I will show one example for 1-person coverage. Here's a common pattern for rotating shifts:

This pattern requires 4 employees working an average of 42 hours a week. Now here's one example

of a fixed shift pattern with 8-hour fixed shifts:

This pattern requires 6 people (2 per shift). Every Mon, Tue, and Wed two people are scheduled to work.

That's why I showed some of them with asterisks. They aren't needed for the 1-person coverage, but they 

are needed to ensure everyone gets 40 hours of work each week.

8-hour fixed shifts don't always require more staff. When the coverage is a multiple of 3 (e.g., 3, 6, 9 etc.)

they require the same as 8-hour rotating shift schedules. For everything else, they require more staff. Not a lot, 

but always a few more.

I'm sure this happens all the time. This guy was brave enough to say what all the others were probably thinking: "Why pay, when you can find schedules online for free." They just don't see the value in paying for professional scheduling assistance. They think they can either figure it out themselves or find schedule examples on the internet.

While it's possible to find schedules on the internet, rarely are they matched to the staff size, coverage requirements, scheduling approach, or pay week. That means the schedules won't work properly and the users will have to live with sub-standard results. Worst of all, they'll never realize that they could've had something far better.

So how do I communicate the value of professional scheduling help? I can't compare my recommended schedules with whatever they came up with. If people are willing to live with a schedule that doesn't produce the right coverage or doesn't provide something attractive for the workers, how can I convince them that spending $150 or $300 would have avoided these problems. 

I've been charging the same prices for over 20 years now. And my clients tell me they love what they got. They especially like the fact that they got multiple options and approaches to compare them and weigh the pros and cons. If you want to see the best possible schedule with more than one pattern, and you're willing to pay a small fee, please contact me. Here's a link to a form that has all the questions I'll need answered.

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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:

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:

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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

1. 10-Hour Shifts in 24/7 Operations (shift-schedule-design.com)
    
2. 10-Hour Shifts for 24/7 Coverage (shift-schedule-design.com)
    
3. 10-Hour Shift Schedules and Police Management (shift-schedule-design.com)
    
4. 10-Hour Shift Schedules for Police Officers (shift-schedule-design.com)

Most of the issues I raise are management concerns, like the fact that 10-hour shifts require at least 25% more staff than 8 or 12-hour shifts. Nevertheless, employees tend to believe that 10-hour shifts are the ideal shift length. They would do anything (maybe including a pay cut) to get them. Since employees love them so much, maybe it's worth the extra cost. After all, wouldn't it be great to have a happy, enthusiastic workforce? 

The table below shows the staff needed to different levels of coverage:

Coverage levels greater than 5 would either be a multiple of one of the levels shown or it would require a custom-designed schedule. For example, 6-person coverage would use a schedule for 3-person coverage, whereas 7-person coverage would require a custom-designed schedule.

With some of these coverage levels, the schedule would have one or two overlapping days. This will produce more coverage than needed. This is necessary to ensure 40-hour work weeks. You can only avoid this by having an occasional 30-hour work week, which few employees would tolerate.

3-person coverage is the only level that would require some overtime in the schedule (a 50-hour work week once every 5 weeks). If you want to avoid the OT, you'd have to employ 6 people per shift or 18 total employees. I don't think it's worth it, but that's your call.

Want to see a few templates for your coverage requirements? You won't find these elsewhere on the Internet. They have to be custom-designed. Please fill out this form to get an idea of what we would provide and how much we would charge:

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These companies don't realize that it's possible to adopt a schedule with both 8 and 12-hour shifts. You simply create a 12-hour pattern that covers 24/7 and provides the coverage needed on the shift with the lowest workload (usually the night shift). Then you overlay that with one or two 8-hour shifts during the busier times of the day.

Here's an example. Suppose you need 4 people working from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 2 people at all other times. You would adopt a 12-hour schedule that produces 2-person coverage on both shifts and overlay that with a single 8-hour day shift that produces 2-person coverage. The combination produces the exact coverage needed: 4 people from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 2 people from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Here's another example. You need 4 people from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 2 people the rest of the day. You would use a 12-hour schedule with 2-person coverage on both shifts. Then you would overlay that with two 8-hour shifts, each with 2-person coverage. That would give you 4-person coverage during the entire busy period.

Employees don't really like 8-hour schedules. They don't get many days off, they have to work a lot of consecutive shifts, and most importantly they don't get many weekends off. Why not give some of the employees a better schedule using 12-hour shifts. Not everyone will like the 12s, so they can stay on one of the overlay shifts. This seems like a perfect solution. You're not making everyone switch to 12s, and you're offering an option to improve work-life balance for those willing to change.

Why don't you give us call to see how this might work for your organization? We can show you a few different options with all 8-hour shifts as well as a few options with both 8 and 12-hour shifts. Click on this link and fill out the form to get started:  Request Quote

I started by showing the Chief what the current schedule looked like on a spreadsheet. It's a 6-week pattern with 6 teams working an average of 56 hours a week. The only way to get rid of the overtime is to add more staff. Shall I repeat that? The ONLY WAY to get rid of the overtime is by hiring more staff. Not changing the shift length. Not changing the work pattern. MORE EMPLOYEES is the only way.

With his coverage requirements (4 people at all times), the current schedule required 12 employees. By increasing the staff to 16, they could lower the average hours worked to 42 hours/week. It didn't matter whether they used 8-hour, 12-hour, or 24-hour shifts. All three approaches (with the exception of 8-hour fixed shifts, which would require 18 people) would need 16 employees averaging 42 hours a week.

What the city folks should have asked was:

1. Would adding 4 more employees cost less than the current approach (12 employees at 56 hours/week vs. 16 employees at 42 hours/week)?
   
   
2. And, if it is, is it worth disrupting the workforce and causing numerous personnel issues?

Overtime is really a substitute for staffing. In 24/7 operations, a little overtime can save a bundle. In this city's case, the answer is not so clear. However, the belief that changing to a different shift length would eliminate the overtime is not accurate. The only way to lower the overtime would be to hire more staff. 

• Picking 10-hour or 12-hour shifts when the workload varies in 8-hour increments.
• Using a schedule with constant coverage when their workload varies from shift-to-shift.
• Selecting a schedule pattern (e.g., 4-on-2-off) that requires 6 people per shift, when they have something else.
• Picking a schedule that requires 18 people when other options only require 16.
• Adopting a schedule that is great for day shift, but terrible for night shift.

