22 NIGHT WORK IN INDUSTRY
In addition to bonuses, a number of companies offer other
inducements which possess pecuniary advantages. Such
attractions consist in some instances of free luncheons, trans-
portation facilities, or paid time for meal-time and rest of 15
to 45 minutes. In some plants on a fixed shift basis, notably
in the printing trades, less hours are worked at night, while
wages are higher than during the day. In isolated instances
night workers are permitted to leave after accomplishing
the scheduled work.
As night work in the establishments which operate con-
tinuously on a rotating plan is considered as an incident to
regular employment, only a few companies offer financial
incentives for night work. Only three of the 83 plants report-
ing this information give a bonus for night work consisting
of a slight increase in wages, about three cents per hour
over the corresponding day rates. Since most night work in
rotating plans is process work which calls for a higher rate
of pay than straight day work, it is taken by the employees
generally as promotion to a job at higher wages, and thus
extra incentives for night work in these plants are not usually
considered necessary.
Establishments which use a regular fixed shift plan of
night work organization, whether continuously operative or
only at certain seasons of the year, find it necessary in many
cases to offer extra awards to night workers. Fifty-four of the
86 plants belonging to this group offer financial incentives to
their night work employees. It is of interest to note that in the
plants which experience no labor recruiting difficulties, there
is an equal division of establishments according to whether
or not they give a bonus for night work, while in concerns
which encounter difficulties in obtaining labor, two out of
every three companies offer extra awards. From this it
appears that the extra incentives are not altogether effective
in overcoming the disadvantages in the recruiting of labor.
Such awards as extra paid time for meals and rest, free
luncheons and transportation facilities are provided for
their night workers by a number of establishments operating
on regular fixed shift programs. More often these companies
mention the fact that, while financial incentives are not
given, the possibility of earning increased wages through the