God I hope so. Ford figured this shit out over 100 years ago... 3 shifts maximized factory output. Also having 5 day vs 6 day work weeks didn't significantly reduce factory output, but helped significantly reduce turnover.
I swear, it's Musk's biggest weakness, not realizing the costs of mistakes people make when they're tired. I couldn't get through his recent biography because I kept seeing mistake after mistake being chronicled that wouldn't have happened if people were working reasonable hours. I figured the setbacks to SpaceX due to sleep stupid were at least 6 months before I had to stop reading somewhere around their early launches...
There are known techniques for running a large 3-shift operation effectively. One is that all employee-facing services must be available on all shifts. Yes, this means running 3 shifts in human resources, so someone working 12 to 8 can straighten out their insurance problem. Safety and repair staff must operate on 3 shifts. Food services must be as good late at night as they are during the day. Reasonably high level management has to be present on all shifts.
William Bratton, who headed the NYPD (twice) and the LAPD, was big on this. When he first started running the NYC transit police, he'd get on the subway late at night and ride around, talking to the cops on duty. Once the rank and file got used to seeing the commissioner on the subway, things started to improve.
A useful test for your local police department in a city of any size - find out who's the highest ranking cop on duty at 1 AM on a Saturday morning, peak time for most city PDs. If it's a lot lower rank than who's on during the day, the department is not well managed. Such police departments are derisively called "9 to 5 departments" in the business.
It is not uncommon for factory workers to prefer 12 hour shifts and working alternating 3 and 4 day work weeks. That staffs a 24x7 operation with four crews of workers.
There is a good chance that what people prefer does not correlate with what works best. People plan for their lives, the company plans for efficient work. This isn't uncharted territory, and I have never heard of any study claiming 12 hour shifts are more productive / safer / less error prone.
Interesting. That might work assuming workers get an appropriate amount of rest. I know it works well for nursing staff to have longer shifts. There's definitely a cost to handing off tasks, though I expect this to be near zero in a factory setting.
I just know that people get really dumb when they're tired, and it's the same kind of dumb as oxygen deprevation where people actually think they're not effected.
I'd be curious if these 12 hour shifts are preferences for personal reasons, or if there are measurable benefits in the factory as well.
