My sister in law is a labor and delivery nurse and like many young nurses, in order to get her foot in the door she had to do the night shift for several years. To avoid the costs of daycare, my mother in law (aka superwoman) actually worked the graveyard shift–also as a nurse–and then came home and did the supermom thing all day while my father in law went to work. I’m pretty sure that if I were in the medical profession, I would probably make a mistake that would cost someone their life while working all hours of the night–consequently, I’m a writer and not a doctor.
However, there are a few advantages to working the night shift and if you’re a night owl, or at least are able to readjust your bodily clock to stay up all night and sleep all day, the night shift might be for you. Here are a few advantages that might make you reconsider your ability to nocturnal:
Money
Workers who work at night earn up to 20% more than do their day time counterparts. So if you can stay awake, you’ll take home a bigger pay check for doing the same job.
Annoyances at the Office
If you’re working at night, you’re likely working alone or close to it. Less interruptions are among some perks. Also, there are less meetings and as someone aptly put, “annoying bosses are around less” as everyone else is asleep! Don’t forget about not having to contend with office politics either.
A Shining Star
With less competition around, your stand out qualities are sure to be noticed. For example, the most prominent job at Fed Ex is the night shift manager who manages 1.3 million packages, some 12,000 employees and has unequaled responsibility in the company. Working night shifts also allows for quicker promotion as there’s less competition.
A few other advantages you might not have thought about:
*less traffic during your commute
*opportunity to learn new skill sets–again because there’s less competition
*the night shift tends to be more friendly, and the environment more loose
I wholeheartedly admit, I could never do a night shift. I once joked with my sister in law that I’d likely make a deadly mistake if I had her job. But if you can get used to it–there are some big dividends.
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