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Following the proposals on new limits on drivers' hours there
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have been suggestions that more double-shift working should be introduced into road transport operation. Bearing in mind the poor response so far given to evening or night delivery to retailers in the London area, can you give any indication of the extent to which shift working is practised in trade and industry? What are your comments on the likelihood of this trend?
APurely from the accountant's point of
view the greater the utilization of capital equipment by way of double or even treble shift working, the more economic the exercise should be. But there are obviously real social problems.
Of the total working population of about 25m, less than 20 per cent are employed on shift work. Obviously as a service industry road transport can only work to the hours of its customers. But even when dealing with the 80 per cent on "middle" shift the road transport driver will often have to start earlier or finish later than whatever constitutes his customers' normal hours, if the flow of raw materials and finished products is to continue uninterrupted.
As there seems little likelihood of this 80 per cent being substantially reduced in the immediate future any additional doubleshifting of road transport operation could only arise from what is now being undertaken by a single shift. Whatever the legal aspect of the proposed changes might ultimately be, productivity in terms of useful work done in relation to labour costs incurred would be virtually half, even on the dubious assumption that all the additional experienced drivers would be available to be recruited.