Better Night Work: What’s Working, What’s Missing and What Needs to Change?
Millions of people work through the night to keep the UK running. But how well are we supporting them? And what can employers learn from each other about creating healthier, safer and more sustainable night work?
On 28 October, Night Club brought together employers, academics and industry experts for our latest Consortium event, The State of UK Night Work: What’s Working?
The conversation spanned healthcare and social care, transport and logistics, manufacturing, hospitality and leisure, emergency services, and other shift-working industries. We were also joined by representatives from government, research organisations and specialist service providers.
Together, we explored what's working, where the gaps remain and what meaningful progress could look like.
Here are five key takeaways…
1. Employers are making progress. But there's still a long way to go
We opened with a snapshot of how organisations are currently approaching night work.
Half of respondents said their organisation was making progress, while a further 25% described their approach as being in the early stages.
When asked about their biggest challenge, almost half (46%) selected fatigue, sleep and recovery. Health, safety and risk, and engagement and inclusion were the next most common concerns, each selected by 21%.
And while 54% felt somewhat confident that their organisation understood the lived experience of its night workforce, only one respondent felt very confident.
These findings offer a useful starting point. There's clearly a willingness to improve, but understanding what night workers actually experience, and translating that understanding into meaningful action, remains a challenge.
2. Better work starts with giving workers a voice
Professor Adam Whitworth from the University of Strathclyde introduced job crafting: an approach that enables employees to make practical changes to how they work, within the requirements of their roles.
These changes might be relatively small, such as adjusting break times, reorganising tasks or changing aspects of the working environment. But they can make work better suited to an individual's needs, strengths and circumstances.
Adam shared insights from WISHES, a £1.8 million research trial exploring how job crafting can improve health, wellbeing and employment outcomes.
The principle is simple: workers themselves are often best placed to identify what would make their working lives better.
For night workers, whose needs can vary enormously depending on their shift patterns, caring responsibilities and personal circumstances, this offers an interesting opportunity.
The research is still underway, but it raises an important question for employers: are we doing enough to involve night workers in shaping the conditions in which they work.
3. Supporting night workers is good for people and business
In a fascinating conversation, Andy Perry, Supply Chain and Logistics Director at Waitrose & Partners, and Catherine Muirden, Chief People Officer and Board Chair, reflected on their experiences of improving night work.
Both described the importance of moving beyond traditional operational measures to understand the human experience of working nights.
Catherine recalled discovering that night workers in a previous organisation were getting an average of just 4.5 hours of sleep a day. It was a powerful reminder of the challenges facing a workforce that can often be overlooked.
Their experiences also demonstrated the business value of taking action.
Catherine highlighted a reported 15% improvement in retention at Sysco following its work with Night Club, while reflecting on improvements in employee engagement in earlier programmes. Andy described reductions in serious night-time accidents alongside changes to shift patterns, food provision and ongoing peer support.
Their message to leaders was encouraging: meaningful change doesn't always require a major investment or a complete operational overhaul.
Small, sustained improvements can make a real difference, particularly when organisations recognise that the benefits may develop over time.
4. The everyday experience of night work matters
One of the strongest themes from our breakout discussions was surprisingly practical: food.
Participants repeatedly highlighted the limited availability of healthy, affordable food during night shifts.
For many workers, vending machines may be the only option. Others may lack suitable kitchen facilities or somewhere to store food brought from home.
It highlighted a wider issue: we can give night workers excellent health advice, but are we creating the conditions that allow them to act on it?
Other examples included the availability of health support, the timing of wellbeing activities and whether night teams have access to the same opportunities as daytime colleagues.
Participants also discussed the importance of tailoring communication to different workforces. Even the language used to describe health and wellbeing support can influence whether people engage.
Better night work isn't simply about asking individuals to make healthier choices. It's about designing workplaces that make those choices possible.
5. Leadership needs to show up at night
Perhaps the clearest message from the discussion was the need to close the gap between night teams and the rest of their organisations.
Participants described how night workers can feel disconnected from senior leaders, organisational decisions and opportunities to contribute.
Suggestions ranged from leaders spending time working alongside night teams to holding meetings during night shifts, rather than expecting workers to attend during the day.
One particularly practical proposal was to establish regular, structured listening sessions with night workers, making engagement a consistent organisational commitment rather than something dependent on individual managers.
The ambition is not simply to make night workers feel more included, but to ensure their experiences and perspectives actively inform decisions.
What happens next? Building the State of UK Night Work
We closed by asking participants where UK employers should focus their efforts over the next two years.
Fatigue, sleep and recovery remained the leading priority, selected by five of the 12 respondents to our final poll. Health, safety and risk, engagement and inclusion, and shift design and scheduling also featured.
But across the conversations, a broader message emerged: improving night work requires action at every level, from individual support and practical workplace conditions to leadership, culture and organisational policy.
That's why Night Club is developing The State of UK Night Work, a new research initiative bringing together academic evidence, employer experiences and, crucially, the voices of night workers themselves.
We want to understand what's working across different sectors, where the biggest gaps remain and how we can turn shared knowledge into practical action.
Because better night work isn't just better for night workers. It's better for business, too.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to such an open, thoughtful and valuable conversation. This is just the beginning.
Interested in helping shape the State of UK Night Work? We'd love to hear from employers, researchers and partners who want to contribute their experiences, insights and ideas.