Sleep, Work and Globalization: The Evening/Night Shift Employees in Call Centre in Romania

Abstract

In order to ensure synchronized operation of companies who use workforce around the world, work schedules have been divided in two or three shifts and a large number of people work in evening or night shifts. Based on interviews with 25 employees of a call centre in Romania, I describe three processes: sleep desynchronization, i.e. working during night and sleeping during the day, synchronization with those having similar nocturnal schedules and, finally, its resynchronization with the mainstream. I describe the tensions and conflicts which accompany each such transformation.