The traditional Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. job is losing ground. According to the criteria used by ANSES, between 55% and 75% of employed people in France work atypical hours during their professional career.
A reality that affects the majority of workers in France
“This is anything but marginal: today in France, this concerns 55% to 75% of assets depending on the definition used. Whatever your profession, you may be affected at one time or another by one of these forms of working atypical hours.explains Henri Bastos, scientific director of “health and work” at ANSES.
ANSES classifies these working rhythms into three main categories:
- Weekend work;
- Long hours (more than 8 hours per day and/or 40 hours per week);
- Shifted hours (early morning between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., or late evening between 7 p.m. and midnight).
Today, these forms of organization do not benefit from a clear legal definition. ANSES recommends remedying this vagueness to better structure prevention in businesses and adapt the law to realities on the ground.
Proven consequences on the heart, sleep and morale
Based on the analysis of numerous scientific studies, medical expertise highlights devastating effects on physical and mental health.
For longer days, “studies highlight more or less strong statistical associations, depending on the type of working hours, with proven harmful effects of long working hours on anxiety, sleep, and the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases.summarizes Henri Bastos.
The agency also notes increased risks of depression, work accidents or metabolic disorders.
Concerning Sunday work, the accumulated sleep debt is often underestimated. The inability to benefit from two consecutive days of rest complicates the body’s recovery.
“Of course the chronobiology of Sunday is no different: working on Sunday is no more tiring than working on Tuesday, at the same hours.” admitted Sophie Prunier-Poulmaire, ergonomist and lecturer at the University of Paris-Ouest Nanterre-la Défense, in a previous article for
True Medical.
“But recovery is not the same in the case of sleep debt. It is not equivalent to having Tuesday or Thursday as a day of rest while the spouse and children get up early because you then have to deal with the noise pollution from other members of the family.”
A major obstacle to family balance and social life
Working on weekends or in the evening not only disrupts physical health: the gap with the rest of society causes deep psychological stress. The inability to share moments of leisure, to calmly take care of children or to enjoy life as a couple weakens the family ecosystem.
“The psychological burden of working on Sunday can be significant because the employee places himself on the fringes of his family on the only day when all members are present and available. This can generate a state of stress not being able to participate in shared leisure activities,” underlines Sophie Prunier-Poulmaire.
This feeling of disconnection is reinforced by the daily shift. “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 health“, explains Henri Bastos.
Rethink the organization of work and better protect employees
Faced with this observation, ANSES recommends restricting the use of atypical schedules to the strict minimum. Before putting them in place, they must be subject to strict supervision and an overall risk analysis taking into account other parameters: childcare, access to public transport, or even impact on energy consumption.
When the use of atypical working hours cannot be avoided, the Agency recommends extending to staggered or long hours the guarantees provided by labor law for night work, such as:
- Reinforced and adapted medical monitoring;
- Specific protections for pregnant women;
- Non-financial compensation promoting health (compensatory rest time, reduction in working time for equal pay, transport assistance);
- Targeted awareness for self-employed workers and workers outside the Labor Code.
Finally, recent judgments remind us that prolonged exposure to irregular working hours can have serious long-term consequences. ANSES must also publish an expert opinion on the links between night work and the risk of breast cancer, illustrating the urgent need for a protective framework.
The major challenge now lies in the capacity of public authorities and companies to integrate the invisible fatigue of these millions of employees, in order to no longer sacrifice individual health for the benefit of collective flexibility.