Custom-Designed Employee Work Schedules
8:00am - 5:00pm (Pacific Time Zone), Mon-Fri
Search Results
When organizations expand from working 5 days a week to 7 days a week, there will always be someone who suggests hiring a weekend crew. The current employees don't want to work weekends, so why not bring in someone else to do it? That would make the existing workforce happy. Besides, there are plenty of people who would do anything to get a job, even if it means working every weekend. It's a way to get their foot in the door. So everyone wins, right?
Unfortunately, no! There is a big loser, and it's the organization itself. Here are the things we typically hear about weekend crews that have been in place for a year or more:
The weekend crew has a high turnover since the employees are continuously leaving for jobs with better hours (especially on the night shift).
The weekend crew has high absenteeism. The weekend job is typically their second job. When they go on vacation from their "main" job, they simply call in sick for their weekend job.
The weekend crew is out of touch with the rest of the plant.
The weekend crew personnel move to the weekday crews as soon as there is an opening, which keeps the weekend crew staffed with the newest and least-skilled employees.
The weekend crew typically performs at about 60% of the rate expected of weekday employees.
If the weekend crew is also given weekday shifts (to bring them closer to 40 hours/week), the plant becomes overstaffed on the extra days they are scheduled to work.
The weekend crew often gets a full benefits package. This means a 50% burden rate on the weekday employees equates to a 60-85% burden rate on the weekend crew's hours.
But it gets worse. The weekend crew will continue to under-perform unless the company over-pays. Some companies, in an attempt to improve retention and performance of the weekend crews, may pay 40 hours for 24 hours of work. This can raise the hourly cost of the weekend work to as much as double that of a weekday crew when the cost of benefits is factored in.
Once this becomes apparent (usually within the first 18 months) it's too late. Changing to a true 24/7 schedule will seem like a take-away and the workforce will fight it - tooth and nail. So before you jump at this tempting solution, please read this post one more time.
|
|
Even when employees understand the need for the employer to change from operating 5 days a week to 7 days a week, they aren't very receptive. Yes they are fed up with regularly working 6 days a week and sometimes all 7 days. Even though they will get more days off (and more full weekends off) on a 24/7 schedule, they resist the change.
I thought you might like to read some of the typical comments from employees facing this major change:
If we choose to go to 12-hour shifts, will everything over 8 per day still be overtime or will it change to only being over 40 hours a week?
Seniority and how the people working those new shifts will be selected. Vacation/personal days (how they work). Holiday pay. Coverage of shifts for call-outs, sick days and vacation. Do we still get paid for not taking a lunch break? If we work 12-hours, how does that work?
How will working a 24/7 work week will affect the wear and tear on the equipment used on a daily basis?
Can this be done with an 8-hour shift? Does everyone have to work 12 hours?
What about those of us who need all the OT we can get because our bills can't be paid without it? Do we get a second job?
If I would have to work the overnight shift, everything in my life will be affected. I would also hope my pay to stay the same or get better.
Overtime is very important to ALL of us because a lot of us are under-paid and need it to make ends meet. So please keep that in mind as well.
The fact that we are being forced to make a decision that increases the company's profit, and in turn we have to bend over backwards to do it and get no sort of compensation to do it. It's bullshit and greedy.
How does seniority relate to any of this?
I understand the reason for 24/7 operation. However, this process to me is just another way management confronts challenges/issues. In short, the management team does not address the core problem. Rather they address the symptoms of the core problem.
|
|
One of the most popular pages on my website contains a discussion of the pros and cons of 12-hour shifts. Here's a link to that page if you haven't seen it: www.shift-schedule-design.com/12-Hour_Shifts.
This article will address a different aspect of 12-hour shifts, namely how the longer shifts fit with different 24/7 workload distributions.
Constant Workloads
When the volume of work is steady throughout the day, the best shift length is either 8-hours or 12-hours. That's because they divide evenly into a 24-hour day. With 8-hour shifts, there would be three shifts with the same coverage on each shift. With 12-hour shifts, there would be two shifts with the same coverage.