I'm sure there are plenty of other possibilities, but you get the idea. Many people forget that the primary purpose of the schedule is to match the coverage with the workload. To achieve that goal, you need to start with the number of people needed at different times of the day throughout the week. In many cases, this will limit which shift lengths are feasible. You can read more about that here (Shift Length Selection (shift-schedule-design.com). 

Once you have the shift length(s) established, you need to find or create a pattern that will produce the desired coverage with minimal resources and with maximum weekends off. There is no way that an internet search will ever help with that. 

What do most people do? They find a schedule or create one that they think looks good, adopt it, and live with a mediocre solution, never aware that other approaches or work patterns would have been far superior. They avoid hiring a scheduling expert to save a few hundred dollars and end up costing the organization more than that every week because they got a solution for free. 

Wouldn't it be better to have someone with scheduing expertise go over your situation, show you alternative approaches (e.g., 8-hour fixed shifts vs. combined 8 and 12-hour fixed shifts), and lay out a few different work patterns for each approach? Since the options would all be in the same format, they would be easy to compare and evaluate. You could show them to your workers and let them debate the pros and cons of each option. This is way scheduling should be done.

Click on this link and fill out the form to get started today: (Request a quote for custom schedule design (shift-schedule-design.com)

Unfortunately, this can be in direct conflict with the common employer goal of maximizing employee utilization. For work schedules, this means achieving maximum coverage for the lowest possible cost. In 24/7 operations, “lowest cost” often requires keeping the headcount as low as possible and adopting a schedule that averages 42 hours a week (Why Eliminating Overtime in 24/7 Schedules Can Be Costly).

Thus, when it comes to choosing the best work schedule, management and the workers have different goals. Employees focus on the time off. Managers focus on minimizing headcount and cost. So, how do you strike a balance between these opposing points of view?

If you start from the employee perspective, you could end up with something that the employer just can’t afford. A good example is a company that works 24/7 and has a relatively steady workload. The employees want to change from 8-hour shifts to 10-hour shifts. This would require the company to hire 25% more staff (10 hour shifts). For most companies, this is clearly infeasible.

But, if you ignore what the employees want, you risk having high turnover, increased absences, and reduced productivity. As Mike Michalko recently commented on my website, “Too little emphasis on the employee leads to turnover and the high costs associated with onboarding and training. This is aggravated with needed positions in a highly competitive job market. If an employer doesn't address employee satisfaction, they'll end up training someone else's workforce.”

So, where do you start? I think it’s important to reflect on the reason you have a schedule in the first place. Most people think of the schedule as an on-off work pattern for a specific shift length, for example, a 5-on-3-off pattern for 8-hour shifts or a 2-3-2 pattern for 12-hour shifts. While it's true that the shift length and work pattern are essential components of the schedule, they don’t explain why the schedule is needed. 

 
The real purpose of the schedule is to ensure proper coverage:  the right number of people with the right skills at the right time and place. If the coverage isn’t adequate or matched to regular variations in the workload, the group won’t be able to provide the amount or quality of product/service expected by its customers. The schedule ensures that the organization effectively fulfills its purpose of satisfying the needs of its customers.

Therefore, the top priority for the schedule must be to maintain a level of coverage that matches customer demand. In most cases, more than one approach (usually different shift lengths) is possible. I’ve previously discussed how the hours of operation and the workload variability dictate the best choice of shift length(s):  (Shift Length Selection).

As an example, consider a company that operates 24/7 and needs 2 people working at all times. They first have to decide whether to use fixed shifts and rotating shifts. As a general rule, employees prefer fixed shifts whereas employers prefer rotating shifts (Fixed shifts vs. rotating shifts). In this example, we’ll assume they choose fixed shifts. Next, they have a choice between 8-hour shifts or 12-hour shifts. The 8-hour fixed shifts will require 9 employees working an average of 37.3 hours a week, whereas the 12-hour fixed shifts will require 8 employees averaging 42 hours a week. They decide to narrow the search to these two approaches.

For each approach, several different work patterns are possible. These patterns will vary in terms of the number of consecutive days of work and the nature of the days off. In general, the longer the blocks of work days, the longer the blocks of days off and the longer the weekends off.

Once the alternative patterns are developed, the company should involve the employees who will be working the schedule (Strategic Schedulers Enjoy Remarkable Success). The workers must choose between longer days of work more time off. They also must choose between longer blocks of work days and longer blocks of days off. The majority will decide how important work-life balance is and what sacrifices they are willing to make to achieve it.

To summarize, these are the recommended steps in changing employee work schedules:

1.       Establish the organization’s coverage requirements by time of day and by day of the week. Do you need the same number of people all day long? Maybe there is less work during the nighttime. Do you need the same number of people throughout the week? Maybe there is less work during the weekends. Here’s an example for a company that works 24/7:

2.       Identify different approaches (usually two different shift lengths) that will efficiently achieve the organization’s coverage requirements. The hours of operation and regular workload variations will play a key role in this step. Approaches that are highly inefficient will not be considered, e.g., unnecessary double coverage or excessive staffing requirements.

3.       Find alternative work patterns for each approach. Alternatives will vary the number of consecutive days of work, which will affect the amount and the nature of the time off.

4.       Involve employees in the review of all the options and final selection of the schedule. This gives them the opportunity to decide whether the improved time off is worth the (a) longer days of work, (b) more consecutive days of work, and/or (c) the average weekly hours of work.

Although work-life balance is not the starting point when changing work schedules, it is addressed by identifying different approaches/patterns that satisfy the coverage requirements, and then allowing employees to review, discuss, and vote on their preferred option. Shift Schedule Design can help you find the best approaches and associated work patterns. Please click on the link below to get started:

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• Coverage, i.e. matching the number of people at work with a workload that varies by time of day and day of the week.
  
  
• Staffing, i.e. figuring out the best mix of full-time and part-time employees.
   
• Weekends, i.e. alternating the weekend work, so that employees don't have to work every weekend (unless they want to, of course).

Managers don't have time to devote much attention to these challenges. They're too busy running the business and handling all the daily problems. They don't realize they're: (1) spending more than necessary for staffing, (2) irritating customers with slow response times, and (3) frustrating employees who want more weekends off.

Let's take a closer look at each of these challenges.

Variable Workloads

The primary purpose of the employee work schedule is to align the coverage with the workload. In other words, to match the number of people at work with the volume of work at that particular time. During busy periods, more employees should be scheduled to work; when it's slow; fewer people should be scheduled.

