Custom-Designed Employee Work Schedules
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The earliest 24/7 schedules were based on 8-hour rotating shifts. These schedules require employees to rotate through all three shifts: days, afternoons, and nights. Most of them use 4 equal-sized crews. If the company needed 8 people working around-the-clock, they would have 8 employees on each of the crews. Three crews would be working each day of the week (one on each shift) while the fourth crew was off. The different work patterns vary in the number of days worked before getting time off and how long it takes to get to the next shift.
In this article, we will look at the two key features of 8-hour rotating shift schedules: (1) consecutive days of work, and (2) speed of rotation.
Consecutive Days of Work
As a general rule, the more consecutive days of work, the longer the breaks (days off) and the more frequent the weekends off. Unfortunately, when you increase the days of work, sleep debt accumulates. Choosing from different work patterns thus involves a tradeoff between increased fatigue and more attractive time off.
The Continental shift schedule, one of the earliest and most popular patterns, required working 7 shifts in a row before getting 2 or 3 days off. This schedule had one full weekend off every 4 weeks.
Many employees found that working 7 consecutive shifts was too much, so they insisted on working fewer days in a row. A pattern with 6 consecutive shifts (the Metropolitan Plan) only offered one weekend off every 8 weeks. A pattern with 5 consecutive shifts only offered one weekend off every 10 weeks, and those occurred back-to-back, so that employees would have to go 18 weeks without a weekend off. Ouch!
Here's a table that compares 4 most common patterns:
5 Days
6 Days
7 Days
7 Days
Sat-Sun off
every 10 weeks
every 8 weeks
every 4 weeks
every 4 weeks
Max. days off
2
2
3
4
Min. days off
1
2
2
1
Speed of Rotation
Some employees prefer to rotate quickly from shift-to-shift. That way, they don’t have to work a bunch of night shifts all at once. The Continental is a good example of a fast rotation. Here’s what that pattern looks like:
Crew / Week
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Hours
A / Week 1
-
-
D8
D8
A8
A8
N8
40
B / Week 2
N8
N8
-
-
D8
D8
A8
40
C / Week 3
A8
A8
N8
N8
-
-
D8
40
D / Week 4
D8
D8
A8
A8
N8
N8
-
48
Average
42
Key:
D8 = 8-hour day shift
A8 = 8-hour afternoon shift
N8 = 8-hour night shift
This is a 4-week, rotating schedule operated by four crews. When the schedule first starts, the crews are assigned to specific weeks in the cycle. For example, Crew A is assigned to start in Week 1 and Crew B is assigned to start in Week 2, and so on. At the end of each week, the crews rotate down to the next week in the cycle. Crew A moves to Week 2, Crew B moves to Week 3, etc. When a crew completes the 4th week, they rotate up to Week 1.
For companies that want a slower rotation, they could simply devote each block of days to a single shift, as shown below:
Crew / Week
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Hours
A / Week 1
-
-
D8
D8
D8
D8
D8
40
B / Week 2
D8
D8
-
-
A8
A8
A8
40
C / Week 3
A8
A8
A8
A8
-
-
N8
40
D / Week 4
N8
N8
N8
N8
N8
N8
-
48
Average
42
Key:
D8 = 8-hour day shift
A8 = 8-hour afternoon shift
N8 = 8-hour night shift
With this adjustment, the rotation is slowed to once a week. The other two patterns (6 days and 5 days) also rotate shifts on a weekly basis. This is still too fast for many people, but a slower rotation can be difficult to achieve.
One approach is to increase the number of crews from 4 to either 9 or 12. It’s not as efficient (i.e., it requires a slightly larger staff), but it will slow the shift rotation to once every 3 or 4 weeks.
The ultimate approach is to adopt a fixed shift pattern and then re-allocate the employees to different shifts periodically, such as every 6 or 12 months. This also may require a few additional employees since 8-hour fixed shift schedules are not as efficient as 8-hour rotating shift schedules.
Summary
8-hour rotating shift schedules have two key features: consecutive days of work and speed of rotation.
The most attractive schedules for employees in terms of time off require them to work 7 shifts in a row. Unfortunately, this is really tough on sleep. That’s why some employees would rather work fewer consecutive shifts, even though they get fewer weekends off.
Some employees prefer a fast shift rotation so they only work 2 or 3 night shifts in a row. Most employees, however, prefer a much slower rotation. This can be achieved by increasing the number of crews or by adopting a fixed shift schedule and having employees change shifts every 6 or 12 months.
As a general rule, employees prefer fixed shifts while employers prefer rotating shifts (Fixed shifts vs. rotating shifts). Because of this, many companies migrated to 8-hour fixed shifts or longer shift lengths (usually 12-hour shifts). Fixed shifts eliminated the need to change shifts, which helped to reduce fatigue and improve predictability (Schedule Consistency & Predictability). Longer shifts resulted in more days off and more weekends off, which also helped reduce fatigue (12 Hour Shifts).
