Train the Trainer

Those who work rotating or irregular shifts have different problems from straight day workers because shiftwork has an effect on sleep, alertness, health, and family and social life. Most shift workers are unaware of these challenges when they start their shift work careers, and many facilities provide little or no education on these areas. So without the proper education and training, many employees will not take active steps to manage these challenges, which can then lead to health, safety, morale and performance problems. This not only has an adverse impact on the employees’ lives, but also the company’s bottom line as well due to turnover, absenteeism, increased health care costs and lost productivity.

Therefore, training in these areas can be a powerful tool for improving your employees’ physical and psychological well being, thereby increasing morale and effectiveness. In fact, research reports have found that turnover and absenteeism rates are higher in facilities that do not provide some type of shift work lifestyle training.

If this is your situation:

• Your in-house trainers do not have the necessary background (knowledge on Circadian rhythms, fatigue, sleep) to put together a program for managing a shift work lifestyle
• You have limited HR or Training Resources because your human resource or training departments are stretched thin to begin with, so it is difficult to keep up with the demands of additional training

This is how CIRCADIAN AUSTRALIA can help you:

Working closely with researchers and experienced shift workers, CIRCADIAN has developed the Managing a Shift Work Lifestyle training program to provide practical solutions for easing the adjustment and day-to-day difficulties associated with shift work lifestyles.

Normally CIRCADIAN AUSTRALIA consultants would deliver the Managing a Shift Work Lifestyle training on-site to groups of employees. However, an alternate approach is to train your personnel to serve as in-house trainers. To facilitate this, training sessions would be conducted jointly by CIRCADIAN AUSTRALIA consultants and your trainers as part of a Train-The-Trainer initiative.

This Train-The-Trainer approach would greatly reduce per person costs going forward, and it would develop an in-house, core capability to deliver the Managing a Shift Work Lifestyle training program on an on-going basis. In-house trainers could include master trainers, human resources personnel, safety specialists, supervisors, industrial hygienists, senior shift workers, or existing training staff. This helps to ensure continuity of the program in the event of personnel relocation and/or turnover.