Custom-Designed Employee Work Schedules
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Here are links to articles I've written about 8-hour shift schedules:
1. 8-hour fixed shift schedules
2. 8-hour rotating shift schedules
3. 8-hour shift schedules with no built-in overtime
4. 8-hour shift schedules for 24/7 coverage
5. Mixing 8-hour shifts and 12-hour shifts
If you are looking for examples of 8-hour schedules for 24/7 coverage:
1. Package of ten different 8-hour rotating shift schedules
2. Package of five different 8-hour fixed shift schedules with coverage in 3-person increments
If you have any of these conditions, you will need a custom-designed schedule:
1. Your company's hours of operation are less than 24/7
2. Your coverage varies by day of the day, e.g., 4-person coverage on weekdays and 2-person coverage on weekends
3. Your coverage is not a multiple of 3, e.g., you need 2-person coverage
Request help with a custom-designed schedule
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It's amazing how many people contact me about 24/7 schedules with no overtime in them. I warn them that this will not necessarily lower their costs. I also explain that avoiding overtime in the schedule will not eliminate the need for overtime. OT will still be needed to cover absences or temporary increases in demand. Here are links to two articles I've previously written on this subject:
Overtime Issues
Why Eliminating OT Can Be Costly
It's best to think of overtime as a way to increase the size of your staff without adding to the headcount. A small amount of overtime in the schedule means you will need fewer employees to produce a specific amount of coverage. Overtime also can enable you to build relief coverage into the schedule to cover absences. In some cases, it's possible to reduce the total overtime by doing this (https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=you-can-t-eliminate-overtime-but-you-might-be-able-to-reduce-it).
The bottom line is: if you eliminate overtime from the schedule, you will increase the staffing requirements. In most cases, the increased headcount will be more expensive than the overtime was.
Despite these words of warning, I know that some of you still want to see schedules with only 40 hour work weeks. Let's take a look at an example using 8-hour rotating shifts. If you want a 12-hour schedule without overtime, I suggest you read this other blog post here.
This is a 5-crew schedule that follows a 5-week schedule. Crew A begins the schedule in Week 1, Crew B begins in Week 2, and so on. When the crews finish their first week, they move down to the next week of the schedule. When they finish Week 5, they start the cycle over again with Week 1. All five crews are working the same 5-week schedule. It's just that they are always in different weeks of that pattern.
You'll note that the 5th week of the schedule has only one required shift: the Tuesday night shift. The prior four shifts are relief shifts. These can be used to cover absences or for training, maintenance, or special projects. The only downside is that it doesn't cover every day of the week. Had we adopted a schedule that averaged 42 hours a week, we could have had relief coverage for every day of the week.
Is it worth eliminating the overtime? Let's look at the numbers.
We eliminated 2 hours of overtime a week for every employee. That will reduce the costs by 7.5%.
2 hours OT/week * 1.5 OT premium = 3 hours/week
3 hours/week saved / 40 hours/week = 7.5% savings
We also have gained 4 days of relief coverage each week. If the absence rate is 10% of the normal weekly hours of work, this will reduce costs another 8.6%.
4 / 7 days of coverage/week * 10% absence rate * 1.5 OT premium = 8.57%
This means that the total savings is 16.1% (7.5% + 8.6% = 16.1%). However, we have increased the headcount by 25% by adding a fifth crew, which is far more than the 16.1% we saved.
Want to read more about 8-hour shift schedules? Here are links to several articles I've written:
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=8-hour-shift-schedules-for-24-7-coverage
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=8-hour-rotating-shift-schedules
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=8-hour-fixed-shift-schedules
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=mixing-8-hour-and-12-hour-shifts
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A majority of the organizations that cover 24/7 use 8-hour fixed shifts. That would be fine if it weren't for the fact that employees hate the schedules. The universal complaint is that they don't get enough days or weekends off. They simply want a better work-life balance.
