A relational view of shiftwork: Co-scheduling with higher performers

Research in HR has devoted little attention to the practice of scheduling shift workers into times and places to conduct their work. Relying upon the growing literature related to relational HR, we propose a relational view of scheduling that focuses on how employees' social contexts—particularly their being co-scheduled with higher performers—relate to changes in performance over time. We apply resource dependence and social learning theories to describe how employees' performance over time depends upon their working alongside higher performers. Higher performers consume limited resources (thereby constraining peers' performance in the short term), yet also provide instructive role models for learning new skills (thereby elevating peers' performance over the longer term). We further hypothesize these effects are stronger for employees who are newer to the firm in contrast to those with more experience. We analyze scheduling and performance data from 7,893 retail sales representatives over a 1-year period. Results show co-scheduling with higher performers has an immediate negative effect on employee performance, but is positively related to employee performance over time. Unexpectedly, co-scheduling effects were present for all employees and not only for those new to the organization. Our study points to the need for HR research on employee scheduling to better understand how shift workers' schedules provide the relational context for their work. The research offers several theoretical contributions in understanding the peer effects of higher performers, and we offer practical implications for managers seeking to design employees' schedules to encourage organizationally advantageous relationships between coworkers.