ANSES warns of the effects of atypical working hours on health and social life

Early morning, late evening, long working hours... Excluding night work, more than half of working people in France work, during their professional life, with "atypical hours", which deteriorates their health and alters their social and family life, warns Anses, in an opinion published Wednesday September 2.

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To define atypical hours, the health agency has retained three main forms: weekend work, long hours of more than eight hours per day and/or 40 hours per week, or staggered hours between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. and between 7 p.m. and midnight. “It is anything but marginal,” Henri Bastos, scientific director of Health and Work at Anses, explains to AFP. Today in France, this concerns 55% to 75% of workers depending on the definition used. Whatever your profession, you may be affected at one time or another by one of these forms of work in atypical hours.” “There can be an accumulation of exposures throughout your career,” he continues.

“Atypical hours” not legally defined

Although the flexibility of working hours has increased since the 1980s, there is no legal definition of atypical working hours. They concern, to varying degrees, employees, public officials, self-employed workers, farmers, traders, workers, nurses, caregivers, salespeople, cashiers, maintenance workers, home helpers, bakers, cooks, waiters, etc.

There is "a lot of scientific literature on the effects of night work on health (...) with mechanisms of desynchronization of the biological clock with identified effects", particularly on sleep, psychological health, the appearance of cancers and cardiovascular pathologies, recalls Henri Bastos. But this is less the case for atypical schedules. In view of the 172 studies deemed relevant on the subject, the agency noted effects on health but also on family and social life, "modulated by the load or nature of work, stress or even the duration and rhythms of sleep".

Without identifying a causal link, "studies highlight more or less strong statistical associations, depending on the type of working hours", with "harmful effects of long working hours proven on anxiety, sleep, the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases", summarizes Henri Bastos. Probable negative effects have also been noted on reproductive and metabolic health, the risk of depression, the balance between professional and socio-family life, and work accidents.

Working on weekends harms personal life, but also, studies suggest, mental health – depression, anxiety – and physical health – disturbed sleep, pain, fatigue, musculoskeletal disorders, accidents. Sleep debt, stress, disruption of family life accumulate..."You will recover less, have less restorative sleep, with consequences on your general condition, your mental health", explains Henri Bastos.

Hours which must “be limited as much as possible”

For work in staggered hours, studies suggest harmful effects on socio-family life, especially for evening work, and on mental health, cardiovascular health and sleep, mainly for morning shifts. “When you only come across your spouse, your children, when you are unable to see your friends, to access collective services such as childcare, this desynchronization with collective rhythms degrades your social and family life, and can then have effects on your health,” explains Henri Bastos.

Working atypical hours “must be limited as much as possible”, concludes ANSES. When it cannot be avoided, it must be better supervised, for example by applying certain protections provided for night work: medical monitoring, provisions for pregnant women.

For the worker, this organization must be "transparent, predictable and balanced" and be accompanied by mainly non-pecuniary compensation, favorable to their health: reduced working time at constant salary, compensatory rest, assistance with transport, childcare, etc., estimates the agency.