The employees think 10-hour shifts would be a good choice, but the increased staffing requirements prevent most organizations from adopting them. Most employees don't want 12-hour shifts, though when they see actual examples of 12-hour schedules, they often change their minds. But let's focus this article on 8-hour shifts.
There are a lot of different patterns with 8-hour fixed shifts. Unlike 12-hour schedules that normally use 4 crews, 8-hour schedules can use anywhere from 6 to 27 crews. The number depends on the coverage levels, as shown in the table below:
Coverage
Staffing
Total
Average*
Weekends
Possible
Pattern
Pattern
Pattern
Per Shift
Per Shift
Staff
Hours/Week
Off (max)**
Patterns
#1
#2
#3
1
2
6
37.3
1/2
2
Max. 7 days
Max. 4 days
2
3
9
37.3
1/3
3
Max. 8 days
Max. 7 days
Max. 4 days
3
4
12
42
1/4
5
Max. 7 days
6-on-2-off
Max. 5 days
3
5
15
33.6
2/5
2
Max. 7 days
Max. 5 days
4
6
18
37.3
1/3
3
Max. 7-8 days
Max. 5 days
4-on-2-off
5
7
21
40
2/7
2
Max. 7 days
Max. 5 days
5
8
24
35
3/8
1
5-on-3-off
6
8
24
42
1/4
5
Max. 7-8 days
6-on-2-off
Max. 5 days
6
9
27
37.3
3/9
1
Max. 7 days
6-on-3-off
* Average Hours/Week often can be increased to 40 by requiring occasional extra coverage
** Max. Weekends Off can only be achieved with certain patterns
Are you thoroughly confused? Sorry. There's a lot of information in this chart. Let me try to explain using 5-person coverage as an example. There are 2 rows with 5-person coverage. On the first row, 7 people are required if they work an average of 40 hours a week. On the second line, 8 people are required, but they only have to work an average of 35 hours a week.
Why would you adopt a schedule that only averages 35 hours a week? People do it all the time. Not because they want fewer hours. They chose a popular work pattern without realizing that it averages less than 40 hours. In this case, the pattern is 5 days of work followed by 3 days off, aka 5-on-3-off.
Continuing with the example, you'll next see the maximum weekends off. The maximum with 7 people per shift is 2 weekends off every 7 weeks whereas the max. with 8 people per shift is 3 weekends off every 8 weeks. After that is a tally of the number of possible schedules along with descriptions of those schedules. Max. 7 days means the schedule requires working 7 consecutive days at some point. In general, the more days worked, the more weekends off.
A significant portion of my clients contact me because they have adopted a popular 8-hour work pattern, and they're tired of the employee complaints and never having enough or consistent coverage. I try to show them both alternative approaches (i.e. different shift lengths) and other 8-hour options. This way they can compare the coverage, average hours of work, weekends off, and so on. This chart illustrates the possibilities for 8-hour fixed shifts only.
Are you ready to explore other work patterns or alternative scheduling approaches? Contact us today:
Contact Us
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One of the key issues with 12-hour shift schedules is how to cover absences. With 8-hour shifts, one way to cover absences is to hold an employee on the previous shift over so that he or she works two consecutive shifts or 16 hours total. Another way is to split the vacant shift into two 4-hour segments, and have someone from the previous shift stay over for 4 additional hours and have someone from the following shift come in 4 hours early. It's fairly easy to cover the open shift this way, since the replacements are already at work or planning to work later that same day.
Unfortunately, 12-hour shifts are too long for either of these approaches. Holding someone over for a second shift means they would be working 24 hours (36 hours if they are scheduled to work the next day too). With a split shift, it means the replacements would be working 18 hours straight. Clearly this is excessive.
With 12-hour shifts, the only option is to find a qualified employee who is not scheduled to work the same day as the absence. Sounds simple, right? Well it's not. Supervisors can spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find volunteers. It can be tough to reach people. Candidates may have left town or they may be too busy to answer the phone. And they simply may not want to work that day. They might have made other plans or don't want to spoil a nice multi-day break.
