Custom-Designed Employee Work Schedules
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What is a better schedule anyway?
Ask employees, and some will tell you, "10-hour shifts from Mon-Thu." Others may say, "12-hour fixed shifts with every other weekend off." The common themes are the preferred shift length and format (fixed shifts vs. rotating shifts).
Ask managers, and some will say, "We need more coverage on the 2nd shift because that's the busiest part of the day." Others will say, "We need to hire more staff, but upper management has a lid on hiring" or "Overtime is killing us, so we need a schedule that will reduce it." The common themes with this group are coverage and costs.
Unfortunately, the best solutions for employees probably will not produce the best results for managers. For example, 10-hour shifts in 24/7 operations require at least 25% more staff than 8 or 12-hour shifts. And fixed shifts can increase the staffing requirements even further. Ouch! Some of the scheduling preferences just aren't feasible, and some may compromise the organization's mission.
Most organizations simply can't afford to adopt the types of schedules that employees wish they had. So the question becomes, will the best solutions for managers produce good results for employees? I believe they can. Employees won't get their fantasy schedule, but they will get an attractive pattern with good breaks and maximum possible weekends off.
Here is how I define the "best" shift schedules. They should address three goals: (1) optimize coverage, (2) minimize costs, and (3) maximize employee satisfaction. These goals are in priority order. In other words, when designing a schedule, you should start with the coverage allocation, then work on keeping costs down, and finally on what makes employees happy. Reversing this order can wreak havoc on the organization. Here's another article that explains this in much greater detail: https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Shift_Schedule_Design_for_Dummies.
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California is one of the few states with overtime laws that differ from the federal guidelines. Companies in California are required to pay overtime when employees work more than 8 hours a day. This is why 12-hour shifts are rarely used in that state.
I have never attempted to understand this state's complex requirements and exceptions. I always advise prospective clients to have their legal representative research this before having me design schedules with anything other than 8-hour shifts.
Recently, I was contacted by Cindy Opeka of O'Peka HR Consulting who stated that she might be able to help. I don't have first-hand experience with her expertise, but thought I would share her comments with you. Here's what she said:
"I'm currently working with a client who is dealing with the Department of Labor. They are up against thousands of dollars in fines. If you work with CA customers, I'd be happy to share info at no charge. I just want to help small employers avoid penalties."
If you would like to reach her, the website is https://hrsolutions-oc.com/. Her email address is: copeka@comcast.net and her phone number is: (916) 337-4719.
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Are you searching for software to manage your employee work schedule? Well, I just read an article that evaluated several free scheduling software programs. I think you might find it particularly interesting. Sorry, but I was asked to delete the link to this article. I'm not sure why, but you'll have to do your own search.
Remember, scheduling software programs won't create schedules for you. You have to have a pattern already in mind. Sure, there are free templates to use, but are they a good choice? Just because a pattern has the shift length and format (fixed vs. rotating shifts) you want doesn't mean it's a good approach for your group. You want a schedule that does three things: (1) optimizes coverage, (2) minimizes costs, and (3) maximizes employee satisfaction. You can read more here: https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Shift_Schedule_Design_for_Dummies.
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In my last 3 posts, 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 third criterion - sleep.
When a schedule adversely impacts employee sleep, this can lead to health and safety problems. The following schedule elements are known to do this:
1. Excessive hours of work. If the schedule averages more than 42 hours a week, this could be a problem Since additional overtime is often needed to cover absences, 42 hours is probably the most hours the schedule should have. There may be occasional need to increase the hours of work, but as long as it doesn't last more than 4 to 6 weeks, you should be okay. You can read more about this topic here: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/uploaded/files/Overtime%20Problems.pdf
2. Too many consecutive days of work. For 8-hour schedules, more than 7 consecutive shifts is excessive. For 10-hour shifts, more than 5 consecutive shifts is too many. For 12-hour shifts, more than 4 consecutive shifts is too many. There are a few 12-hour schedules that have an occasional block of 5 shifts in a row, but they tend to offer longer breaks to recover from the sleep loss on the days of work.