Other shift lengths, e.g., 9-hour or 10-hour shifts, do not divide evenly into 24 hours. This means they will have overlapping shifts, with double coverage during the overlaps. 9-hour shifts will have 3 hours in which the shifts overlap. 10-hour shifts will have 6 hours in which the shifts overlap. Overlaps can be achieved with 8 or 12-hour shifts simply by including an unpaid meal break in each shift.
These other shift lengths (9s or 10s) are not an efficient choice for organizations with a constant workload distribution. In addition to the producing double coverage for part of the day, they also require a larger staff because the organization has essentially extended the hours of operation to 27 or 30 hours a day. 9-hour shifts require 12.5% more personnel and 10-hour shifts require 25% more personnel than 8-hour or 12-hour shifts.
Now that we've shown the best choice for a constant workload is 8 or 12-hour shifts, let's take a quick look at the staffing requirements. Here is a simple example. If you need 2-person coverage around-the-clock, you will need 336 hours of coverage per week (2 people * 24 hours/day * 7 days/week = 336 hours/week). If you divide this by 40 hours per week, you get 8.4 employees. If you divide this by 42 hours per week, you get 8 employees. 42 hours/week is commonly used in 24/7 schedules because it allows the use of 4 crews in the schedule.
The only exception to this is 8-hour fixed shifts. With these, each shift's staffing requirements must be calculated separately. In the example with 2-person coverage on each shift, this will require 3 people on each shift working an average of 37.3 hours a week (2 people * 8 hours/day * 7 days/week = 112 hours/week / 3 employees = 37.3 hours/week). The total staffing with fixed 8s would be 9 employees.
With the exception of 8-hour fixed shifts, 8s and 12s for steady coverage require the same number of employees working the same average hours per week. Since both shift lengths cost the same, this generally means that the choice between 8s and 12s can be left up to employees. When employees are asked if they want 8s or 12s, most will say 8s. However, when they are shown examples of schedules with both shift lengths, most will say 12s.
Variable Workloads
Many smaller establishments do not have constant workloads. They are often slower at night and on the weekends. For example, on Monday-Friday, they may need 4-person coverage from 0700 to 2300 and 2-person coverage from 2300 to 0700. On Saturday and Sunday, they only need 2-person coverage all day.
When the workload is lighter on weekends, this can be accommodated with either 8-hour or 12-hour shifts. When the workload is lighter at certain times of the day, this can be more difficult to match with 12-hour shifts. That's because most groups find their busy hours correspond more closely with one or two 8-hour shifts, i.e. for 8 or 16 hours a day. Let's look at examples of each of these.
Example #1. In this example, the organization needs 4-person coverage for 8 hours and 2-person coverage for 16 hours a day. This requires 11.2 employees working an average of 40 hours a week with 8-hour rotating shifts (12 people with 8-hour fixed shifts). If you use one 12-hour shift with 4-person coverage and one with 2-person coverage, you have 4-person coverage for 4 hours longer than necessary. It also would require 12 employees working an average of 42 hours a week.
The best way to accommodate 12-hour shifts in this scenario is to use 12-hour shifts for the 2-person coverage around-the-clock and an 8-hour overlay shift that matches the busy period. This would require 11 employees. You could either combine the two shift lengths into a single schedule or make a separate schedule for each shift length.
8 people on 12s --> 2-person coverage for 24/7
3 people on 8s --> 2-person coverage for 8/7
Example #2. In this example, the organization needs 4-person coverage for 16 hours and 2-person coverage for 8 hours a day. This requires 14 employees working an average of 40 hours a week with 8-hour rotating shifts. (15 people with 8-hour fixed shifts). If you use one 12-hour shift with 4-person coverage and one with 2-person coverage, you have 4-person coverage for 4 hours less than necessary. If this is unacceptable, you would have to have 4-person coverage on both shifts. This would require at least 16 employees working an average of 42 hours a week.
The best way to accommodate 12-hour shifts in this scenario is to use 12-hour shifts for the 2-person coverage around-the-clock and two 8-hour overlay shifts that match the busy period. This would require 14 employees. You could either combine the two shift lengths into a single schedule or make a separate schedule for each shift length.