This is one case in which scheduling software can be beneficial for the supervisors. You'll want a program that makes it easy to both identify eligible candidates and then to contact them. Eligibility may include things like: (1) job title, (2) skill sets, (3) work schedule, and (4) recent overtime hours (to prevent over-using someone). Contact can be by email or text message. If no one volunteers within a fixed amount of time, the supervisor can select someone to cover the open position using criteria such as reverse seniority. All of this saves the supervisor a huge amount of time, freeing them up to focus on other responsibilities.
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A lot of managers are reluctant to adopt 12-hour shifts because they think they're too long. Here's what a recent client told me, "I like the idea of a 12-hour shift, but the techs in this department are required to be on their feet all day, so I have concerns about performance and burnout."
This is a legitimate concern. If there were ways to mitigate this, maybe more companies would change to 12s since they really are better for employee work-life balance. I will discuss a few possible approaches to address fatigue with 12-hour shifts.
One approach would be to split the workforce by adopting two work schedules: one with 8-hour shifts and another with 12-hour shifts. This may be difficult to achieve in very small groups, but it's worth a look. And, if the coverage varies from shift-to-shift, it still might work. You may need a scheduling expert (like me) to help you with the schedule design.
Another approach would be to add more breaks, probably more than legally required. For example, if your state requires at least one 15-minute break every 4 hours, you might offer a 10-minute break every 2 hours.
The most difficult change would be to redesign the job so that employees are not standing or performing the same process all day long. The benefits would not only be less fatigue, but also exposure to other tasks/responsibilities that may improve the employees' overall satisfaction with their jobs.
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Here's another comment I read at the 911Dispatch forum from someone who wants to adopt 10-hour shifts:
"Our center has been looking into getting away from our 8 hour shifts. Most everyone here wants either 8's or 10's, 12's are out of the question for now anyways. We have 12 full time dispatchers, 3 being leads. Has anyone found a way to work a ten hour schedule with that number of people? Most of the research I've done says it is not able to be done."
I'm going to break my comments down into a couple of categories:
1. Workload. Is there ever a mention of a variable workload? No. So why are they considering 10-hour shifts? 10-hour shifts are only appropriate for organizations whose workload varies throughout the day. I suspect that the desire to adopt 10-hour shifts is merely employee preferences to get more days off and more weekends off. Unfortunately, this is insufficient justification. 10-hour shifts require some major sacrifices, so you'll need a lot more than just employee preferences to support the change. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but there are several limitations to 10-hour shifts that employees fail to recognize. Some of them will be discussed below.
2. Coverage/staffing. To provide 3-person coverage on a 24/7 basis using 10-hour shifts would require 15 employees working an average of 42 hours a week. This organization only has 12 employees. They could have 3-person coverage on one shift and 2-person coverage on the other two shifts. If they tweaked the start/end times on the shifts, they could make the overlapping shifts cover another 6 hours of the day. The end result would be 4-person coverage for 6 hours, 3-person coverage for 10 hours, and 2-person coverage for 8 hours.
3. Crews. Most 10-hour shift schedules don't use crews. They are what I refer to as "crewless" schedules. For this group, I would create a 12-week schedule. Each employee would be initially assigned to one of the 12 weeks. When they finished the first week, they would rotate to the next week of the schedule. They would continue doing this until the finished the entire schedule, at which time they would go back to the first week of the schedule.
4. Leads. There are 3 leads. If they are working 10-hour shifts and are needed at all times, the organization would need 2 more leads. Even then, they would have to work 42 hours a week on average. And they wouldn't always be working with the same set of employees. This will make it much more difficult to supervise.