3. Rotating shifts. Employees who work fixed shifts tend to get more sleep. Employees assigned to a permanent night shift get about the same amount of sleep as employees on a rotating shift schedule. There are many good reasons for organizations to avoid fixed shifts, but management should be aware of the impact on employee sleep and alertness. To read more about this topic, check this out: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Fixed_Shifts.
4. Early start times. If the day shift starts before 7 a.m., employees will get less sleep. I wrote a blog post on this subject several months ago. Here's a link: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=problems-with-early-morning-start-times.
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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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Did you know that your shift schedule actually determines how the organization will use its two key labor resources: employees and overtime? Many people don't. They think the schedule simply determines when employees come to work and when they get time off. That's why they focus on specific work patterns (e.g., 5-on-2-off or the DuPont rotating shift pattern) or shift lengths (e.g., 10-hour shifts) when searching for a new schedule. As a result, they end up with schedules that have attractive patterns or a preferred shift length, but make poor use of the resources. Here are two examples.
Example 1
A group works 24/7. It needs 2-person coverage for 16 hours and 1-person coverage for the remaining 8 hours when the work volumes are lightest. They have 7 employees working 8-hour rotating shifts. One of the employees spends a weekend searching for free schedule examples on the Internet. He comes up with a 12-hour rotating shift pattern that provides every other weekend off. This pattern is sometimes called a Panama schedule. The other employees think it would be great to get that many weekends off, and whole-heartedly support the change. The problem is that the pattern uses 4 crews. Because of the group's size, it would have 3 crews of 2 people each and 1 crew with just one person. The coverage would fluctuate between 1 and 2 people on each shift. Adopting this pattern would create a complete mismatch between the coverage and the workload.
Example 2
A police department with 18 officers needs 4-person coverage on a 24/7 basis. They are working an 8-hour fixed shift schedule that follows a 4-on-2-off pattern. Due to budget cuts, the department will be losing 2 officers. They decide to keep the current work pattern because the officers are familiar with it and seem to like it. The problem is that the pattern only works properly with 6 people per shift. Using that same pattern with only 5 people per shift will cause the coverage to fluctuate between 3 and 4 people. The worst part is that the reduced coverage occurs on Wednesday through Saturday (when workloads are the heaviest). Once again, the chosen schedule is not an effective use of the department's resources.
You increase the likelihood of an inappropriate, ineffective, or costly solution if you ignore the resources and business requirements during the schedule search. We recommend the following process to make optimal use of your labor resources:
Step 1
Compare the staff size with the coverage requirements. Our free staffing calculators can help: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Staffing_Calculator. If the desired coverage can be achieved with the existing staff, you can proceed to the next step. Otherwise, determine whether adding overtime to the schedule will allow you to consistently achieve the coverage requirements. If you're still short, you'll either need to hire more staff or reduce the coverage.
Step 2
Compare different shift lengths with the coverage requirements to identify the best fit. Our free schedule evaluation can point you in the right direction: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Free_Schedule_Evaluation. If the workload is steady throughout the day, you could use either 8-hour or 12-hour shifts. Anything else will have overlapping shifts and will require extra resources. Using 10-hour shifts, for example, would result in 6 hours of overlap (and double coverage) every day of the week. Plus it would require 25% more staff. That would be wasteful. What if the workload varies by hour of the day? For instance, if it changes at 8 hour intervals, using 12-hour shifts probably would not be a good match. In situations with highly variable workloads (e.g., communication centers or airline security operations), you may need to adopt multiple shift lengths with staggered start times. These situations often require professional assistance.
