Does Cutting Staff Reduce Costs In Shiftwork Operations? Maybe Not. -- STONEHAM, Mass., Feb. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- STONEHAM, Mass., Feb. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- It seems obvious - if a business cuts its staff, it should reduce costs. But this common assumption among 24/7 industry managers is often not true. Unless the workload changes along with the staff reduction, headcount reductions often end up costing organizations much more in the long run. Staffing levels, when too lean or imbalanced, are actually a key contributor to increased costs, fatigue and human error in 24/7 operations. Two of the world's leading experts in shiftwork and fatigue risk management, Dr. Martin Moore-Ede and William Sirois , provide key insights on how to balance staffing and workload and keep costs manageable in CIRCADIAN®'s new complimentary whitepaper - " Staffing Levels: A Key to Managing Risk in 24/7 Operations." 20% of the industrialized workforce are shiftworkers, and while many researchers have examined the risks of different shift schedules, few have examined the significant role that staffing levels plays in managing fatigue throughout the operation. A leaner staff doing more work may look like a cost-saver in the short term, but in the long term, this leads to much higher levels of individual fatigue. By analyzing data from hundreds of round-the-clock operations, CIRCADIAN® has shown that a significant imbalance between workload and staffing levels drives up costs of overtime, absenteeism and employee turnover. The authors review the unforeseen consequences of understaffing and show how to best determine the optimum staffing level for an organization. "Staffing is the first key step in engineering fatigue out of your business," says Moore-Ede, CEO of CIRCADIAN® and former Harvard Medical School professor, "and other fatigue management measures such as shift scheduling and training programs will fail if you don't balance staffing and workload." CIRCADIAN®'s whitepaper examines overtime levels in North American businesses, and shows how costs can be wrung out of round the clock operations by addressing staffing and scheduling imbalances. The whitepaper is accessible on the CIRCADIAN® website at http://www.circadian.com/landing-page/white-paper-staffing-levels.html CIRCADIAN® is the global leader in providing fatigue risk management solutions for the 24/7 workforce for businesses that operate around the clock. Through a combination of consulting expertise, research, software tools, fatigue management technology and informative publications, CIRCADIAN® helps the 24-hour economy optimize employee performance and reduce the inherent risks and costs of their extended-hours operations. Working from offices in North America, Europe, Australia, South America and Asia, CIRCADIAN® experts ensure that over half the Fortune 500, and other leading international companies, improve their competitiveness in the global 24/7 economy. CIRCADIAN®'s core expertise is the staffing, scheduling, training and risk management of their most vital asset: the 24/7 workforce. For more information about CIRCADIAN®, please visit www.circadian.com. Media Contact: Becca Chacko Circadian, 7814396300, bchacko@circadian.com