyable activities. Women, particularly those who work during the night, encounter greater functional stress than men. The stress faced by female employees is further intensified by

night shift work. For married women working late shifts, attaining a work-life balance and minimizing conflicts between their professional and personal lives present significant obstacles. Shift work often leads to clashes between work and home responsibilities, with women being more affected by these conflicts than men (Tuttle; A; Garr, 2012).

According to Barnett and Baruch (1985), role balance refers to the difference between wages and concerns. It suggests that receiving higher wages from a specific role while experiencing fewer concerns leads to a positive role quality. This reduces levels of role conflicts, overload, and anxiety. For employed women working the night shift, these role strains can be alleviated if they receive higher wages in one of their roles, which reduces conflicts and stress and improves their well-being. If they also receive support from their family on the home front, it is likely to increase their job engagement and control over their occupation. Greenhaus (2003), following the theory of work-home balance, describes work-life balance as a continuum. This continuum ranges from instability in family roles on one end to balance in work roles on the other end.

According to Greenhaus theory, work-household enrichment consists of three components: time balance, involvement balance, and satisfaction balance. Time balance refers to an equal amount of time invested in both work and household tasks. Involvement balance refers to the psychological effort and physical presence expressed in both roles. Satisfaction balance refers to the wages and satisfaction received from both work and household responsibilities. Bi-directionally, as stated by Frone (2003), engaging in one role can either create conflicts or enhance the other roles.

Engagement in the household function can have both positive and

negative effects on the work sphere, while engagement in the work sphere can either decrease or improve the household sphere.

Stress.

According to Bodenmann (2005), stress is a phenomenon that involves shared concerns, emotional connection between spouses, and maintaining a close relationship. Stress can be caused by external factors such as work, culture, society, or other relationships, or it can originate internally within one of the spouses and impact their relationship. The impact of stress may vary for each couple; therefore, it is crucial to consider factors like its location, duration, and intensity.

Both external and internal factors can be the focus of attention. When the societal environment interacts with the relationship between two individuals, struggles within the relationship itself may arise, such as work stress, personal needs, and desires. The intensity and duration of this focus can vary depending on how much impact the stressor has on the relationship - it can range from major to minor, acute to chronic, temporary to prolonged.

Bodenmann's emphasis-divorce model explores how daily stressors (whether they are acute or chronic) affect marital relationships and their stability and functioning. External stressors that originate outside of the couple's system tend to be more detrimental. These external stressors are often subtle in nature like time spent together and communication rather than major life events. If these external stressors persist over time, they can lead to dissatisfaction with the marital relationship and ultimately result in divorce.

According to Bodenmann, external stressors affect marital relationships by reducing shared experiences and decreasing time spent together which leads to a diminished sense of togetherness and difficulty in coping with stress. Consequently, this decline in quality of communication and interaction occurs.

The

primary interaction between the two individuals has a main consequence, which is their distance from each other and resulting negative outcomes. These stressors directly impact the quality and stability of their marriage, increasing the likelihood of physical and psychological issues such as sleep difficulties and sexual dysfunction. The couple's response to these stressors further intensifies negative emotions like anger and anxiety, leading to escalated conflicts. As a result, they become more distant and withdrawn from each other, causing dissatisfaction in their marriage that could potentially lead to divorce if unresolved. In marriages involving displaced workers, applying Bodenmann's model can be beneficial.

The dark displacement agenda, which includes the occupation agenda and work focus, poses challenges for the couple in terms of sharing experiences and spending quality time together. Consequently, their time spent together reduces and the quality of their interaction declines, causing one spouse to feel lonely and perceive a decline in marriage quality. These negative emotions like anger, frustration, and unhappiness can trigger dissatisfaction with their marital relationship.