Some businesses can control the workload by making appointments with customers (e.g., doctors, dentists, and vets). Most businesses can't do that. They have workloads that vary by time of day and/or by day of the week, often in a fairly predictable manner. For many companies, late afternoons and early evenings (when their customers get off work) are busy times. For others, it's the weekends. The ideal schedule will reflect these changes in demand.

Few businesses keep data on customer volumes on an hourly basis, so they have to rely on more subjective feelings about the workload over broad periods of time. Here's an example. A local hardware store thinks the busy times are first thing in the morning (contractors), evenings, and weekends. They created a table showing the coverage requirements throughout the week as shown below:

Any business with a variable workload should put together a coverage table like this one. This table then becomes the target for the schedule. You can read more about the steps to create an effective work schedule for a variable workload here:  https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/81.html.

Staffing

Small businesses often employ both full-time and part-time employees. Full-time employees will want benefits like paid holidays, vacations, sick time, health insurance, and maybe 401Ks. They also want 40 hours of pay every week, which can be difficult to achieve if the shifts are shorter than 8 hours. Part-time employees are less expensive and sometimes more flexible. They are open to working short shifts and odd shifts throughout the week. However, finding and maintaining good, dependable part-time workers can be a tough, time-consuming job.

Many years ago, I owned an independent video store. We had 3 full-time people and a number of part-time people who were mostly students. The full-time employees worked a fairly permanent schedule, usually an 8-hour shift (9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.). The part-time people did the closing shift (4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.) and most of the weekend work. We scheduled them around their availability due to class schedules and other commitments. We overlapped the shifts in the evening because that was the busiest time of day. Friday and Saturday were the busiest days of the week, so we would schedule the most staff to work on those days, especially during the evenings.

Many part-time employees can only work weekends or certain days of the week because they are students or it's their second job. If these part-time employees are highly valued and/or hard to replace, the business must plan around their availability. This can make the schedule design for the full-time employees much more difficult.

Weekends

Most businesses schedule their full-time employees to a single shift on the same 5 days every week. If the business is open on weekends, some of the employees may have to work every weekend as shown below:

In this example, Employee A works Wed-Sun every week, Employee B works every Fri-Tue, and Employee C works every Mon-Thu. Employees A and B work every weekend, while Employee C gets every weekend off.

Most full-time employees want to avoid or minimize the number of weekend days they have to work. When a business is open one or more weekend days, they should consider schedules that provide occasional weekends off. This is done by creating a schedule with rotating days of work. Let's revise the schedule above to rotate the days of work and the weekends off.

This is a 3-week schedule. Employee A begins the schedule in Week 1, Employee B begins in Week 2, and Employee C begins in Week 3. After finishing the initial week, they all rotate to the next week of the schedule. Emp. A moves to Week 2, Emp. B moves to Week 3, and Emp. C moves to Week 1. With this pattern, all 3 employees get a 3-day weekend off once every 3 weeks. Unlike the previous schedule with fixed days of work, they would share equally in the number of weekends worked (and the number of weekends off).

Summary

Many Main Street businesses are now open more than 8 hours a day and more than 5 days a week. This can make it difficult to create a work schedule for the employees. The three biggest scheduling challenges are: (1) matching the coverage with a workload that varies throughout the day and the week, (2) juggling the mix of full-time and part-time employees, and (3) alternating the weekend work so it is more fairly distributed.

We showed how creating a coverage table becomes the basis for the schedule. This will help you decide the best mix of shift lengths and the number of people to put on each shift. You want to have the right number of people at work to handle the volume of work expected for that particular time period. You don't want to have a bunch of employees standing around with nothing to do either.

The staffing mix depends on the quality and availability of full-time and part-time employees. If good part-time employees are easy to find, the schedule design can start with the full-time people. Part-time people would be used to fill the gaps in the coverage, to work shifts shorter than 8 hours, and/or to cover a lot of the weekend shifts. If you can only find a few, key part-time workers, you may be forced to design the schedule around their availability.

Full-time employees prefer to have weekend days off. You may not be able to give them every weekend off, but you can alternate the weekend work. This requires a schedule with rotating days of work. Although employees tend to prefer fixed days of work (so their days off are predictable), you'll have to explain the need for rotating days of work so that everyone is treated equally in terms of weekends off.

We've written several articles about schedules for companies that operate on a less than 24/7 basis. You might want to check these out.

• https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=work-schedules-for-businesses-open-more-than-8-hours-day-or-5-days-week
  
  
• https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=employee-work-schedules-for-retail-and-service-businesses
  
  
• https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=schedules-in-the-hospitality-industry 
  
  
• https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=restaurant-work-schedules
  
  
• https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=car-dealership-schedules

If you would like to get our help with the design of a schedule, please fill out this form:

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Like many dealers, he hasn't kept data on the volume of customers by time of day or day of the week. He says the volume fluctuates too much, though it's always busier on weekends. He wants at least 2 salespeople during the week and 3 or 4 salespeople on the weekends. For parts and service writing, he wants 2 people Mon-Sat. For mechanics, he wants 6 people Mon-Sat.

Salespeople
The current schedule for the sales people consists of fixed 8-hour shifts with fixed days of work. Eight salespeople are needed to do this: four on days (Employees A, B, C, and D) and four on afternoons (Employees E, F, G, and H). The schedule is shown below. Employee A works the day shift (d8) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday through Wednesday, Employee B works the day shift Thursday through Monday, and Employee F works the afternoon shift (a8) from 12 noon to 8 p.m. every Thursday through Monday.

The resulting coverage is shown above. It produces higher coverage on the weekends, but it has a 4-hour overlap that is unnecessary. If 12pm to 4pm was a particularly busy period, the overlap would be great. But this isn't a particularly busy time of the day for sales. 

Do the employees like this schedule? Well, they like working the same shift and the same days all the time, but they hate never getting a weekend off.
We were able to convince the manager that 12-hour shifts would be a better choice. Here's the schedule we designed.
 

With this schedule, all the employees are on the same shift, but they work different days each week. This is called a fixed shift schedule with rotating days of work. Each employee starts in the week shown for them. After finishing this initial week, they rotate to the next week of the schedule. Employee A moves from Week 1 to Week 2, B moves from Week 2 to Week 3, and so on. Employee G moves from Week 7 up to Week 1. All the sales people would work the same 7-week pattern. It's just that they would be in different weeks of that pattern.

