Compressed work schedules give long-term care workers more control, slower pace

Compressed work schedules, in which employees work extended shifts in exchange for fewer workdays, are often viewed with caution because shift work is generally linked to poorer psychosocial working conditions. A new study from Norway suggests that this concern may overlook an important distinction: the way a shift schedule is organized can matter as much as the fact that it is shift work. Researchers found that long-term care workers on compressed schedules reported better job control and a slower work pace than colleagues on traditional rotations.

The study, published in BMC Health Services Research, used a sequential mixed-methods design. The researchers first conducted 39 interviews with long-term care workers to explore how employees experienced their schedules, then tested and expanded on those insights with a large survey. The survey targeted 53,620 members of Norwegian health care unions and yielded 7,168 valid responses, giving the qualitative findings a broad quantitative foundation.

The survey comparison focused on employees working extended day shifts within compressed work schedules and those working traditional two- or three-shift rotations. The compressed-schedule group reported higher job control and a lower work pace. These two dimensions of the psychosocial work environment are closely watched in occupational health research, since low control and high pace are both associated with strain at work.

The interviews helped explain why the differences emerged. Employees described how compressed schedules enhanced job control by enabling them to reschedule tasks within shifts and across workdays. Longer blocks of time at work gave them room to rearrange duties in ways that shorter shifts did not, and this flexibility in turn allowed them to slow their work pace.

The schedule format also changed the structure of daily work in a second way. Workers on compressed schedules said the arrangement eliminated handovers and the disruptions that come with them. Handovers, the moments when one shift passes responsibility to the next, are a routine feature of rotating schedules in care settings, and removing them appeared to contribute directly to the lower work pace reported by the compressed-schedule group.

The authors frame these results against the broader background that shift work is often associated with poorer psychosocial working conditions. Their findings emphasize that how shift work is organized plays a crucial role. Rather than treating all shift schedules as equivalent exposures, the study suggests the specific design of a schedule can determine whether employees experience the demands of shift work as burdensome or manageable.

The interviews pointed to a further conclusion about the mechanisms involved. The type of shift schedule can shape the psychosocial work environment by influencing both job resources and job demands. In this case, compressed schedules appeared to strengthen a resource, job control, while easing a demand, work pace, which is the opposite direction to the pattern typically reported for shift work.

The study focused on long-term care workers in Norway, and the findings are specific to employees working extended day shifts within compressed schedules rather than all forms of compressed arrangements. Even with those boundaries, the results offer a concrete insight for employers and policymakers weighing schedule options in care services: the psychosocial consequences of a shift system depend on its design, and schedules that concentrate work into fewer, longer days can, under some conditions, give workers more control and a calmer pace rather than less.

Subject of Research: Psychosocial working conditions of long-term care employees working compressed work schedules compared with traditional shift rotations

Article Title: Employee control and work pace while working compressed work schedules in long-term care: a sequential mixed method study

Article References: Lillebråten, A., Underthun, A., Alves, D. E., & Bernstrøm, V. H. (2026). Employee control and work pace while working compressed work schedules in long-term care: a sequential mixed method study. BMC Health Services Research. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-15288-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-15288-2

Keywords: compressed work schedules, long-term care, job control, work pace, shift work, psychosocial work environment, mixed methods, Norway, health care workers, nursing, Employee, control