Night Shift--Revisited--Experience Confirmed

Post for April 23, 2010

I received a call from the U.S. Census Bureau office in Elgin, IL, late in the afternoon of April 22, 2010, inviting me to help assemble materials for training scheduled next week for enumerators participating in the No Response Follow Up (NRFU) phase of Census 2010.

They needed help from Midnight to 8:30AM (an 8-hour shift with a mandatory 30-minute lunch) on Friday, April 23, 2010.  I have had lots of experience with 24-hour shift work and working the night shift.  From that experience, I know that it is not my best time to work.  At the same time, as a professional trainer, I know how time-consuming it is to prepare training materials and how important it is to have the materials ready in time for the training.  I agreed to come in at Midnight and arrived at the office in Elgin at midnight Friday morning (12:00AM).

Several members of the team I worked with during the Group Quarter Enumeration phase of Census 2010 had also volunteered to work the night shift.  Some were working on computers, printing the final materials for the training binders.  Others of us were working to assemble the map packets which will be provided to enumerators.

These map packets are divided into geographic areas assigned to Crew Leader Districts within a state and county area and are intended to allow enumerators to find the exact location of the places they are scheduled to visit.  All of the details are confidential and there are lots and lots of Crew Leader Districts and maps to assemble.  (A good GPS system will be lots more helpful than these maps, for enumerators who have the "high tech" capability.)

We worked throughout the night on assembling the map packets needed for the training and for the next phase of Census 2010.  We took our mandatory lunch break at 4:00AM and went to a nearby Burger King with 24-hour drive-through Thursday through Saturday. 

While the work was productive and I made a contribution to preparing the training materials for next week, I declined the invitation to come back from Midnight to 8:30AM on Saturday, April 24th.  I knew that two days in a row of the night shift could have a significant impact on my health and readiness to do productive work during the day.

When I returned home about 9:30AM on April 23rd, I attempted to go to sleep.  I used a blind fold (left over from air travel) to make the room dark.  While I rested, I did not sleep well.  I also didn't have the energy to get up and do my normal routines.  I went to bed at my normal time Friday night and woke-up at a normal time on Saturday, April 24th.  While I still fill a little "draggy," I am almost back to normal.

My experience of the night shift confirms my feelings posted earlier.  While people can be productive on this shift and while certain jobs or situations may require the night shift from time to time, it is very hard to accommodate these hours in a "normal" sleep schedule.  It also takes some time to recover from taking the time to work a night shift.