Unlike the current schedule with 8 salespeople, only 7 salespeople are needed with the 12s. The coverage is better too. The 4 hours of overlapping shifts is eliminated and they would have 5 people working both Saturday and Sunday instead of 4 people. The employees should be happier as well. They would get 2 weekends off every 7 weeks (weeks 3 and 6 of the schedule). There are also two 4-day breaks (Weeks 1 and 7) and one 7-day break (Week 5 into Week 6). 

Parts, Service Writers, Mechanics
The current schedule for these three positions is Monday to Friday for 10 hours a day (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.). The manager organized them into 3 teams, with each team consisting of 1 Parts Person, 1 Service Writer, and 3 Mechanics.

Team A worked the 10-hour shift Tue-Fri, Team B worked it Mon-Thu, and Team C worked it Mon-Tue and Thu-Fri. The biggest problem was that all 3 teams worked every Tuesday and Thursday - which are not busy days. Employees liked the schedule, though Team C complained that they didn't get a 3-day weekend off like the other teams did.

We created a new schedule for Mon-Sat coverage with rotating days of work so that the employees wouldn't get stuck working every single weekend. Here's what we designed.
 

Without adding any staff, we rearranged the pattern so 2 teams were working every day from Mon-Sat. The only sacrifice was one 50-hour work week and one 30-hour work week. This could be resolved by moving the Tue shift in Week 1 to Week 3, however, that would leave the Mon shift in Week 1 sitting out there all by itself. This is poor scheduling because it encourages employees to call in sick or take vacation on that day to bridge the time off before and after that day.

The advantages of this new schedule are that it uses the same number of employees, but adds Saturdays and gets rid of the extra coverage on Tue and Thu. The manager was extremely pleased with this, since he got what he wanted for a small price – the overtime for one team every week (though this was offset partially by the 30-hour Week 3).

The employees didn't like the idea of rotating and working Saturdays, but they did like getting a 6-day weekend off every 3 weeks.

Conclusions
Sometimes it helps to have an outsider take a fresh look at your business, and especially your employee work schedule. The manager of this dealership would have lived with ineffective schedules and incurred unnecessary costs for years if he hadn't decided to expand the coverage to include Saturdays and contacted us for assistance.

We showed him how to improve the sales coverage and to do it with fewer people. We showed him how to add Saturday coverage for Parts, Service Writers, and Mechanics without adding more staff. In most cases, the employees were happy with the changes. They resisted the change to schedules that rotated the days of work, but they liked the longer breaks and opportunities for weekends off.

• You won't have to spend so much time creating new schedules.
• You won't have to struggle with being short-handed because you couldn't fill a time slot (i.e. a shift).
• Employees will appreciate knowing far in advance when they have to work and, more importantly, when they will be off.
• Employees like getting occasional weekends off (as opposed to having to work every Saturday, for example).

Unlike 24/7 schedules, free examples of schedules for your type of business are hard to find because there are too many possibilities: 

• Different hours of operation.
• Different coverage requirements.
• Different number of employees.
• Different mix of full-time and part-time employees.
• Different pay weeks.

What do schedules for less than 24/7 coverage look like? Well, that depends on all of the above variables. Here are 2 simple examples:

Example #1. Open 10 hours a day all week. Need at least 2-person coverage at all times. Busiest day is Monday. 4 full-time staff. Pay week begins on Thursday.

Each crew (A and B) has 2 employees working a 10-hour day shift (D10). Crew A begins the schedule in Week 1; Crew B begins in Week 2. After finishing the initial week, they rotate to the next week of the schedule. Crew A rotates to Week 2, while Crew B rotates to Week 1. They continue this 2-week pattern indefinitely. Note that Monday is the only day of the week with two D10s underneath it. That means both crews are scheduled to work on this busiest day of the week. Note that the schedule begins on Thu. Had we started with a different day, the 2-day break in Week 2 might not have fallen on the weekend (Sat & Sun).

Example #2. Open 14 hours a day (7 a.m. to 9 p.m.) on Mon-Sat. Need at least 1-person coverage at all times. Need 2-person coverage from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. 2 full-time staff and 2 part-time staff. Pay week begins on Saturday.
 

The two full-time employees (A & B) work a 2-week schedule on a 12-hour day shift (D12) that runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Employee A begins in Week 1, while Employee B begins in Week 2 of the schedule. After finishing the initial week, they rotate the the next week. Employee A rotates to Week 2 and Employee B rotates to Week 1. The two part-time employees (C & D) do not rotate. They work the same 3 days each week. C works a 5-hour afternoon shift (a5) from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thu, Fri, and Sat. D works the same shift Mon, Tue, and Wed. The 5-hour shift overlaps the 12-hour shift from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. giving the company the 2-person coverage they are looking for.
 

We could keep going, but unless you happen to have the same combination of hours, coverage requirements, staff size/composition, and pay week, additional examples aren't going to be much help. So what's the best approach for creating a schedule? You can contact us for help (Request Quote) or you can follow the steps that we do (Employee Work Schedules).

Workload Distribution. If the workload is steady at all times, 8-hour or 12-hour shifts would be the best choice. If the workload varies by time-of-day, you will either need to allocate more staff to certain shifts or adopt a schedule with overlapping shifts (e.g., 10-hour shifts or combined 8 and 12-hour shifts). If the workload varies by day-of-the-week (or weekdays vs. weekends), you will need a custom-designed work pattern.

Employee Preferences. If you ask employees for their preferences, roughly 80% will say 8-hour shifts. However, if you show them examples of 8 and 12-hour schedules, 80% will prefer the 12-hour schedules. That's why it's important for them to see actual examples rather than just voicing an opinion on what they want.

There is more than just shift length to consider, of course. Should you have fixed shifts or rotating shifts (https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Fixed_Shifts)? What are the best shift start/end times (https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=fatigue-in-the-workplace-early-day-shift-start-times)? What's the best way to handle absence coverage (https://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Blog?m8:post=how-to-cover-absences)?

If you would like to learn more, please fill out this form to get a quote for our schedule design services (Request Quote).

I'm going to describe what I did to address these problems because I think they are common to many hotels, motels, and bed & breakfast establishments.
 

I started by asking my client how long it took the employees to do their jobs. She said the housekeepers only needed 8 hours a day, while the maintenance crew was active for 16 hours day. Both jobs were needed 7 days a week. Then I asked her how many people she needed at work each day.
 