8 people on 12s --> 2-person coverage for 24/7
6 people on 8s --> 2-person coverage for 16/7
Conclusions
There are lots of other possibilities when it comes to variable workloads. If you want to include 12-hour shifts in the schedule, you can follow the generic approach desribed in this article:
If the workload varies by day of the week, use two 12-hour shifts with a modified work pattern. Popular 12-hour patterns such as Pittman, Panama, DuPont, 3-on-3-off, etc. have the same coverage throughout the week. Therefore these patterns must be modified to match the daily variations. This is best handled by someone who is experienced in schedule design. They can ensure that the schedule: (1) matches the daily coverage variations, (2) averages close to 40 hours a week, and (3) maximizes weekends off for employees.
If the workload varies by hour of the day, you can use two 12-hour shifts for the base coverage. Then you will use one or more additional shifts that match the length of the busy period. I discussed 8-hour and 16-hour busy periods above. Your busy period might require something other than one or two 8-hour shifts. For example, if your busy period is longer than 18 hours, you might use an 8-hour and a 10-hour overlay shift. In some cases, you may want these shifts to overlap so that the coverage is increased further during the hours of overlap.
|
|
In the U.S., most non-salaried employees are eligible for overtime after working more than 40 hours in a week. Usually this is based on the hours worked during the pay week.
Some pay weeks are better than others when it comes to 7-day work schedules. For example, with 8-hour shifts, the best days to start the pay week are Sat, Sun, or Mon. That's because employees can occasionally get a 3 or 4-day weekend off. If the pay week begins any other day of the week, employees can never get more than a 2-day weekend off since they would be working less than 40 hours in that week.
Some schedule patterns work fine with a pay period that begins any day of the week. Others only work if they start on a certain day. Trying to make one of those patterns start on a different day would compromise weekends off or create highly uneven work weeks such as 60 hours one week and 24 hours the next.
Pay weeks that begin at Midnight can create overtime unnecessarily. For instance, on a 12-hour shift schedule with shifts that begin at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., the night shift at the end of the pay week will have 5 hours in one pay week and 7 hours in the next pay week. Or, on an 8-hour shift schedule with a night shift that begins at 11 p.m., the last night shift of the pay week will have 1 hour in the first pay week and 7 hours in the next. Employees could end up working 33 hours the first week and 47 hours the next.
Pay weeks are often set by payroll personnel who aren't familiar with groups that work more than just Monday to Friday. And they are highly reluctant to change the pay week once it has been established. That means you'll have to avoid certain schedules (despite their attractiveness) or simply live with the negative consequences.
There are so many different pay weeks and schedule patterns that it's hard to say in advance whether there will be problems or not. Just be aware that pay weeks beginning on Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, or at Midnight could impact weekends off or cause additional overtime.
|
|
I just finished designing a set of shift schedules for a senior living facility. They needed 1 person working for 8 hours (day shift) and 2 people working for the next 8 hours (afternoon shift) throughout the week.
This amount of coverage requires at least 4 employees working an average of 42 hours a week. But, in this case, the manager wanted his employees to have every other weekend off.
To achieve that much time-off in a 24/7 operation, I would normally recommend 12-hour shifts. But this facility only needed coverage for 16 hours a day, so 12-hour shifts would not be a good fit. The only other solution would be to increase the staff size.
I decided to show the manager schedules for 4, 5, and 6 employees. This way I was able to show how the different staffing levels affected his goal of having every other weekend off. If he wanted to hire more staff over time, he had schedules for each level of staffing.
For each staff size, I created 2 patterns: one with lots of consecutive days worked (7 or 8) and one with few consecutive days worked. All of them had the same number of weekends off, but fhe former had longer breaks and longer weekends off (3 and 4 days). This way the employees could compare the two to decide which one they preferred.
Custom-designed schedules illustrate different approaches for reaching your goals. They can help with staffing decisions and with obtaining employee buy-in for a new schedule. Seeing actual examples of the different approaches supports making superior workforce decisions.
|
|
When companies expand from working 5 days a week to 7 days a week, they start by having the current employees work overtime on the weekend. Over time, however, management faces a tough choice:
Continue to rely on weekend overtime. To avoid alienating the current workforce, management can continue relying on weekend overtime to meet demand. Unfortunately, the situation will eventually become worse with excessive costs, lower productivity, quality and safety issues, and personnel problems such as increased absenteeism and turnover. By the time management realizes this, employees will have become addicted to the overtime and it will be difficult to change anything.