5. Overtime. Sometimes people think that changing to 10-hour shifts will allow them to have a schedule with no overtime built into it. Unfortunately, that only occurs with certain levels of coverage. The most efficient 10-hour schedule will have multiples of 7 people on each shift which will produce multiples of 4-person coverage. For the 3-person coverage this organization needs, overtime would be needed to ensure consistent coverage. As with their current 8-hour schedule, they would average 42 hours per week if they had 15 employees.
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Most shift length comparisons look at 8-hour shifts vs.12-hour shifts. They also focus on the advantages or disadvantages from the employee perspective. This post will address 10-hour shifts vs. 12-hour shifts from a management perspective.
10-Hour Shifts
The primary advantage of 10-hour shifts (and only justifiable reason for considering them) is that they enable organizations to match their coverage with a variable workload. They are able to do this because the shifts overlap one another for 6 hours a day. There are three workload patterns that can be accommodated with 10s:
The workload is higher for a single 6-hour period every day.
The workload is higher for 12 hours every day.
The workload is higher for 16 hours every day.
Many police and dispatch centers have workload patterns like these, which is why you will find 10-hour shifts used so often in these organizations. Companies with steady workloads should never adopt 10-hour shifts. For them, the overlapping shifts are a waste of manpower.
The primary disadvantage of 10-hour shifts is that they require more staff than 8s or 12s since they require the employees to work 30 hours a day (three 10-hour shifts) instead of the usual 24 hours. As a result, the organization would have to employ 25% more people with 10s than with 8s or 12s. Other problems with 10-hour shifts are covered in more detail here: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/10-Hour_Shifts.
12-Hour Shifts
The key advantage of 12-hour shifts is that they will produce maximum coverage from a given set of workers. Sometimes organizations can use this "extra" output to cover absences without resorting to mandatory hold-overs or call-ins:
They can produce coverage that exceeds the minimum requirements.
They can build relief coverage into the schedule.
The biggest downside of 12s is that they require overtime in the schedule. Half the work weeks are 36 hours (three 12-hour shifts) and half are 48 hours (four 12-hour shifts). There are ways to eliminate or minimize this, but they are rarely worth the effort, e.g., see http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=12-hour-shift-schedules-with-no-overtime.
Alternative Scenarios
If the organization has a variable workload, 10-hour shifts might be the best choice. The three situations in which 10s work best were listed above.
If the organization has a steady workload, 12-hour shifts are the obvious choice. 10-hour shifts would be too wasteful since they would require more staff than 12-hour shifts. For example, if the organization needs 4-person coverage on a 24/7 basis, this would require 21 employees with 10-hour shifts and only 16 employees with 12-hour shifts. That's 31.25% more personnel.
If the organization has limited staff relative to its coverage requirements, 12-hour shifts are the best choice. Using the example cited above, an organization with 16 employees could produce 4-person coverage with 12s but only 3-person coverage with 10s.
If the organization has a high absence rate and sufficient staff, they can use 12-hour shifts to either create extra coverage or relief coverage in the schedule. Let's say they have 16 employees but only need 3-person coverage. With 12s, they could either increase the coverage on each shift to 4 people or, if they have rotating shifts, build relief coverage into the schedule.
If the organization has both a variable workload and a high absence rate, which is common with many police departments and communication centers, the choice between 10s and 12s becomes more difficult. 10s are best for the variable workload, whereas 12s are best for squeezing extra coverage out to compensate for absences. The choice depends on which is most important to the organization, though it often boils down to what they can afford which usually means 12-hour shifts.
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Many larger companies have switched from 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts. Smaller organizations have been slower to make the change. A major reason is that the workload in smaller companies isn't constant all day long. For example, they may need 3-person coverage from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and only 1 or 2-person coverage from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Alternatively, they need 3-person coverage around-the-clock from Monday to Friday, but only 1-person coverage on the weekends.