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... the night shift. A rotating shift schedule has the crews changing shifts, often on ... to decide between a rotating and a fixed shift schedule. The four most ... from people working rotating shifts with those working fixed or "steady" shifts, we can ... table below, people working a rotating shift schedule average roughly the same ... shift. Average Hours of Sleep Over a 4 Week Period -- Fixed vs. Rotating Shifts ... Schedule Format Shift Days of Work ... making it a rotating schedule. On 8-hour fixed shift schedules, 1/2 ... managers. Fixed night shift workers tend to rate management communication lower than rotating shift ... workers or fixed ... day shift workers. As mentioned ... when the employee rotates through day shift. Employees on fixed afternoon and night ... and 10-hour fixed shifts require more personnel than rotating shifts of the same ... | |
... the night shift. A rotating shift schedule has the crews changing shifts, often on ... to decide between a rotating and a fixed shift schedule. The four most ... from people working rotating shifts with those working fixed or "steady" shifts, we can ... shift. Average Hours of Sleep Over a 4 Week Period -- Fixed vs. Rotating Shifts ... Schedule Format Shift Days of Work ... making it a rotating schedule. On 8-hour fixed shift schedules, 1/2 ... Fixed night shift workers tend to rate management communication lower than rotating shift workers ... or fixed ... day shift workers. As mentioned ... when the employee rotates through day shift. Employees on fixed afternoon and night ... and 10-hour fixed shifts require more personnel than rotating shifts of the same ... see examples of both fixed and/or rotating shift schedules that match your ... | |
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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In my last post, I recommended using the following criteria to ensure a comprehensive approach to the schedule selection process: (1) effectiveness, (2) efficiency, (3) sleep, and (4) employee satisfaction. This post will cover the first criterion - effectiveness.
Effectiveness indicates how well a schedule satisfies the business needs. For most organizations, the primary concern is adequate coverage. Secondary issues include absence coverage, training time, cleaning and maintenance time, shift changes, equipment start-ups and shut-downs, and others. The following questions should help in the evaluation of schedule effectiveness:
Do the coverage requirements match the workload by hour of the day? By day of the week?
Does the coverage meet or exceed the minimum requirements?
Is the coverage consistent?
How well are the organization's other business issues addressed?
Let's look at an example. A police department needs at least 2 officers working at all times. The department also has two busy periods each day in which it needs 4 officers on duty: (1) evenings from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and (2) from Midnight to 4 a.m. when the bars close. It also wants the 4 sergeants to work with the same crews at all times, and it wants rotating shifts. Here are three options they are considering:
Option #1: 8-hour rotating shifts. This option uses 12 officers working an average of 42 hours a week to provide 3-person coverage on a 24/7 basis. This steady coverage does not address the two busy periods, so it falls short on this important consideration. The schedule uses 4 crews which would allow the sergeants to work with the same officers at all times.
Option #2: 10-hour rotating shifts. This option uses 15 officers working an average of 42 hours a week on two separate 10-hour schedules. Each schedule would align its overlapping shifts with one of the busy periods. This will provide 3-person coverage around the clock, plus 4 and 5-person coverage during the two busy periods. Unfortunately, these schedules do not use crews, so the sergeants would not be working with the same officers at all times.
Option #3: 12-hour rotating shifts. This option uses 12 officers working an average of 42 hours a week. The shifts would start at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. to match the two busy periods. Coverage on the night shift would be 4 people. Coverage on the day shift would be 2 people. The schedule uses 6 crews. This means two crews would not have a sergeant.
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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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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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Here are links to articles I've written about 12-hour shift schedules:
1. 12-hour shifts
2. 12-hour shifts in smaller organizations
3. Are 12-hour shifts too long?
4. 12-hour shift schedule considerations
5. Matching 12-hour shifts to your workload distribution
6. Mixing 8-hour and 12-hour shifts
7. 12-hour shift schedules with no overtime
8. Covering absences with 12-hour shifts
If you are looking for examples of 12-hour schedules for 24/7 coverage:
1. Package of ten different 12-hour rotating shift schedules
2. Package of ten different 12-hour fixed shift schedules
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 doesn't vary in 12-hour increments, e.g., you need 4-person coverage from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 2-person coverage from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Request help with a custom-designed schedule
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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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Your group needs a new employee work schedule. Maybe the staff size has changed. Or the demand for your product/services requires you to increase the hours of operation. Perhaps you've run out of space and need to add a 2nd or 3rd shift. Maybe you're just tired of listening to employee complaints. Whatever the reason, you know that something has to be done.
