The Impact of Working Irregular Hours on Quality and Human Resources in the Irish Pharmaceutical Industry
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Authors
Lucas, Charlotte
Issue Date
2023
Type
Thesis
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION. Ireland is a hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing activity. Due to
business demands and/or nature of products being manufactured some pharmaceutical
manufacturers have no other option but to manufacture 24/7. This research aimed to investigate
the potential impacts of working irregular hours on human resources and quality in the Irish
pharmaceutical industry. This research is important as it investigated factors influencing a
pharmaceutical organisation’s operational excellence and quality management systems.
OBJECTIVES. This research consisted of two primary objectives. The first was to determine
if working irregular hours has any effect in the area of human resources (namely staff morale
and staff turnover intention) by surveying both employees that work regular hours and those
that work irregular hours in the pharmaceutical industry. The second was to determine if
working irregular hours has any effect in the area of quality (namely quality assurance (QA)
and right first time (RFT) manufacturing) by interviewing key subject matter experts working
in the pharmaceutical industry.
METHODS. To address the objective focusing on human resources quantitative research was
used in the form of surveys. 84 people were surveyed: 44 shift workers (SWs) and 40 non-shift
workers (NSWs). Questions were focused on areas of staff morale and turnover intention. Raw
data from survey respondents were analysed using Chi Square Tests of Independence to
determine whether difference between group were independent of each other. The objective
regarding quality within manufacturing was addressed through using qualitative research in the
form of interviews. SMEs were interviewed with questions focusing on QA and RFT
manufacturing. Thematic analysis was carried out on interviews which involved open coding
followed by axial coding.
RESULTS. There was no significant difference between the groups for self-perceived levels
of staff morale. There were however significant differences between groups when it came to
other negative impacts associated with shift work. SWs were more likely to feel fatigued both
during and after work, feel that their work negatively impacts their personal well-being,
frequently feel under pressure in their role and feel emotionally agitated upon arriving home
from work. It is possible that these negative implications of shift work may gradually impact
employee morale over time by wearing people down. There were no significant differences
between the groups and turnover intention. SWs were significantly more likely to admit that
benefits associated with their job (i.e., compressed work week and financial bonus allowance)
prevented them from quitting. An overall pattern was highlighted among the two groups that
the rate of turnover intention increased over time.
The majority of interviewees believed that irregular working hours had no impact on QA.
Interviewees emphasised that quality errors can occur at any time of day and stated that there
are many possible factors at play when looking at quality errors with human root causes rather
than fatigue alone. These can include but aren’t limited to; operator competency, complacency,
mindfulness for task at hand and diligence to work. Similarly, the majority of interviewees
believed that working shift work had no impact on the rate of RFT manufacturing. The general
consensus of interviewees was that systems should be in place in order to catch mistakes before
they occur and therefore set operators up for success.
CONCLUSION. Maintaining positive staff morale, low staff turnover, QA and RFT
manufacturing are all important factors in ensuring operational excellence, productivity and
products are produced to meet regulatory quality standards. This is why investigating potential
factors which may impact these is important. Although some findings for this research thesis
were insignificant, it helped highlight potential research areas for the future. These may include
the impact of shift work on productivity or employee absenteeism all of which effect business
functions. Looking closer at costs involved in investigating quality deviations would also be a
worthwhile research topic.