I had a call from a California company earlier this week that was operating on a 24/5 basis. They expected to go to 24/7 in the next year or two and wanted to take steps now to prepare for the eventual change to a continuous operation. Their current schedule used three 8-hour shifts that rotated every 6 weeks. The shifts started at 5:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. They were paying shift differentials for the 2^nd and 3^rd shifts. They were not represented by a union.

Here is what I recommended:

• Shift length. Most companies that change to 24/7 end up adopting 12-hour shifts. Not all, but a substantial majority. However, since this company was located in California and not represented by a union, it would have to pay overtime after 8 hours a day. This would make 12-hour shifts too expensive, leaving them with no choice other than 8-hour shifts.
  
  
• Schedule format. In general, employees prefer fixed shifts while management prefers rotating shifts. Since this company would be using 8-hour shifts, the choice was obvious. 8-hour fixed shifts often require a few more employees than rotating 8-hour shifts, making them a much more expensive choice. Because of this, I recommended that they stay with the rotating shifts. I also warned them that with 24/7 schedules, the employees would change shifts every week rather than every 6 weeks like the are doing now.
  
  
• Shift differentials. The purpose of the shift differential is to attract employees to the less desirable shifts. Since the company was using rotating shifts, everyone was working those shifts. There was no need for an incentive. Shift differentials are only appropriate for fixed shifts. With rotating shifts, they are nothing more than a wage increase. To keep the employees' pay the same, the company should replace the differential with an across-the-board pay increase.
  
  
• Shift start times. Early start times for the day shift will result in fewer hours of sleep. When you combine this with the rotating shifts, it's a double whammy. I recommended changing the day shift to start no earlier than 6 a.m.
  
  

I've run into other companies preparing for continuous operations that were considering transitional changes that would have made the final step to 24/7 much more difficult or that would have locked them into a more costly position. That's why it's important to visualize the key features of the 24/7 schedule in advance, so that the preparatory steps are in alignment.