Hire a weekend crew. The company can keep the current employees on their Monday through Friday schedule and hire new employees for a weekend crew. Because it's difficult to find and retain good part-time employees, companies usually hire a full-time weekend crew that works 12-hour shifts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Double coverage every Friday is expensive. So is the common practice of paying the weekend crew for 40 hours instead of the 36 hours they actually work. Less experience on the weekend crew results in lower productivity. Personnel that work weekends often do so to get their foot in the door. After a year or more of waiting to be hired, they may get frustrated, leading to increased turnover and absenteeism. You can read more here: https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=weekend-crews.
Adopt a 24/7 schedule. While the two options discussed above minimize the impact on the current workforce, they have some serious disadvantages. They might be safe from a labor relations perspective, but the cost can be considerable. The best way to avoid those costs is to adopt a 24/7 schedule. I've previously recommended a process to follow: https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Schedule_Selection_Process. I've also discussed incremental steps to take: https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Expand_from_5_to_7_Days. For examples of different 24/7 schedules, please check this out: https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Schedule_Examples.
|
|
Many employers say that they’re open to hiring employees with disabilities - but how many backs this statement up with concrete action? It takes ongoing work to ensure that your company is genuinely inclusive. If you need help designing schedules that make sense for your entire team, including your employees who need reasonable accommodations, Shift Schedule Design can guide you! Furthermore, these tips will show you how to support employees with disabilities, from improving as a leader to enhancing your recruitment strategy.
Create an Inclusive Culture
A truly inclusive culture starts with the boss. Consider how you interact with your staff, and focus on cultivating healthy relationships with each employee. To become a better leader and bring out the best in your team, try to provide mentorship to young employees, listen closely when your team shares their opinions, and give them agency to tackle projects independently with your background guidance.
Provide Flexible Schedules
Lots of people with disabilities need flexible scheduling at work so that they can go to doctor’s appointments and avoid burnout. Furthermore, people with disabilities will often seek out employers that offer more paid time off. Make sure to review your benefits package and see if you could increase the amount of PTO you give to employees. You could also consider allowing employees to work remotely when possible.
Add Assistive Website Technology
Employers who want to recruit people with disabilities often don’t realize that the technology their company relies on isn’t necessarily accessible. For instance, it’s a good idea to update your website with assistive technology. JazzHR recommends adding alt-text descriptions to images on your website and using a theme and color scheme that meets readability standards.
Adapt Your Recruitment Process
Inclusion starts with recruitment. If you want to recruit employees with disabilities, TLNT recommends connecting with local high schools and colleges to establish pipelines between educational institutions and your workplace.
You can also develop a recruiting document for new applicants detailing how your company is going the extra mile to support employees with disabilities. If you want to create a PDF document, you can use a PDF editor to make changes if necessary. All you need to do is upload the file, edit it, then download and share it with your employees.
Provide Professional Development Opportunities
Workers with disabilities might find it harder to access professional development opportunities and often feel that able-bodied employees receive more investment from company leadership. It’s important to give employees with disabilities the resources they need to move up in the corporate world. This can start with specially structured internship programs. Furthermore, make sure to let employees with disabilities know about upcoming workshops, certification programs, and job openings that would be suited for them.
Budget for Reasonable Accommodations
Most people with disabilities will need some form of reasonable accommodations at work. As an employer, you are legally obligated to provide these accommodations - but by preparing your finances in advance, you can ensure that you won’t be caught off guard by any additional expenses. To account for reasonable accommodations in your budget, MIUSA recommends estimating an extra 3% to 5% for your total program costs and an extra 2% to 3% for your administrative costs.
Many people with disabilities struggle to find employers who genuinely understand their strengths. It isn’t easy for someone with a disability to find gainful employment. With these tips, you’ll be able to create a better workplace environment for your employees with disabilities, from updating your recruitment strategy to becoming a great mentor.
Want to implement a customized schedule that suits your team? Turn to Shift Schedule Design! Call us today at 415-717-3754 to get started.
