Real Talk
What Does It Mean to Work On Graveyard Shift and Is it Worth It?
Unfortunately, graveyard shift jobs are the ones that offer the highest pay but, are they that lucrative?
Many working moms and dads often find work in Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), one of the biggest industries here in the Philippines. Often, these processes include writing, programming, designing, social media account management, and many other processes that businesses find difficult to have someone in-house to manage. Unfortunately, BPOs deal with many western clients which means their clocks are inverted. This leaves many moms and dads working on the graveyard shift.
Meaning of Graveyard Shift
The graveyard shift has been a long-time term for those who work from night to early morning, usually from 10 PM to 6 AM. Its name was also derived from everyone being “dead asleep” but that seems to have changed. As the Philippines becomes hailed more and more as a country with “labor worth outsourcing,” more parents may find extra income in taking those graveyard shifts, especially when these clients pay in a currency higher than pesos.
What’s the usual case?
The usual case is that people who take the graveyard shift or the night shift in BPOs get paid higher because of what they call a night differential, which is the money employees are paid if they don’t work the usual work hours. The Philippine Labor Code 442 states, “a night differential should not be less than 10% of his regular wage for each hour of work performed between 10 o’clock in the evening and 6 o’clock in the morning.” An example is:
If a person’s hourly wage is at PHP 537.00 (the minimum wage of 2022), that means their night differential should not be lower than PHP 53.7. This amount is then multiplied by the amount of hours spent working 10 PM to 6 AM and is considered “extra pay” on top of the salary.
It’s also in the Philippine Labor Code 86 that companies must pay the night shift differential for those who work the graveyard shift. Yes, it’s a must for those who handle clients from the west whose clocks are in reverse: their morning is our night.
Coupled with this, they make the salary a lot higher than those in the morning. Some offers range as low as P40,000 and as high as P100,000 because it’s difficult to find people to fill the position. That’s still gross, not the net amount by the way.
But is it worth working the graveyard shift?
While the money is high, there are a lot of things to consider before accepting a graveyard shift. Especially as parents, working at night means that you’ll have to make it work somehow with the kids’ schedules. Although the kids will be in school, some parents who have opted for homeschooling or unschooling may find juggling work — be it a day job or night one — along with school difficult.
Taxes are unavoidable, but the sudden change from working in the morning to working at night can cause health problems. Some have reported becoming sickly because the liver, which gets stronger with good amounts of sleep, suffers some damage along with their bodies’ immune systems. Others have felt guilty for not being there as a parent. Although they pay for the house’s expenses and upkeep, is it worth becoming like an absentee parent? Can gifts truly replace the love and attention children want from their parents?
It’s a lot to consider, especially when money makes a better future for our kids.
As schools become more expensive along with groceries, it’s no surprise that we’re desperate to accept any form of job, even if it means accepting the graveyard shift, sacrificing our health, and selling ourselves to a company. Some BPOs have already been declared so “toxic” among professionals that they’ve been blacklisted because the money isn’t worth it. Some have even said that it takes a “special brand of psycho” to survive that culture. But if that culture is something that ends up hurting our families then, there need to be some changes.
Reference
No, P. D. (2014). Labor Code of the Philippines.
Davis, S., Mirick, D. K., & Stevens, R. G. (2001). Night shift work, light at night, and risk of breast cancer. Journal of the national cancer institute, 93(20), 1557-1562.
Luke, D. P., & Zychowicz, K. (2014). Working the graveyard shift at the witching hour: Further exploration of dreams, psi and circadian rhythms. International Journal of Dream Research, 105-112.
Presser, H. B. (2004). The economy that never sleeps. Contexts, 3(2), 42-49.
Scott, E. K. (2010). “I Feel as if I Am the One Who Is Disabled” The Emotional Impact of Changed Employment Trajectories of Mothers Caring for Children with Disabilities. Gender & Society, 24(5), 672-696.
Zedeck, S., Jackson, S. E., & Summers, E. (1983). Shift work schedules and their relationship to health, adaptation, satisfaction, and turnover intention. Academy of Management Journal, 26(2), 297-310.
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