Step 3
Find a work pattern that fits or can be adapted. In Example 1 above, the group's size (7 employees) does not match standard 4-crew patterns, so the schedule might have to be created from scratch. It might be possible to modify a standard 4-crew pattern, but this requires some experience in schedule design. In Example 2 above, the group's size (16 employees) would allow them to use any popular 4-crew pattern with 12-hour shifts. If they decide to stay on 8-hour fixed shifts, they would need to modify patterns that use 4 crews per shift.
Step 4
The last step of the process is to tweak the pattern to maximize the weekends off. At this point, it's important to take the overtime pay week into account. You don't want the changes to create unnecessary overtime or compromise the coverage. A professional schedule designer can help with this step.
Conclusion
Shift schedules determine how you will utilize your labor resources. If you want to make optimal use of these resources, we recommend a 4-step process. Yes, choosing a shift length and work pattern are steps in the process, but they are not the best places to start. If you don't feel comfortable following this process and want the best possible schedule, contact us today.
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You can't believe how many people search for the terms "12-hour shift schedule examples" or "24/7 shift schedule examples." They apparently assume that any attractive schedule example will work. They also believe that they can "sell" their co-workers or upper management on this new schedule.
These are dangerous assumptions. In groups of less than 50 employees, work patterns you find searching the Internet won't necessarily be the best choice. That's because they are designed for 24/7 coverage using 4 crews. They also may have different overtime weeks. And pushing a single scheduling option is rarely going to gain widespread support or buy-in.
When I design schedules, creating the work pattern is the very LAST STEP in the process. I start by asking how the workload varies by hour of the day and by day of the week. Most organizations don't track this, but they can tell you the coverage requirements at different times of the day. Usually this is expressed in 8-hour blocks because the organization was using 8-hour shifts and they know the coverage needed on each shift. In many cases, this approximates but doesn't accurately match the work volumes.
Many smaller organizations have either a heavier or a lighter workload on weekends. Police departments and dispatch units are often busiest on Friday and Saturday, especially in the evenings or when the bars close. Other industries often have less work on the weekends and can reduce the coverage to just one or two people all day Saturday and Sunday.
Once you know the coverage requirements, you can determine whether the available resources are adequate. The resources are the staff size, absence rate, and average hours of work each week. I use a staffing calculator similar to the one on my website. You can access it here: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Staffing_Calculator.
Then I decide which shift lengths would best match the coverage requirements. In most cases, this is either 8-hour or 12-hour shifts. 10-hour shifts are only considered if the workload increases for 6, 12 or 16 hours a day. That's because the 10-hour shifts overlap for that many hours, depending on how you use them. For most 24/7 organizations, 10-hour shifts just have too many limitations.
The next step is to look at the preferred schedule format, i.e. fixed or rotating shifts. Although employees tend to prefer fixed shifts, they present several challenges for management. With 8-hour shifts, using fixed shifts also may require a few more employees.
The final step is to develop different work patterns. Sometimes, popular patterns such as the Panama, Pittman, DuPont, 4-on-2-off, 6-on-3-off, etc. can be used. Sometimes these patterns can be tweaked to fit the organization's overtime week. Sometimes a pattern must be created from scratch. The key point is that you should never start with a pattern. It will not ensure the most effective or efficient use of your staff. It can cause over-staffing. It can cause unnecessary overtime or sacrifice the maximum possible number of weekends off. It should always be the last step in the design process.
During this final step, other considerations may come into play. For example, the group may be able to build relief coverage or training time into the schedule. They may have a bargained requirements for no less than 2 consecutive days off. Or they may want a slow shift rotation. These often require custom-designed patterns.
One last point. I always encourage clients to choose from multiple options. This allows you to compare the pros and cons, and make the necessary tradeoffs. I also recommend that clients use a strategic schedule selection process, as described here: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Schedule_Selection_Process. This will lead to superior choices that are supported by a majority of the employees who must work the schedule plus managers who oversee the operation.