Chelsea Lamb
Businesspop.net | chelsea@businesspop.net
|
|
When creating a work schedule for your employees, I recommend the following steps:
1. Coverage. The primary purpose of the schedule is to match the coverage with the workload, so this should always be your first step. If you start by searching for schedules with a desired shift length or a popular work pattern, you won't get an effective schedule. Your schedule needs to be designed around the number of people you need working during different times of the day on each day of the week that you're open. You can read more here: Variable Workloads
2. Shift length. How many hours a day are you trying to cover? If it's less than 12 hours, you should use that as the shift length. If it's more than 12 hours, you'll need two or more shifts. Shifts less than 8 hours long will require part-time employees. If you are covering 24 hours a day, you might be able to use 8, 10 or 12-hour shifts. This guide will help: Shift Length Selection
3. Format. If you have more than one shift per day, you'll have to decide if you want employees to always work the same hours (i.e. the same shift), or if you want them to work different hours from time-to-time, i.e. rotating shifts. Most full-time employees will prefer to work the same hours (i.e. fixed shifts). On the other hand, you may want them to gain experience both opening and closing, or working during both the busy and slower periods. Read about the pros and cons of each approach here: Fixed vs. Rotating Shifts.htm
4. Staffing. Determine how many people it takes to produce the desired coverage. Do you need to hire more staff or increase the overtime? Here's a tool to help: Staffing Calculator
5. Work Pattern. Develop alternative work patterns. Most shift lengths have a number of popular patterns for 24/7 coverage. Will any of those work? You may need to modify them or create new ones from scratch. It's critical to match the schedule to the organization's pay week to avoid unnecessary overtime and to ensure maximum weekends off for employees.
6. Alternatives. When I design schedules, I often look for alternative approaches using different shift lengths or combinations of shift lengths. For example, in 24/7 operations with an uneven workload, you might be able to use 8-hour shifts, combined 8 and 12-hour shifts, or sometimes even 10-hour shifts. For each approach, I then try to come up with a few different work patterns. Every option has different pros and cons, so having alternatives to compare will help you find the best schedule.
Need expert assistance? We've helped over a thousand companies from all over the world, in every industry imaginable. Contact us today: Contact Us
|
|
In surveys of more than 20K shiftworkers, we asked them about their shift length preferences for 24/7 coverage. We did it in a way to avoid directly mentioning specific shift lengths as shown in the graph below:
We found that asking specific shift lengths did not give reliable answers since it was based on perceptions rather than actual schedules. When we showed the shiftworkers actual schedule examples using different shift lengths, here is how they responded:
Ratings definitions:
5 = I like it a lot
4 = It has potential to be good
3 = neutral or not sure
2 = It doesn't look promising
1 = I don't like it
|
|
When employees say that want better “work-life balance,” they are really expressing a desire for more time off from work. They want a work schedule that offers more days off, especially weekends off. This usually requires changing to 10 or 12-hour shifts. Even though this means longer work days, many employees feel the extra time off is worth it.
We showed employees examples of 24/7 schedules using different shift lengths and asked them to rate the different shift lengths. Here are the results:
Ratings definitions:
5 = I like it a lot
4 = It has potential to be good
3 = Neutral or not sure
2 = It doesn't look promising
1 = I don't like it
Are you surprised? If you simply asked your employees whether they wanted 8-hour or 12-hour shifts, you'd probably hear 80% saying they'd prefer 8-hour shifts. But if they saw the actual schedules, 12-hour schedules would likely come out on top. So please don't fall into this trap of thinking your group doesn't want 12-hour shifts. You have to show them actual schedule examples so they can make a truly informed decision.
The same goes for 10-hour shifts. Not only are the 10-hour schedules less attractive than the 12s, but you run into a bunch of problems. I've written many, many articles about this. Please do a search on this website for 10-hour shifts if you want to read a few of them.
In addition to more days off, employees also tend to prefer longer breaks between work days. Here are more results from our surveys of shiftworkers in 24/7 operations:
The demand for schedules that will improve work like balance makes it critical that you show your employees examples of both 12-hour and 8-hour schedules with more consecutive work days. This way, they can see and better judge whether the increased time off is worth the longer shifts OR the need to work more days in a row. Let us show you a few examples of each to make it easy for you to accomplish this. Get started here:
Contact Us
|
|
Copyright © All Rights Reserved 2023 by Shift Schedule Design