If you're like most managers in this situation, you may be asking friends or associates in your industry about their schedules. And you're probably searching the Internet for additional ideas. It's important to find a solution that doesn't require a lot of time or money. Your regular responsibilities can't be put on hold and your budget has little room for unexpected expenditures.
Unfortunately, a schedule that's not tailored to the organization's hours of operation, coverage requirements, staff size, and pay week will rarely be a good solution. You will probably end up with problems such as these:
Ineffective coverage
Inconsistent coverage
Over-staffing
Unnecessary overtime
Minimal weekends off
Let's look at each of these problems a little closer.
Ineffective Coverage
The fundamental purpose of the schedule is to ensure the right number of people at work during all the hours of operation, i.e., to match the coverage with the workload.
If the work volume is fairly steady, then the coverage also should be constant. A schedule with hours of overlapping shifts would be ineffective for these situations. For example, using 10-hour shifts in an organization with a steady workload would be a waste. There is no need for the 6 hours of double coverage while the shifts overlap. It would also be costly, since it would require 25% more personnel than a schedule using 8-hour or 12-hour shifts.
If the work volume varies by time of day or day of the week, the coverage should reflect that. Possible solutions include mixed shift lengths, overlay or power shifts, 10-hour shifts, staggered shift start times, or different coverage levels on each shift. An example of ineffective coverage is a police department with a heavier workload on Friday and Saturday evenings that uses a schedule with the same coverage throughout the week.
Inconsistent Coverage
An ideal schedule consistently matches the desired coverage. Some schedules don't do this. Here are two examples:
Sometimes companies have more staff than the minimum necessary. They may have reached this position because they were using an inefficient schedule which required more employees or they thought the extra personnel would help to cover absences. A small food processing firm needs 5 people working on a 24/7 basis. They employ 23 people, three more than the minimum necessary. They could have used the extra employees to build relief coverage into the schedule, but instead adopted a schedule in which the coverage varies between 5 and 6 people.
Sometimes organizations adopt schedules that produce fluctuating coverage because they like the work pattern even though it is a poor match for their requirements. For example, a warehouse needs at least 3 people working around the clock. They chose a schedule with a 6-on-3-off pattern because their employees thought it would be better than the current schedule. Because of their staff size, however, the coverage varied between 2 and 3 people. To maintain the minimum coverage levels, the company was forced to hire 3 more employees. The coverage now varies between 3 and 4 people. In this case, choosing the wrong schedule increased their costs by 25% and it is still producing inconsistent coverage.
Over-staffing
Nobody wants to overstaff, yet it happens all the time. It occurs primarily for three reasons:
The organization sets an annual target of less than 2,080 work hours per employee (<40 hours a week). For example, a police department has a labor contract that limits employees to 1,820 hours a year. This is an average of 35 hours a week. They need 5-person coverage using 10-hour rotating shifts. Because of the reduced work hours, they have to employ 30 officers. If they worked an average of 42 hours a week, they would only need 25 officers.
The organization builds extra coverage into the schedule rather than using relief coverage. For example, small utility needs 4-person coverage at all times. Although they could do this with 16 people working an average of 42 hours a week, they employ 20 people to have 5-person coverage at all times. They could have employed 17 people (rotating shifts) or 18 people (fixed shifts) and built relief coverage time into the schedule which would have accomplished the same thing.
The organization wants a schedule with no built-in overtime. A small hospital needs 3 CNAs on a 24/7 basis. Their 8-hour fixed shift schedule requires at least 12 people working an average of 42 hours a week. However, they are instructed to eliminate overtime from the schedule. To maintain the same coverage, they are forced to employ 15 people at 40 hours a week.
Unnecessary Overtime
People adopt work patterns that were intended for a different pay week. If they don't tweak the schedule, they could end up with highly unbalanced work weeks and more overtime than necessary. Example: A small trucking company found a schedule that was intended for a Sun-Sat pay week. Since their pay week starts on Monday, the employees work 60 hours one week and 24 hours the next, and the company has to pay for an extra 3 hours of overtime per employee every week.
Minimal Weekends Off
Employees want to get as many weekends off as possible. This may not be achieved if the organization chooses the wrong schedule or doesn't modify it to fit their pay week.
A nursing home has a schedule with several split weekends in which employees work either Saturday or Sunday instead of both. A different pattern would have provided more full weekends off.
Many work patterns work best for a certain pay week. For example, a popular 8-hour rotating shift schedule pattern that requires only 4 or 5 consecutive days of work provides 1 weekend off every four weeks - only if the pay week begins on Sunday. Trying to use this pattern with a Monday start will mean the workers never get a full weekend off.
Conclusions
When organizations select a schedule that is not matched to their specific resources or requirements, employees can suffer from fewer full weekends off and the organization can suffer from ineffective coverage and higher costs.
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