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When managers explain why they're searching for a new shift schedule, it usually boils down to one of these three reasons:
Resource Changes
Either the staff size or the group's budget is changing. If the group is getting bigger, there may be opportunities to use the extra capacity to reduce the average weekly hours, boost coverage on one or more shifts, or build relief coverage into the schedule to cover some of the absences. If the group is getting smaller, the average weekly hours of work may have to be increased to maintain the minimum coverage requirements.
Sometimes upper management wants to cut costs but not change the headcount. The group will have to do a cost analysis of overtime in the schedule vs. overtime outside the schedule to determine the best approach. You can read about this here: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Overtime_Issues. The group may also be forced to consider other schedule changes that will lower costs as discussed here: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Cost_Reduction.
New Business Requirements
When the demand for an organization's products or services changes (usually by increasing), this may require them to hire more employees or make more effective use of their current employees. In either case, it's a good time to align the coverage with the workload. We start the schedule design process by evaluating work volumes and the associated coverage requirements by time of day and day of the week. We also consider absence coverage if the resources are adequate.
Employee Satisfaction
When employees search for a new schedule, they are primarily looking for ways to increase the days off and weekends off. When managers cite employee satisfaction as a reason for changing schedules, they hope that the change will reduce absenteeism and employee turnover, or improve productivity and morale issues. Once business requirements are satisfied, we will evaluate solutions that maximize days off and weekends off and, if possible, reduce the need for mandatory overtime.
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This is the third in a series of posts regarding fatigue in the workplace. The first post addressed educating employees about the need for 8-hours sleep and the impact of sleep deprivation. The second post addressed early day shift start times and how they reduce the amount of sleep people get. This post will address the impact of shift length on sleep and fatigue.
Intuitively, you would think that the longer the work day, the less sleep you would get. To a certain extent, this is right. We have found that people working a 12-hour shift get about 10 minutes less sleep per night than people working an 8-hour shift. But that's not a complete picture since it is only looking at the days of work.
People on longer shifts get more days off. Workers on 12-hour shifts will get 87 more days off each year than those on 8-hour shifts. Since people sleep more on their days off than they do on the days of work, the people on 12s actually will average more sleep than those on the 8-hour work days. Here's a link to a table showing the details: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/12-Hour_Shifts. You may have to scroll down a couple of times to find the table.
What do think? Counter-intuitive isn't it?
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This is the second post in a series on the subject of fatigue. In each post, I will focus on steps that management can take to address fatigue.
In the first post, I noted that employees don't think they need more than 7 hours sleep. Managers may want to post articles explaining the impact of sleep debt and the need for more than 7 hours of sleep a day. Just run a Google search for "sleep debt" and copy of few of the articles. If you can find anything by William Dement, he is the subject matter expert. I doubt that doing this will change employee behavior, but it may help to justify any actions management undertakes to address fatigue.
This post draws from a previous post in which I showed how early shift start times reduce the average hours of sleep for day shift workers (http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=problems-with-early-morning-start-times). To summarize, people who start work at 7 a.m. sleep about 20 minutes more per night than those who start a 6 a.m.
Changing shift start times is difficult because people build their lives outside of work around the shift start and end times. When I review employee surveys, they often list the pros and cons of early start times. They say that the best thing about their current schedule is that they get off early, giving them time to do all sorts of things. Then they turn around and say that the worst thing about their schedule is having to get up so early and always feeling tired. How do you resolve this dilemma? It's both the best and worst features of your schedule - at the same time.
The other consideration with shift start times is traffic congestion. Later shift start times may require employees to spend extra time commuting. This takes time away from other activities. For those "other" activities to continue to take place, sleep is often the first thing sacrificed. Although many companies flex their hours to allow commuters to minimize time spent in traffic, this can be challenging for those with shiftwork operations.
Early start times affect more than just shift workers. I've seen articles about the impact of early school start times on student performance. Teenagers have an internal clock that makes it difficult for them to be alert early in the morning, suggesting that learning would improve if schools started at 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.
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