The housekeepers needed 9-person coverage on an 8/7 basis (8 hours/day for 7 days/week). I told her that this would require at least 12 employees. They could be organized into 4 crews of 3 people each. This was quite a few less than the 16 people they currently employed. However, because this group had a high absence rate, my client decided to increase the crew size to 4 people. This was probably more extra coverage than necessary, but it avoided layoffs. This would completely eliminate the need for overtime to cover absences. They would work a 4-week schedule in which three weeks were 40 hours and one week was 48 hours. This would average 42 hours a week over the 4-week period.

The maintenance crew needed 1-person coverage in the mornings and evenings. They needed 2-person coverage in the afternoons. This would require three 8-hour shifts. Because they worked fixed shifts, this would take six employees (2 per shift). I laid out a 2-week pattern for my client. In order to give everyone 40 hours of work each week, there would be 3 days a week in which both employees on each shift were scheduled to work.

I suggested that she consider two 10-hour shifts instead of three 8-hour shifts. The shifts would overlap for 4 hours giving them the desired 2-person coverage for part of the afternoon. This would only require 4 employees and there would only be one day a week in which all 4 employees had to work. She decided that the absence rate was low enough in this group that it wouldn't be necessary to build in extra coverage like she did with the housekeepers. Due to various problems with some of the maintenance staff, layoffs were not a concern for her.
 

Do you have a similar situation in your hotel or B&B? Can't figure out the best staff size? Have trouble maintaining the right coverage? Are you experiencing high overtime levels or absences that can't be covered? Instead of having a manager create a new schedule every week, you need a set schedule that produces the desired coverage with minimal staffing/overtime costs. Please contact us today for help. Here's a link to request a quote for our services.

During this past week, I was contacted by two foreign companies with labor contracts that limited the annual hours of work for their employees. They wanted me to design schedules that didn't exceed an annual target (1,712 in one case and 1,816 in the other).
 

To “simplify” the assignment, I converted the annual figures into weekly numbers by dividing the annual hours by 52 weeks: 

• 1,712 hours/year divided by 52 is 32.9 hours/week
• 1,816 hours/year divided by 52 is 34.9 hours/week 

With 12-hour shifts, the average weekly hours worked depends on the number of crews. Here are the averages:  

• 4 crews work an average of 3.5 shifts a week or 42 hours a week
• 5 crews work an average of 2.8 shifts a week or 33.6 hours a week
• 6 crews work an average of 2.33 shifts a week or 28 hours a week 

A 5-crew schedule would only work with rotating shifts, whereas the 4-crew or 6-crew schedules would work with either fixed or rotating shifts. To minimize the staffing requirements, we decided to use the 5-crew approach with rotating 12-hour shifts that average 33.6 hours/week. This worked fine for the company with the higher limit (34.9 hours/week), but not for the other company (32.9 hours/week).
 

This could be resolved by either incorporating a 30-minute unpaid meal break or scheduling a vacation period every year to reduce the hours of work. This starts to get complicated quickly, so I won't go into all the details here. I just wanted to show you how this sort of challenge can be addressed.

This is highly misleading. There are three reasons why:

1. Coverage. Smaller organizations rarely need the same number of people working at all times. Yet the free templates found on the Internet produce constant coverage on a 24/7 basis. The primary reason you have a schedule is to match the coverage with the workload, so why would you want a schedule that doesn't do that? It would be a huge waste of your resources.
    
2. Staffing. Each template works best with a specific number of crews (usually 4). If your staff size isn't a multiple of this number, the crews will not be the same size which will result in uneven coverage. Another staffing issue has to do with schedule attractiveness. Some templates look great, but require way more employees than other, more efficient patterns. Don't get seduced by a schedule's attractiveness.
    
3. Pay Week. Each template works best for a certain overtime / pay week, e.g., Sunday to Saturday. Some schedules can be modified, but some can't. This can result unbalanced work week hours and in the loss of weekends off for employees. 

So, if looking through popular work patterns is not a good way to find a new 24/7 shift schedule, what's the best approach?
 

You should always start with the workload distribution and the associated coverage requirements. How many people do you need at work on each shift? Does this stay the same all week?
 

When we design schedules, we compare the coverage requirements with your staff size and the average hours worked each week to determine what is feasible. Sometimes, overtime may need to be built into the schedule to avoid gaps in coverage. Occasionally there may be more staff than necessary, so we'll show you different ways to utilize these "extra" resources.

We then evaluate your schedule preferences to see if this creates any problems. If the resources are adequate for the coverage and scheduling preferences, we start the actual shift schedule design. Often, we can apply common scheduling patterns as a starting point, and modify them to fit your unique circumstances.

We create several different shift schedule options to show you the range of possibilities, such as the number of consecutive days worked, different shift lengths, relief coverage, and so on. The goal is to satisfy your specifications and explore possibilities you may not have considered.

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. 

1. 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.
    
2. 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.
    
3. 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.

I started by telling them that fixed shifts often require a few more employees than rotating shifts. This is true with both 8-hour and 10-hour shifts. This can be critical when the group is already staffed at a minimum or understaffed. They could still use fixed shifts, but they would either have to hire more staff or adopt a schedule with a lot of overtime in it.
 

Next, I went into the problems with 10-hour shifts. I know, everybody loves 10s. But 10s are really inefficient when you're trying to cover a 24-hour day. You need three shifts, which means you're really working 30 hours a day instead of 24 hours. This 25% increase in hours per day requires a 25% increase in staff or a 25% reduction in the amount of coverage. Few organizations can handle this.

That leaves 8-hour shifts and 12-hour shifts. And if the coverage is not the same at all times, a 12-hour shift schedule may not be a good fit. What is needed is a combination of 8s and 12s, for example 8 people on the 12s and 4 people on the 8s. Although the 12-hour shifts might improve the efficiency (i.e. require fewer people), the 8-hour fixed shifts are highly inefficient for low levels of coverage like one person. For example, 1-person coverage requires 2 people and there would be 3 days a week in which both of them are scheduled to work.

I believe that the people who contacted me with no schedule preferences did so to find a scheduling solution to their current situation. What they didn't realize was that they had a staffing problem, not a scheduling problem.

Yes, they might find some schedule changes that are a little more efficient, but not to the extent they hoped to find. And some of those changes might result in schedules that are not very employee-friendly (e.g., 8-hour rotating shifts).

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 people search for a new shift schedule, they often cite one of these two goals: (1) better work-life balance, or (2) better staff utilization.

Work-life balance is an employee-oriented goal associated with more or better time-off. And that usually means 10 or 12-hour shifts and/or work patterns that feature fewer consecutive days of work or longer stretches of consecutive days off, e.g., the Pittman or DuPont schedules.

