In a recent Women In Optometry Pop-up Poll, the majority of the respondents said their workweek schedule has not undergone significant change during the pandemic.
HOW HAVE WORK HOURS CHANGED AFTER COVID-19?
More than 61 percent of the respondents said that they are working roughly the same amount of time as they were before the pandemic, and nearly 48 percent said the staff was also working roughly the same amount of time.
However, nearly 16 percent of the respondents said they are working more hours, and 11.4 percent of the respondents answered that they are working fewer hours.
Additionally, the pandemic did not drastically affect the weekend work schedule. The majority of the respondents (73 percent) said they did not have any changes in the weekend schedule. A smaller percentage of respondents (23 percent) said they reduced or eliminated weekend hours.
FACTORS IN WORK SCHEDULE CHANGE
More than a third of the respondents who decreased their work schedule said it was because they wanted to work fewer hours. More than a quarter of respondents said that lower patient volume and patient flexibility was a factor of work hour reduction. Respondents could select more than one answer.
Similarly, among those respondents who increased their workweek schedule, more than half answered that it was due to patient wait times for scheduling, and half of the respondents said it was due to higher patient volume.
Three-fourths of the respondents said that they had a say in any scheduling decisions because they are an owner/partner, independent contractor or were consulted.
The majority of the respondents (76.7 percent) were female ODs.
