H S E&T CO RN ER • D E PA R TM E NT S
To start on this relational repair, the
researchers proposed five recommenda-
tions. First, employers should make stron-
ger efforts to provide social support to their
workers. Social support, particularly from
an organization’s leadership, is a key fac-
tor for employees’ positive mental health
and wellbeing. For example, employers
could promote opportunities for workers
to socially engage with one another while
they’re on an offshore facility.
Second, employers should support
employees in their efforts to connect with
families while offshore and to travel home
when they’re off rotation. With some work-
ers facing longer stretches of time between
visits home, and in some instances having
no possibility of getting home due to bor-
der closures, workers reported a sense of
struggle, stress and uncertainty. Attention
to instances of poor internet and phone
connections on site, and providing quick
repairs, is also important so that workers
feel better connected and can communi-
cate daily with their families.
DAYS ON
DAYS OFF
Schedule 1
14 14
Schedule 2
21 21
Schedule 3
28 28
Schedule 4
21 28
Schedule 5
28 56
Schedule 6
21 (1st hitch) / 28 (2nd hitch)
21 (1st hitch) / 35 (2nd hitch)
Table 1: Among the six most commonly identifi ed rosters, researchers found the
lowest wellbeing scores for the 21/28 schedule , although they couldn’t be sure why.
Third, employers should give more con-
sideration to the impact that workload,
accommodations and COVID-19 proto-
cols have on employees’ mental health.
Researchers recommended that employers
assess their employees’ current workload
and pay more attention to accommodation
factors, such as food quality and the avail-
ability of social leisure options .
Fourth, employers should communi-
cate decisions with transparency. Finally,
employers should engage their workers
during the decision-making process. Not
doing so can lead organizations to miss
out on useful and important informa-
tion, or more importantly, lead to workers
feeling disengaged, undervalued and not
respected. DC
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