Staff utilization is a management-oriented goal associated with making the most cost-effective use of the employees. If the workload varies by time of day or by day of the week, that can mean matching the coverage with the workload. If the workload or available resources have changed, that can mean squeezing out more coverage. If the absence rate is high, it means trying to maintain coverage that's more than the minimum necessary, while keeping costs minimized.

When work-life balance is the top priority of the search, the resulting schedule will likely be great for employees but less-than-ideal for the organization. There are three reasons:

1.       Effectiveness. Work patterns that are most popular with employees produce constant coverage on a 24/7 basis. If the organization's workload isn't constant, the schedule will not be the best match. 

2.       Efficiency. Most of these popular work patterns use four crews. If the staff size is not an exact multiple of 4, the organization will be wasting some of its resources. 

3.       Cost. 10-hour shifts tend to require at least 25% more staff than 12-hour shifts because they add six hours to the work day (three 10-hour shifts = 30 hours/day). Popular work patterns do not consider absences. The organization either uses overtime to cover those absences or it schedules extra coverage to exceed the minimum necessary. A less-costly approach would be to build relief coverage into the schedule.

So does that mean work-life balance should not be considered when searching for a new schedule? Of course not. But it should never be the starting point for the search. The needs of the organization must always come first. Once those are satisfied, then (and only then) can alternatives that offer more or better time-off be considered.

The managers wanted to see what the different options looked like so they could choose the one that appealled to the most people. I explained that this was not the best way to search for a schedule. The starting point should always be the business requirements. You want to make sure there is adequate coverage and that it matches the workload. You also want to use the resources (staff and overtime) efficiently. Schedule attractiveness can only be pursued after the business requirements are satisfied.

If I assume that these groups needed 1-person coverage on a 24/7 basis, this is what they would see with the six different combinations of shift length and format (fixed vs. rotating shifts):

8-hour Rotating Shifts

1-person coverage requires 4 people working an average of 42 hours a week. With a staff of 5 or 6, they would have 1 or 2 "extra" employees. This extra capacity could be used to increase the coverage, reduce the average hours of work, or to build relief coverage into the schedule to cover absences. The biggest downside is that the schedules are miserable for the employees.

8-hour Fixed Shifts

1-person coverage requires 6 people working 40 hours a week (2 people per shift). There would be 3 days a week in which both employees on a shift would be working, so this is something to keep in mind if there isn't enough room for 2 people at the same time. There would be no extra capacity with this type of schedule. Although not as efficient as 8-hour rotating shifts, they are a little better for employees.

10-hour Rotating Shifts

10-hour shifts always require the most personnel because the group is working 30 hours a day (three 10-hour shifts). I only recommend using 10-hour shifts if the group can take advantage of the 6 hours of overlapping shifts that could be matched to the group's busiest time of the day. 1-person coverage requires at least 5 people working an average of 42 hours a week. If there were 6 employees, this would leave 1 extra. This extra person could be used to increase the coverage on one shift or to build relief coverage into the schedule to cover absences. Even though employees get one more day off each week (as compared to 8-hour schedules), the work patterns aren't that attractive, i.e. quick rotations and lots of 1 or 2-day breaks.

10-hour Fixed Shifts

1-person coverage requires at least 6 people working 40 hours a week (2 people per shift). There would be 1 day a week in which both employees on a shift would be working. During the 6 hours of overlapping shifts on the overlapping day, there would be 4 people at work. If this exceeds the physical capacity of the site, this would not be a good choice. As with fixed 8-hour shifts, there would be no extra capacity.

12-hour Fixed or Rotating Shifts

1-person coverage requires only 4 people working an average of 42 hours a week. With a staff of 5 or 6, they would have 1 or 2 "extra" employees (the same as 8-hour rotating shifts). This extra capacity could be used to either increase the coverage, reduce the average hours of work, or to build relief coverage into the schedule to cover absences. Despite the long days of work, most employees prefer these patterns since they offer twice as many days off and up to half the weekends off.

Summary

Rather than looking for examples of every possible combination of shift length and format (fixed vs. rotating shifts), these groups should first decide what is most important to them:

• Increased coverage. Does the group need more than 1-person coverage for part of the day or during certain days of the week? If so, the desired coverage levels should be the starting point of the schedule search since several options (as pointed out above) have no extra capacity to increase the coverage with.
  
  
• Reduced work hours. Some groups avoid overtime like the plague. They will do anything (including hiring one or two extra staff) so they never have to work more than 40 hours a week. Even though I have argued repeatedly that this is not the best financial approach, many organizations still think the schedule should never have overtime in it.
   
• Relief coverage. If increased coverage isn't needed, any extra capacity can be used to create relief coverage, i.e. time in the schedule available to cover absences. This will reduce the need to cover absences with overtime. Relief coverage works best with rotating shifts since it can be used to cover absences on any shift. With fixed shifts, you would need to build relief coverage into each shift's schedule, so it will require more staff.

Once the priorities are clear, this will narrow down the feasible approaches. There are too many possibilities to discuss here, so if you need more help, please let me know.

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.

1. Better staff utilization – coverage that is consistent and matched with the workload
2. Reduced labor costs – lower wages and/or overtime
3. Greater employee satisfaction – more days off and/or more weekends off

Unfortunately, doing well with one goal often means compromising the other two.

Here's an example. Suppose the employees want a 10-hour shift schedule to get one more day off each week and possibly more weekends off. This would certainly help the third goal: greater employee satisfaction. But what would it do to the other two goals?

Since the 10-hour shifts would overlap for 6 hours a day, this would exceed the physical capacity of the work area. Employees from one of the overlapping shifts would be sitting around with nothing to do for 6 hours – every day of the week. This is definitely not a good way to use the staff.

What about labor costs? Well, since the 10-hour shifts would require the organization to work 30 hours a day (three 10-hour shifts), the additional hours of coverage would necessitate an increase in the staff size by 25%. This certainly would not save money.

So how do you find a schedule that satisfies all 3 goals? Simple. Instead of starting the search for a new schedule with a focus on Goal #3: Greater Employee Satisfaction, you start with #1: Better Staff Utilization. You then move to the second goal, and finally to the third goal.

Here are the steps we follow when designing a new employee shift schedule:

• Feasibility. We start by comparing your coverage requirements and scheduling preferences with your staff size to determine the feasibility. Sometimes the resources are inadequate, so different approaches may have to be considered.
  