All of the popular 12-hour patterns (Pitman, DuPont, 3-on-3-off, 4-on-4-off, etc.) have the same coverage levels all day and all week. If a company with an uneven workload adopts one of these templates, they would either have too much or too little coverage for part of the day (or part of the week). This, in turn, would incur unnecessary costs or adversely impact the service levels.
This doesn't mean 12-hour shifts won't work; it just means that the schedule has to be modified. Here are the two possible situations and the best approaches for each:
If the workload varies by time of day, then you have to combine the 12-hour shifts with an overlay or "power" shift. You use the 12s to match the coverage for the lightest shift (usually the night shift). Let's say that's 2 people. You could use any common 12-hour pattern for 2-person coverage. Then you would overlay that with one or two shifts that boost the coverage during the busier hours of the day. This could consist of an 8-hour shift, 10-hour shift, another 12-hour shift, or two 8-hour shifts. If some of your employees are reluctant to work 12-hour shifts, this will allow a few of them to avoid changing.
If the workload varies by day of the week, then you have to modify the 12-hour pattern. This will require a custom-designed pattern, perhaps one that doesn't use crews. The solution depends on the coverage levels throughout the week and whether you want fixed or rotating shifts. I would modify popular patterns (Pitman, DuPont, etc) to reduce or increase the coverage so that it matches your workload distribution.
I believe this is a great solution for companies that want to make their work schedules more employee friendly, especially when the workers are grumbling about a lack of work-life balance. Contact us today to see how this might work for your group. You'll be glad you did. Contact us.
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Almost every week I'm contacted by police officers, sheriff's deputies, and patrolmen about 10-hour shifts. They believe that 10-hour shifts would benefit themselves and their fellow officers. I believe there are two reasons they think 10s would be an improvement over their current 8-hour schedule. I will take a closer look at each of these in an attempt to sort out the reality from the myth.
Time Off
In 24/7 operations, typical schedules using 8, 10 or 12-hour shifts provide the following number of days and weekends off:
Shift Length Days Off Per Year Max. Weekends Off
8-hour 91 25%
10-hour 146 40%
12-hour 182 50%
It is clear that 10-hour shifts offer more days off and more weekends off than 8s, but not as many as 12s. I believe that 10s are the most popular shift length because they offer more time off than 8s and they are seen as more tolerable than 12s. If the only objective was to maximize time off, 12-hour shifts would be the clear winner.
The key point that is often overlooked is absence coverage. With 8-hour shifts, absences are covered either by holding someone over from the previous shift or by splitting the vacant shift into two 4-hour components that can be covered by the preceding and following shifts. With 10-hour and 12-hour shifts, absences must be covered by calling someone in from a scheduled day off. Many law enforcement agenices have built additional coverage into their schedules to compensate for their high absence rates. But what happens if that extra coverage isn't available? Since 10-hour shifts will reduce the available coverage by at least 25%, there won't be any extra capacity to cover absences. So, instead of getting the expected 3 days off every week, the officers might only get 1 or 2 days off.
On/Off Work Patterns
The common perception of 10-hour work patterns is 4 days of work followed by 3 days off. In 24/7 operations, however, this pattern only works if you use 6 crews and fixed days of work. This requires a lot more staff, a backwards rotation, and fixed days of work. You can read more about this approach and its shortcomings here: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=problems-with-free-schedule-examples
The best 10-hour schedule for 24/7 operations uses 7 crews per shift or 21 total crews. There is no built-in overtime with this schedule. It also has the most attractive work pattern (4 or 5 consecutive days of work followed by 3 or 4-day breaks). The pattern can easily be adapted for use with either fixed or rotating shifts.
If you don't have 7 officers or a multiple of 7 (14, 21, 28, etc.) per shift, your 10-hour schedule will have shorter blocks of work (two to four days) and shorter breaks (one to three days). Many officers are disappointed when they see these patterns because there are so many one and two-day breaks. These patterns are especially unattractive to anyone who is expecting to consistently get 3 consecutive days off by changing to 10-hour shifts.
