As far as I can remember, I have always been a night owl, so the appeal of the night is never lost on me. However, I have never worked a night shift, so I don’t really know what it feels like to do your job while everyone else sleeps.
Surprisingly, there are many people who do, and they freely shared all the perks of working the graveyard shift that no one talks about. If you are thinking about switching your work hours, looking at these benefits might help. We have compiled the best ones for you, so just scroll down to check them out!
More info: Reddit
#1
There are no downsides, if you ask me.
Management is gone
Far higher pay
*Far* slower pace, since no one’s riding you
Grocery stores are deserted when I go after work at 7am
I get a running excuse to decline invitationsÂ
because they’re almost always my sleeping hours
I personally don’t suffer any ill effects from my weird sleeping hours. Probably will when I age
Way cooler coworkers- misfits and people with interesting pasts work night shift .
#2
Grocery shopping at 9am on a weekday is so much more peaceful.
#3
Less traffic to and from work would be one perk that immediately comes to mind.
I don’t know about you, but while scrolling through the list, I found some things quite interesting. Especially in India, where the traffic is turning into a nightmarish issue, facing none while coming home from work will almost sound like a fantasy for many.
As mentioned before, I am no expert working this shift, so We got in touch with Rucha Paranjpe, a Spanish-speaking HR representative who supports her company’s LATAM HR team. Her work hours are 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., so she’s all too familiar with working late at night. She doesn’t have a lot of work experience in the day shifts because this was her first job, and it started off as a night shift.
“Overall, the experience was really good. Even before working, I had been staying awake way past midnight, so it wasn’t a big change for me. But the work environment was really good and healthy, and there was not too much pressure in the office or from my colleagues. They were very understanding and ready to help out whenever needed,” she explained.
#4
Pro: Fewer crazies.
Con: Those crazies that *do* come in are usually call-the-police-crazy.
#5
Working a traditional Mon-Fri 9-5 makes it very difficult to do anything that must be done during the week (think renewing a driver’s license, doctor’s appointments, etc). When I’m on nights, I’m technically free Mon-Fri from 9-5 (though obviously sleeping for most of that) so I can schedule stuff way easier than most people.
#6
Usually its a lot quieter and calmer, everyone just wants to chill and get on with their job, nobody has the energy for any b******t lol. Also the quiet walk home at 6 AM when the sun is coming up and the streets are empty is really nice.
The thing is, every phase of our life teaches us something or another, so we asked Rucha about what she has learned about herself from working nights. She claimed that she truly learned about her ability to adjust really well.
“Travelling is one of my main hobbies. However, travelling once I started working night shifts felt like an obstacle because generally, it involves a lot of waking up early or basically being awake during the day. I wasn’t used to this because of the night shift, but I made sure that I got in afresh, adjusted, and put myself first before anything else,” she added.
#7
Pros: More pay, no bosses around… cons: fcks up your sleeping schedule.
#8
As a nurse I love night shift. It’s either nutter city and it goes by fast or it’s chill and you can relax in between patients.
As others have said , biggest perks are zero senior management running around micromanaging and making things worse, and traffic home is awesome.
#9
I work 3 12’s weekend nights. Fri-sun. It means I have all the time I need with my kids during the week and I don’t pay for child care. Also, my hospital pays a good bonus for night shift. So more money. No child care costs. The Sunday to Monday transition can be rough though….
We also had some fun debunking a myth or misconception about night shifts with her. She said, “One myth that I have heard a lot about is the lack of energy during the day. But I just don’t think that’s true because as long as you get enough sleep, 6-7 hours at least, you are fresh the rest of the day. It’s just about how you manage your routine:if you’re getting enough fresh air, sunlight, etc.”
Rucha also narrated that it’s obvious that your body clock changes, or you will face some health issues. However, she believes that as long as you pay attention to what your body is asking for, what your body needs, and try your best to provide it, you won’t have a problem with that.
#10
Enjoying the fresh, light mornings on the way home in the summer knowing you’re off while most people are just starting their day.
#11
For me, being autistic with OCD who is also an introvert. I don’t have to interact with the public. I do my job. And I do it well. When I am done, I go home. I make my own schedule. That is as long as I get my responsibilities done. I don’t take advantage of the clock.
#12
As someone who has worked all shifts for years:
The camaraderie.
Night shift workers tend to work well together and form close bonds.
Less drama too. Probably the best kind of people to know.
Rucha also provided some insightful advice to folks who are thinking about switching to the night shift. She stated that it’s better to do it while you are young.
“We don’t know if we’ll be able to do it 10 years, 20 years into the future, if you’ll be able to handle the sleep schedule changes, the routine changes, even the lack of social life in the weekdays, because you are in office in the evening, which is when most of the socializing happens,” she elaborated.
Another thing she stressed is that you have to give priority to your health, no matter what. “Take your leaves; your sick leave, your casual leave, whatever you have and make sure your body gets the chance to rest completely once in a while,” Rucha noted.
#13
As everyone else has mentioned, traffic is amazingly quiet both ways to work. Less management around (I was the manager) means cruisy atmosphere.