  
• Possibilities. Sometimes, overtime may need to be built into the schedule to avoid gaps in coverage. Occasionally there may be more staff than necessary, so we'll show you different ways to utilize these "extra" resources.
  
  
• Work patterns. In this third step, we start the actual shift schedule design. Often we can apply common scheduling patterns as a starting point, and modify them to fit your unique circumstances.
  
  
• Options. We create several different shift schedule options to show you the range of possibilities, such as the number of consecutive days worked, different shift lengths, relief coverage, alternative patterns, and so on.

This process ensures that the schedules we create are effective with all three goals, not just one of them.

"Para-transit is recognized in North America as special transportation services for people with disabilities, often provided as a supplement to fixed-route bus and rail systems by public transit agencies. Para-transit services may vary considerably on the degree of flexibility they provide their customers. At their simplest they may consist of a taxi or small bus that will run along a more or less defined route and then stop to pick up or discharge passengers on request. At the other end of the spectrum—fully demand-responsive transport - the most flexible para-transit systems offer on-demand call-up door-to-door service from any origin to any destination in a service area. In addition to public transit agencies, paratransit services are operated by community groups or not-for-profit organizations, and for-profit private companies or operators."

Because the demand for para-transit services is so highly variable, scheduling the drivers is a challenging task. Most para-transit organizations tend to rely on overtime and a large pool of drivers that can be called into work when needed. I believe there is huge opportunity to schedule the drivers more effectively and reduce the costs. This opportunity comes from two key points. The first point is that historical trip volumes can and should be used to develop a schedule. The second point is that relief coverage is the best way to accommodate both employee absences and deviations from historical average trip volumes. Let's take a closer look at the specific steps involved.

Step #1: Historical Trip Volumes

The first step is to determine the workload distribution throughout the hours of operation. Start by categorizing the trip data into 2 or 3 groups based on the time involved. For example, Category A consists of trips that last 30 minutes or less. Category B consists of trips that last 30 to 60 minutes. Category C consists of trips that last more than 60 minutes.

Then look through the past year's historical data of trips made during every 30 minutes of the hours of operation. So if the first trip of the day begins at 6 a.m., I would calculate the average number of trips in each category between 6:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Then I would do the same for 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., and so on. I would put these averages into a summary table.

If you have the data (and the time), you could also determine the maximum number of trips that occurred during each 30-minute period and add this data to the summary table. You also could create separate tables for each region in the service area and for each season of the year.

Step #2: Driver Requirements

The second step is to determine the coverage requirements. The number of drivers needed during each 30-minute period depends on the type of service the organization offers. If the service is door-to-door, you will need one driver for each trip. If the service is limited to fixed routes, you will need fewer drivers per trip. The point is that you will need to translate the trip volumes into driver requirements by time of day. In scheduling jargon, this is called establishing the coverage requirements. Once these figures are made available, a scheduling expert can help with the remaining steps. I say this because the next few steps are the most difficult part of the process.

Step #3:  Schedule Framework

This step will determine the shift lengths, start times, and number of drivers needed on each shift.  This is basically a trial and error process. Here is a simple example:

Time Period       Drivers Needed

0600 to 0700                       5

0700 to  0900                      6

0900 to 1300                       8

1300 to 1500                       7

1500 to 1800                       5

You begin with the first time period of the day (0600 to 0700). 5 drivers are needed on this first shift. You can test the three standard shift lengths: 8-hour, 10-hour and 12-hour shifts according to how well they fit with the afternoon requirements. If we use a 12-hour shift, this will means 5 drivers will be working from 0600 to 1800. This matches the coverage needed from 1500 to 1800, so that would be the best choice. For most organizations, it's never this simple and compromises (e.g., over-staffing for part of the day) are likely to be necessary.

6 drivers are needed during the second period (0700 to 0900). We therefore will need 1 driver on this second shift (since we already have 5 people at work from the first shift of the day). Again we will test the three standard shift lengths for the impact on the afternoon. The best choice would be an 8-hour shift since anything longer would unnecessarily boost the coverage after 3 p.m. when it isn't needed.

We continue this process, sometimes going back to the beginning and changing earlier choices to make the entire framework more efficient, i.e. no understaffing and minimal overstaffing. The framework I would choose is as follows:

Shift Length       Drivers                 Time Covered

12                             5                         0600 to 1800

 8                              1                         0700 to 1500

 4                              2                         0900 to 1300

If part-time drivers are not allowed in an organization, I would choose the following framework:

Shift Length       Drivers                 Time Covered

12                             5                          0600 to 1500

8                               3                          0700 to 1500

Step #4:  Basic Staffing Requirements                                                                                                                                   

Now that we know the shift lengths and coverage requirements, we can determine the number of drivers needed to produce the coverage requirements. The 12-hour shift will require 10 drivers to produce 5 drivers every day of the week. The 10 drivers will all work an average of 42 hours a week. The 8-hour shift will require 2 drivers to produce 1 driver every day of the week. They will average 40 hours a week and there will be 3 days a week in which both drivers must be scheduled to work (to ensure 40-hour work weeks). If you can use part-time drivers, you can avoid the days of overlap. The 4-hour shift will require as many part-time drivers as you want.

Step #5:  Supplemental Staffing Requirements                                                                                                                

In the previous step, we focused on the staff needed just for the coverage requirements. But remember, the coverage is based on the average number of trips, not the peak demand. Also, drivers get sick, take vacation, or change jobs. That means we need some extra staff to allow for this. If we assume a 10% absence rate and another 30% difference between the peak demand and average demand, we need a 40% relief allowance.

In addition to the extra staff needed for relief coverage, some of the shifts will need extra personnel to simplify the schedule design. Here's a summary of the staff needed for each shift:

Shift                      Basic Staff           Relief Staff           Extras                 Total Staff

0600 to 1800               10                            4                        1                             15

0700 to 1500                 2                            1                        0                               3

0900 to 1300                 2                             1                       1                               4

Step #6: Schedule Design

For the 12-hour shift, we will create a 3-crew schedule (5 drivers per crew) that averages 42 hours a week. For the 8-hour shift, we will create a 3-crew schedule (1 driver per crew) that averages 40 hours a week. For the 4-hour shift, we will create a schedule that averages 20 hours a week. We will use the staff on this part-time shift as trainees and reserves for full-time employees that decide to change jobs.