Shift work has a significant impact on workers' physical and mental well-being, as well as their relationships. When workers sleep during the day while their families are active, it can disturb their sleep patterns and create marital issues. This disturbance in sleep can lead to psychological symptoms like irritability and depression, which then lower marital satisfaction. Moreover, the constant fatigue that shift workers face makes it challenging for them to participate in leisure activities with their partners.

The aim of this survey is to investigate the strategies utilized by workers in fulfilling marriages to overcome challenges resulting from dark displacement work. The reason for conducting this survey is to

build upon previous research that has explored the impact of displacement work on employees' physical and mental well-being, social interactions, and familial connections. By addressing various hurdles faced by displacement workers, the survey seeks to comprehend the factors contributing to successful marriages among these individuals and evaluate the approaches employed to achieve a harmonious work-life balance.

Review of Previous Studies

The below-mentioned studies have analyzed the consequences of displacement work on health, overall satisfaction, and marital relationships.

This survey examines the impact of non-standard work hours versus standard work hours on marital satisfaction in five areas: planetary hurt, job-solving communication, time together, sexual dissatisfaction, and emotional communication. The survey used the Marriage Satisfaction Inventory, a 280-point questionnaire that assesses specific aspects of marital satisfaction. The participants included 30 employees who worked day shifts and 20 employees who worked night shifts at Western Union in New Jersey. The research was based on five hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 predicted that day shift workers would have higher levels of marital satisfaction compared to non-day shift workers. Hypothesis 2 predicted that day shift workers would have better problem-solving communication and fewer conflicts in their marriage compared to non-day shift workers. Hypothesis 3 predicted that day shift workers would spend more quality and leisure time with their partners compared to non-day shift workers.

The research conducted by Lauf-Goldstein (1990) hypothesized that individuals who work twenty-four hours shifts would experience higher levels of sexual satisfaction with their partners compared to those who do not work twenty-four hours shifts. Another hypothesis (Hypotheses 5) posited that twenty-four hours workers would have greater contentment in their marriages due to the affection and support provided by their partners. However, the

research findings did not support either of these hypotheses. In contrast to previous studies on the impact of shiftwork on marriage, this study found that there was not a significant difference in marital satisfaction between twenty-four hours shift and non-twenty-four hours shift workers. The study also provides a summary of the effects and consequences of shift work, as well as discussing some of the benefits it can offer (Finn, 1981). The information presented in this article is based on various studies conducted on employees who work non-standard hours, both within and outside of the U.S.A. Some individuals may choose to take on night shift work due to a lack of job opportunities, while others may use their night shift schedule as an opportunity to maintain a part-time day job or pursue education during the day.

Night shift work not only offers financial incentives and accommodates employees who perform better at night, but it also has drawbacks in terms of its impact on one's health. It interferes with the normal sleep rhythm, reduces the quality of sleep and appetite, and results in physical and emotional problems. Additionally, workplace accidents could increase if employees have to operate machinery. In regards to family life, shift workers experience more work-home conflict due to the discrepancy between their time off and their partner's time off.

The spouse of the worker would have to adhere to the schedule of the displaced worker and would need to adapt to their unusual working hours in order to have adequate time for leisure, meals, and entertainment. This would negatively affect the mental and physical well-being of the displaced worker's spouse, especially if they work the night

shift. The quality of the time a displaced worker gets to spend with their family could also be poor due to fatigue and drowsiness, making it difficult to engage in normal activities or show interest in social events or outings. Night shift work also interferes with sexual activity. Furthermore, it becomes challenging for a displaced worker to attend social events they are invited to by their friends.

The article discusses the negative effects of non-standard work shifts on various aspects of a person's life. It states that such shifts can negatively impact physical and mental well-being, family life, job security, and social life. A study conducted in the Netherlands examines the impact of non-standard shifts on partnership quality through semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that women, especially those with children, were more dissatisfied with irregular hours as it caused stress compared to men.