Organization and Supervision
Many 8-hour and 12-hour schedules use 4 squads. Squad members work the same shift(s) and the same days of the week. 10-hour shift schedules for small organizations (less than 50 people), rarely use squads. Some days, Officer A might be working with officers C and E. On other days, he or she might be working with officers B and D, or maybe with officers G and J.
With 8 or 12-hour shift schedules, each squad usually has a sergeant or corporal who acts as the team leader/supervisor. With 10-hour shifts, in order to ensure that a supervisor is always on duty, it's necessary to put them on their own, separate schedule. This means the officers will not always be working with the same supervisor after changing to a 10-hour shift schedule.
Conclusions
10-hour shifts provide more time off than 8-hour shifts, but not as much as 12-hour shifts. The extra days off may not be realized since some of them will probably be used to cover absences. Although the schedule will provide 3 days off for most weeks, they won't always occur on consecutive days. 10-hour shifts also will change the way the group is organized and supervised. Although 10-hour shifts are clearly more attractive than 8-hour shifts, they may not live up to the high expectations that many police officers have of them. I think the shift length debate among officers should not be 8s vs. 10s, but 10s vs. 12s.
Please check out my other 10-hour blog posts, especially 10-hour shifts and Police Management. Go to the search box and type in 10 hour shifts. You really need to educate yourself about this before making a choice you might regret.
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I've written several articles about 12-hour shift schedules. Here are links to the most popular ones:
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/12-Hour_Shifts
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=12-hour-shifts-in-smaller-companies
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=matching-12-hour-shifts-to-your-workload-distribution
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=covering-absences-on-a-12-hour-shift-schedule
https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=12-hour-shift-schedules-with-no-overtime
These 12-hr articles tend to focus on schedule effectiveness and efficiency, i.e. schedules that align the coverage with the workload and utilize the smallest number of employees. Other websites that offer free examples of different 12-hour patterns imply that these are good choices for anyone changing to longer shifts. Smaller groups with uneven workloads and staffing limitations should beware.
In this article, I'd like to address things that should be considered before making the change to 12-hour shifts.
Environment. Some jobs are simply too taxing to endure for more than 8 hours. Things like excessive heat, noise, toxins, or physical labor might preclude the use of longer shifts.
Productivity, quality and safety. Some tasks are too tedious or focused to continue for more than 8 hours. To accommodate 12-hr. shifts, these jobs would require extra breaks, job redesign, and/or periodic rotation to other positions to keep employees fresh.
Different patterns. With fixed 12-hr. shifts, there is no rule that says both shifts must work the same on-off pattern. In fact, some patterns that are great for the day shift (e.g., Pitman) are terrible for the night shift. We encourage clients to have each shift select its preferred shift independently.
Worker preferences. Although many employees are willing to work 12-hr. shifts in order to get more days off and more weekends off, not everyone is. Older workers, people with childcare or eldercare concerns, students, and those with 2nd jobs often prefer 8-hour shifts.
Business issues. If the business runs 24/7 and has a steady workload at all times, 12-hour shifts can be a good choice. If the company uses fixed shifts, 12-hour fixed shifts are a little more efficient than 8-hour fixed shifts, which may mean a smaller headcount. If the workload is not steady, it may be necessary to use a combination of 8 and 12-hour shifts.
Absence coverage. If the organization has a high absence rate, 12-hour shifts might not be a good choice. That's because absences must be covered by someone who is scheduled to be off. This can defeat the extra days-off advantage of the longer shifts.
Pay policies. Most pay polices (e.g., holiday pay, vacations, sick leave, etc.) were written for 8-hour shifts. These polices need to be revised to reflect the 12-hr shifts. For example, with 8-hour shifts new employees get 10 days of vacation per calendar year (80 hours). If this policy was not modified before changing to 12-hour shifts, the new employees might get 120 hours of vacation per year.
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