Here is an example of a schedule for the 12-hour shift:

Crew/Week       Sun        Mon      Tue        Wed      Thu        Fri           Sat          Hours

A / Week 1            -            12         12             -            -           12            12             48

B / Week 2          12             -            -            12         12           -               R             36

C / Week 3          R              R          R            R           R            R             -               42

The three crews of 5 employees are assigned to one of the 3 weeks in the cycle. Crew A is assigned to start in week 1, Crew B is assigned to start in week 2 and Crew C is assigned to start in week 3. At the end of each week, the crews move to the next week of the cycle: Crew A moves to week 2, B moves to week 3, and C moves up to week 1. They continue to move through the 3-week cycle. All three crews are working the same 3-week schedule. They are merely in different weeks of the 3-week pattern.

R is a relief shift which means the crew is on-call for the entire 7 days shown. If someone from week 1 or week 2 is scheduled for vacation, an employee on relief will simply work the vacationer's schedule that week. If no one is absent, the employees on relief can be called in for a couple of hours to satisfy a temporary increase in demand. The organization should establish rules on the priorities for relief work and limits on the hours and number of days worked during the 7-day period.

Here is an example of a schedule for the 8-hour shift:

Emp / Week       Sun        Mon      Tue        Wed      Thu        Fri           Sat          Hours

A / Week 1            -               -           8             8           8            8              8               40

B / Week 2            8              8           -             -            R            R             R              40

C / Week 3            R             R          R            R           R            -              -                40

Conclusions

We've demonstrated how assembling historical data on trip volumes can be used as the foundation for scheduling transit drivers. We also illustrated how to build extra capacity into the schedule to cover absences/vacancies and temporary fluctuations in demand. The key point is that schedules for variable workloads are ideally based on actual data rather than gut feelings, intuition, overtime considerations, etc. Using a full-time scheduling person that spends the day on the phone trying to get drivers to come to work is not the most efficient or effective approach when it comes to scheduling para-transit drivers. So if you want to keep service levels high and costs low, see if we can make this new scheduling process work for you.

Reasons for expanding the hours of operation include the following:

• Competition. Once a competitor changes its hours of operation, other local companies in that same line of business are pressured to do the same.
• Customers. Longer hours expose a business to more prospects, which can increase sales. It also makes it more convenient for existing customers, which means more repeat business
• Facilities. When the space or equipment is fully utilized, it's cheaper to increase the hours of operation than it is to rent a larger office/shop or to purchase more/larger machinery.

There are three factors that the business owners should consider when creating work schedules for the employees:

• Coverage. What is the most effective way to match the number of people at work with the workload variations?
• Cost. What is the most efficient way to staff and schedule the employees?
• Satisfaction. Which approach will the employees prefer?

I've discussed these criteria previously, but only in the context of continuous 24/7 operations. Here's a link to the original article: http://www.shift-schedule design.com/Shift_Schedule_Design_for_Dummies. In this post, we will take a closer look at each factor from the perspective of businesses that are less than 24/7.

Coverage

Once a company selects its new hours of operation, it should estimate the workload by hour of the day and by day of the week. The best way to do this is to gather historical data using measures such as:

• Number of jobs or appointments
• Number of in-bound phone calls
• Number of customer visits
• Number of out-bound service calls

Since some calls or visits require more time and effort than others, it might be necessary to classify them into 2 or 3 categories. Each category can be weighted differently to adjust for the time required by employees. A table of the weighted data can help in the selection of shift lengths and coverage on each shift. An example is shown below. Note that Category 2 work takes twice as long at Category 1 work so it counts double in the total work volume.

Days                            Time                        Category 1                  Category 2           Total

Mon-Fri                0800 to 1200                       50                                    4                          58

Mon-Fri                1200 to 1600                       70                                    8                          86

Mon-Fri                1600 to 2000                       85                                   10                       105

Sat                       0800 to 1200                       70                                    9                          88

Sat                       1200 to 1400                       81                                    7                          95

Sat                       1400 to 1700                       92                                    5                        102

As you can see, the volume of work is not constant throughout the hours of operation. It varies by time of day and day of the week. Let's take a closer look at each of these two types of workload fluctuations.

Hourly Variations. With this type of fluctuation, the volume of work changes by time of day. For example, the evenings are often busier than the rest of the day in many retail stores. The three typical ways to address these hourly workload variations are:

• Staggered start times
• Part-time employees that work shifts shorter than 8 hours
• Multiple shifts that overlap one another

Since there are so many different situations, I'll try to give a simple example of each approach.

Example #1. An independent auto repair shop is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. It opens early because the owner wants to avoid commuter traffic. Most customers don't drop off their cars until 8 or 9 a.m., so he starts one mechanic at 8 a.m. and another at 9 a.m. The first mechanic leaves at 4:30 p.m. and the second leaves at 5:30 p.m. The owner stays until 6:00 p.m. to accommodate customers picking up their vehicles after work. The staggered work hours not only extend the coverage to 11 hours a day, but they also match the coverage with the workload.

Example #2. A store that sells bicycles is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. They are busiest from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. To match the coverage with this workload distribution, they have a 10-hour shift staffed by full-time employees plus a 3-hour shift (from 1600 to 1900) staffed by part-time employees (mostly students).

Example #3. A beauty salon is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Their busiest time of day is in the afternoon from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. They match this workload distribution by using two 8-hour shifts (0900 to 1700 and 1300 to 2100). The shifts overlap from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. This overlap is a little longer than necessary, but it allows the company to only use full-time employees who want to work 8-hour shifts.

Daily Variations. With this type of fluctuation, the volume of work changes throughout the week. For example, many businesses that deal with the public are busier on the weekends than they are on weekdays when people are at work. The two typical ways to address daily work variations are:

• Weekend crews
• Custom-designed work patterns

As with the hourly variations, there are too many possibilities to cover them all, so I'll just give one example of each approach.

Example #4. A stationery store is open every day of the week. The workload is fairly light on weekdays and busier on the weekends. The owner works by himself Mon-Fri. He employs several part-time people to work the weekend shifts. It's easier for him to find people to work weekends since this is usually a second job for them. Plus it gives him the weekends off. The downside, of course, is that the manager is unavailable to supervise the part-time employees. He or she is also unavailable when the store is busiest.

Example #5. A pharmacy is open every day of the week. They tracked the volume of prescriptions filled by day of the week. Wed, Thu and Fri have almost 50% more prescriptions than other days of the week. Weekends are the lightest, whereas Mon and Tue are average. The pharmacy employs 3 full-time pharmacists. All 3 pharmacists work the 3 busy days. Only one pharmacist works on Saturday and Sunday. Two pharmacists work on Mon and Tue.