The study investigated the impact of non-standard work hours on relationships, specifically focusing on the ticket squad parenting workforce. The findings revealed a weak connection between non-standard work shifts and relationship quality, suggesting that these hours did not significantly reduce the overall quality of relationships. Additionally, the research found that partners in families with night shift workers expressed higher satisfaction with their relationships, which mitigated the negative effects of non-standard work on relationships (Mills & Kadri, 2010). The study also examined perceived family well-being and stressors influenced by non-standard work schedules in two separate studies (Kelly, Amy & David, 2008). The objective of this research was to assess how work-family spill over is affected by non-standard work hours and whether these hours contribute to a decrease in marital stability.

The survey was conducted on a

total of 1166 individuals, specifically targeting those aged between 25 and 74. The findings of the survey indicated that engaging in dark displacement work resulted in heightened levels of marital instability. Additionally, it was observed that such work arrangements also led to an increase in negative work - place spill over, which refers to the transfer of work-related attitudes and experiences to the home environment. This transfer is particularly prominent when dark displacement work disrupts one's sleep rhythm, resulting in fatigue and stress that can carry over into their familial life.
Furthermore, the presence of a child at home exacerbates the stress experienced by workers, as they bear the extra responsibility of caring for the child alongside their work commitments on a daily basis. Consequently, this study aims to explore the relationship between displacement work and overall family satisfaction. A noteworthy aspect of this research is its inclusion of individuals with diverse professional backgrounds in the sample, as opposed to only focusing on employees from a single company or a particular type of occupation.

This survey explores different categories of displacement, including day, evening, night, rotating, and split displacement. It proposes that workers experience varying levels of family satisfaction, with higher satisfaction for day displacement and lower satisfaction as it transitions to split displacement. The survey also investigates the relationship between the number of work hours, job flexibility, and nature of occupation on family satisfaction. The results indicate that being in a non-standard, inflexible occupation decreases family satisfaction, particularly for evening and night displacement workers (Davis, Goodman, Piretti & Almeida, 2008). Additionally, the study finds that job flexibility and the nature of the occupation and work atmosphere

lead to higher family satisfaction by reducing work-family spillover. The study includes 168 fire forces from three different working shifts and aims to analyze the impact of the three types of displacement work on emotional exhaustion related to work-family conflict and social support (Jonathon & Halbesleben, 2009).

The survey found that topics were created to address emotional exhaustion, work-household struggle, and support along with demographic controls. The results of the survey showed that the struggle between work and home life increases when the job is more demanding and when less time is spent at home. This struggle can also lead to emotional exhaustion in firefighters. The support an employee receives from their family can help reduce the stress they face during night shift work. According to the survey, the schedule should provide allowance for employees to spend more time at home, so that quality time spent with family can lead to emotional support for employees working the night shift. This research study focuses on the relationship between night shift work and work-home fit.

According to Tuttle ; Garr (2012), a survey examined the hypothesis that employees working non-criterion displacement would experience poor work to family fit compared to those working day shift or flexible hours. The survey also aimed to determine if negative work-place spillover would be reduced if employees had control over their work schedule. The study utilized the 2008 national survey of workforce to analyze the impact of shift work on employees. It was found that shift work significantly influenced work-place conflict, particularly among female employees, even when they had control over their shift schedules. However, for men, having greater control over their schedule resulted

in less work to family conflict.

This survey investigates the impact of displacement work on marital quality across six domains: marital happiness, interaction, conflicts, general issues, sexual issues, and child-related issues (White & Keith, 1990). A national panel of 1668 men and women were interviewed. The findings indicate that displacement work does have a detrimental effect on marriage.

According to a survey by Messer (1992), every aspect examined in the survey was negatively affected by shift work. The survey focused on the impact of night shifts on marital relationships. The study included 65 married men, 19 of whom were full-time employees at grocery stores and 46 were full-time employees of the Southern California state departments. These employees worked morning, evening, night, and rotating shifts. The level of marital satisfaction/hurt was assessed using a marital satisfaction inventory. The findings showed that workers on night shifts experienced higher workplace conflict compared to those on day shifts.