Ran a tight ship so to speak, and let the production crew do what they needed to do (frequent smoko breaks as long as no one complained and their quality/output was good).
I got through ridiculous amounts of movies and tv shows in my office. The crew didn’t have me micro managing them and just called me if they needed anything, which I was straight on to. I’d do walk arounds of course to check on things, and then straight back to media. It was great and couldn’t be achieved on day shift.
Also the money was better. Extra $20k annually helped out the bank account when I needed it, and I didn’t mind being nocturnal.
Honestly the only two downsides were that my social life took a hit for obvious reasons, and sometimes noise outside would keep me up during the day instead of sleeping.
#14
I work in a gambling venue.
After midnight it’s dead and get paid to essentially play on my phone for 4 hours.
#15
I’m at work right now. You see what I’m doing? I’m sitting here eating Cheetos and typing an answer to a question on Reddit. There’s nobody here. I could strip off my shirt and smear orange Cheeto dust on my chest and nobody would even know.
I get paid to work a 10 hour shift and actually only work for about 2 hours.
Lastly, we asked Rucha to share her favorite perk about working nights. “A perk for me is the limit on socializing. Imagine it’s 2 a.m. or 1 a.m., it’s normal for you to be awake, it’s normal for you to be in the office. But it’s not like you’re going to go to a club and hang out, or you know, just walk to a nearby cafe or something.”
“So, if you are someone who is not looking for a big social circle in your workspace, then that is a very big advantage you get while working night shift. Another thing is you get to shock people by the timings of your work, because everybody is like, ‘Wait, so you get home at 3 a.m. and you sleep at 4? So, how do you manage that?’ It’s just a really nice ice breaker,” Rucha concluded.
Well, she definitely offered a different perspective on it, didn’t she? Anyway, that’s it from our end, folks! Now you can peacefully scroll through the rest of the list. Don’t forget to upvote the ones you like. Also, if our list has left out any perks, feel free to jot them down in the comments!
#16
It’s quiet.
You don’t really appreciate how loud the day is until you’re awake all night lots of nights in a row. And not just human stuff either, but all the natural stuff as well that’s never loud enough to be heard over the cars and the talking and the moving but that your brain notices anyway.
3 am, I can hear things a mile away, easy. And it’s so much easier to think without all that noise.
#17
I miss working graveyard. The world is so tranquil then.
#18
I had a friend while studyin, who was doing watchman/guard service at night in several places and in a period of time in the mall downtown, which had a lot of food and beverage outlets and retails, culinary shops, food court and such. I often joined him on his watch just for fun, nothing better to do. He and the other guys were free to use the training center as much as they wanted, and all the food outlets had cleaned up, or were, by the time they met for the shift, and they had put out all sorts of delicacies for them. We lived like kings every night, noodles and soft drink, icecream, chocolate, snacks and crisps and large baskets of fruits from the juicer shop. It was not uncommon that two-three guys and I would feast throughout the night, to end up filling a garbage bag of trash after us. At first it was because the food was going to be thrown out anyway, but over time, they made deliberate servings for us. I got to talk to a lot of the cooks, in the evening before they went home, and they learned what we liked, and even in the daytime when we dropped by, we could often get a free lunch.
There’s really something about night shift if you get to have such relations with the day people.
#19
When you say nighr shift, do you swing shift from around 4:00pm to midnight? Or do you mean graveyard – or overnight?
For swing shift the main benefit is you have plenty to time to deal with doctors appointments and anything else where you deal with businesses open 9-5 Monday through Friday. If you work 9-5, dealing with this stuff usually means using your sick time and/or pto.
I haven’t worked a ton of graveyard shifts, but i hated them when i did because you’re literally running on a different schedule from most of the rest of the world.
If you live in a city, swings or graves probably arent too bad because there is a whole subculture of people who work the same shifts. You can lead a pretty normal life, including a social life.
In a small town it can be pretty isolating because there aren’t usually a lot of people working similar shifts, and many social hangouts are going to be closed when you’re off. If you need child care it can be hard to find.
#20
Most of the management goes home.
#21
For some reason, most night shift i work with are pretty chill and cool people. Do work, go home, less drama.
#22
Not having to wake up super early.
#23
Sleep schedules align with global time zones.
#24
Perk I miss the most is being able to do your everyday tasks like grocery shopping etc. first thing in the AM when no one else is in the stores.
#25
Not having to set an alarm and wake up early.
#26
I can work in peace and quiet because the people crazier than me are sound fast asleep. No more of those exhausting meetings that should’ve been an email. They are literally sent to me as an email lol.
#27
Less people at work which means a more relaxed and causal environment to work in. also agree with the points of traffic and management going home. also less things are tend to go wrong during the night compared to during the day lol. idk 🤷♀️ just from what i’ve experienced so far.
#28
Used to be a lorry driver, driving round the Cotswolds in the summer as the sun came up. No tourists, roads virtually empty. Magical.
#29
I worked graveyard while I was in college. I could take evening classes before work, or morning classes after work. Morning classes were easy to get into because no one else wanted early classes. In the days of 24 hour stores, 3 am on a day off was a terrific shopping experience.
Final score: 3points 
Kim Kermes