70 
NIGHT WORK IN INDUSTRY 
A brass works: “It is difficult to attract the best type of 
workers for night work.” 
A large automobile manufacturing company: “It is always diffi- 
cult to secure first-class men for night work, especially on the 
trades. Some are attracted by the extra compensation and longer 
hours and some by the fact that they can get in their week’s work 
in five nights and have a week-end of three days and two nights 
clear for recreation, but it is usually necessary to take a large per- 
centage of inexperienced men and train them fully which, of 
course, is expensive but in the long run most satisfactory.” 
A portion of the last statement brings out another circum 
stance which is quite prevalent, namely, that there is in 
almost all plants a small group, about 5% or 109, of workers, 
who prefer night work. Thus, in the rolling stock division 
of a public utility company, it was found that 
“there is a certain class of men who prefer night work. We 
have a large majority of night force who have been on night duty 
for many years, and they are perfectly content with their jobs.” 
Various factors may account for this condition. It may 
arise because of the possibility of earning increased wages 
through extra incentives or longer hours, the inability to 
secure day work, the longer week-end holiday, the desire to be 
shielded from domestic or legal difficulties or, as is true of a 
small number of workers, the advantage of having part of 
the daylight hours for recreation. 
As may be expected, the problem of labor recruiting is 
more difficult in establishments which can not offer steady 
employment to night workers. Thirty-one of the forty- 
seven of these plants reported difficulties in labor recruiting 
for night work. The main reasons for this are that such 
work is of temporary duration and has little appeal to de- 
sirable employees, and that the need for night workers on 
temporary programs often comes at a period of high busi- 
ness activity when the demand for day workers is above 
normal. While there is always a group of workers who are 
willing to accept night work on a fixed temporary basis, the 
supply of skilled men for this work is exceedingly scarce. 
The following quotations from the replies received from a 
number of companies indicate their experience with labor 
cecruiting for night work on a temporary fixed shift basis.