The survey results indicated that individuals working various shifts, including consistent twenty-four hour, flushing, dark, and inconsistent rotating shifts, experience different levels of job satisfaction. The findings suggest that employees working different shifts have varying degrees of job satisfaction, with those in rotating shifts being the least satisfied due to the incompatible work schedule. The study focused on the effects of different work timings and rotating shifts on workplace conflict, job satisfaction, and overall well-being among 3122 Dutch military constabulary.

According to a study conducted by Demerouti, Sabine, Arnold & A; Euwema (2004), non twenty-four hours switch work led to work-place conflicts. The research also found that employees who worked rotating shifts had lower job satisfaction due to the inconsistency. Although job satisfaction was not

affected by the timing of non-standard work hours compared to rotating shifts, it did alleviate work-place conflicts. An article in Hindustan Times discusses the various ways in which night shift work can disrupt one's life. Research by David Maume indicates that both men and women believe that night shift work negatively impacts their marital relationships and causes strain. Women are more affected than men by shift work due to role strain.

It becomes difficult for women to handle childcare and fulfill their domestic responsibilities when compared to men, which leads to strain in their marriage and an increase in work-home conflict. The study focuses on three main themes: economic trade-offs, family routines, and emotional adjustments (Handy, 2010). Engaging in shift work brings financial benefits, but it also requires other family members to accommodate the shift worker's schedule. In some cases, partners may have to give up their own jobs in order to manage family life. While the partner takes care of the household, relying on the shift worker becomes convenient due to the financial benefits and adherence to traditional family roles. Additionally, the study also examines the emotional well-being of shift workers.

The impact of displacement work on one's emotional well-being can have both physiological and psychological effects. In terms of family routines, workers have little knowledge of these routines as their spouse is primarily responsible for ensuring that the family's rituals align with the worker's schedule. This highlights the amount of effort spouses put into managing household conflicts caused by work. This study (Dusunen,2010) examines the psychopathic symptoms caused by night shift work and its effects on the quality of life of healthcare workers. The sample

for this study consisted of 45 nurses who worked the night shift. Psychopathic symptoms and quality of life were measured using symptom checklists and the short form 36. Nurses who worked the night shift reported higher scores for somatization, obsessive-compulsive behavior, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, paranoid ideation, and overall severity compared to day shift workers. Shift work also reduced the quality of life, with night shift nurses scoring higher in pain and physical functioning.

The survey aimed to improve the quality of life for nurses by adjusting their work schedule, taking into account the impact of night shifts on their mental well-being. Although most studies suggest that night shift work can decrease marital satisfaction and increase work-family conflict, there have been few studies that have proven that night shift work does not affect marital relationships. Employees who have better control over their schedule and job freedom and satisfaction are shown to have better family life and marital satisfaction, as they experience less work-family conflict. Greenhaus and Powell (2006) proposed a theory called work-to-family enrichment, which explains that managing time, carrying positive mood from work to home, and using support networks from work to help their families can reduce work-family conflict. Some studies also suggest the possibility that couples who work night shifts report higher marital satisfaction because they already have conflicts with their partners that are not caused by working night shifts.

They find dark displacement work convenient as they can avoid struggles at place and interacting with their spouses.

Chapter 4 Results and Discussion

This chapter presents consequences in a tabular format following content analysis. The responses were coded, categorized and placed under a wide class of subjects. Following

each table expansive responses as illustrations are provided by the participants, stand foring each subject.

Participants in this survey were adult females who were working in the dark displacement, married for a duration of 1 to 5 years, and without children. The questionnaires were sent via email, and only 10 participants who met the criteria were selected for the survey. The participants' age range was between 25 and 31 years old, and they belonged to a middle socio-economic background. They were working in BPO's in Bangalore. The educational m