The Twelve-Hour Shift in the Petroleum and Chemical Industries Revisited: An Assessment by Human Resource Management Executives

This study, a follow-up of one published in 1979, reports the results of a questionnaire concerning the twelve-hour shift that was sent to human resource management executives at 23 chemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic companies in 1987. Respondents from all 11 chemical companies and 4 petroleum companies that returned the form indicated they were using the shift. Most of them reported that the shift was popular with employees, largely because of the longer periods of time off and greater freedom on weekends and evenings it provides. The twelve-hour shift is also widely used in the mini-steel and offshore oil drilling industries, and it is used to a limited extent in paper manufacturing, data processing, metal can manufacturing, and electric utilities.