Wikipedia defines para-transit as follows:

"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.

Many retail and service businesses have found it necessary to stay open longer than 8 hours a day and more than 5 days a week. Examples of retailers include apparel, sporting goods, building supplies, household items, jewelers, stationers, and variety stores. Examples of service businesses include dry cleaners, pharmacies, auto repair, dentists, optometrists, and barbers/hair salons.

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.

Cost

Small business owners are especially concerned with keeping costs at a minimum. That's why it's important to compare the cost of different staffing/scheduling approaches before picking one. I'll try to illustrate how to do this.

This example is a retail store that is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mon – Sun. Using data on the number of customer visits by hour of the day over the past year, the manager established the following coverage requirements:

Mon-Sun             1000 to 1500       2 people per hour

Mon-Sun             1500 to 1800       3 people per hour

Approach #1. This approach emphasizes the use of full-time employees supplemented by part-timers. There are 3 full-time employees that provide 2-person coverage throughout the week using 8-hour shifts. There are 3 part-time employees that are used to boost the coverage from 3 – 6 p.m. The total cost is calculated below:

3 FT employees * 40 hours/week * $12/hour wages * 1.4 cost of benefits = $2,520 per week

PT employees * 21 hours/week (average) * $10/hour wages = $210 per week (note that it doesn't matter how many part-time employees are used; it's only the total hours per week that's important)

The total cost is $2,730 per week.

Approach #2. This approach emphasizes the use of part-time employees with two full-time employees who will supervise the part-timers. The total cost is calculated below:

2 supervisors* 40 hours/week * $15/hour wages * 1.5 cost of benefits = $1,800 (note that the supervisors' time counts toward the coverage requirements)

PT employees * 53 hours/week * $10/hour wages = $530 per week (note that it doesn't matter how many part-time employees are used; it's only the total hours per week that's important)

The total cost is $2,330 per week.

Based on cost alone, Approach #2 (supervisors + part-time workers) is the best. The owner has to balance the cost savings with the time the manager will spend hiring and training the constant turnover of part-time employees. Although using part-time employees often is the least expensive approach, other considerations may override this.

 

Employee Satisfaction

Although employee satisfaction is important, it should never be the starting point in the search for a new schedule. I can't count the number of times I've been contacted by managers who selected the hours of operation to justify a shift length that he or she thought employees would like better than 8-hour shifts. They often forget that longer shifts will either increase the staffing requirements or reduce the available coverage.

For example, I had a manager of a business that ran 16 hours a day (two fixed 8-hour shifts) for 7 days a week. They needed 2-person coverage. They used 6 employees working an average of 37.33 hours/week. The manager said the employees were unhappy with the schedule, so he was thinking about changing to two 10-hour shifts.

The problem with two fixed 10-hour shifts with 2-person coverage is that it would require 8 employees or the coverage would drop to 1 person for 2 days a week on each shift. The manager forgot that the extra 2 hours a day for the 10-hour shifts would increase the hours of coverage by 25%.

In most cases, shift length is not left up to employees since this is more or less defined by the hours of operation or the hours in which overlapping shifts are needed. So the choice for employees usually boils down to the preferred work pattern. Here are a couple of examples.

Example #6. A hardware store needs 4 sales people on a 10-hour shift every day of the week. This requires 7 employees working 40 hours a week. To reward the most senior employees, the manager lets them bid on the days they work. He creates two schedule options:

• Option #1. This schedule has 4 consecutive days of work followed by 3 consecutive days off. The downside to this schedule is that only 2 of the 7 will get both Sat and Sun off.
• Option #2. This schedule allows 3 of the 7 to get both Sat and Sun off. However, not all of the schedules feature consecutive days of work.

Example #7. An appliance repair center needs 5 people on an 8-hour shift every day of the week. This requires 7 employees working 40 hours a week. The manager creates two schedule options:

• Option #1. This schedule requires employees to work 7 days in a row. The employees get 2 weekends off every 7 weeks. One weekend off is 3 days and the other is 5 days. All the other breaks at 2 days.
• Option #2. This schedule requires employees to work 2 to 4 days in a row. The employees get 2 weekends off every 7 weeks. Both are only 2 days off. The other breaks are only 1 or 2 days.

In both examples, the employees are shown the two schedules. They discuss the options, particularly the pros and cons. They then vote on the option they prefer. This forces them to make tradeoffs. In Example #6, they must choose the increased likelihood of getting a weekend off. In Example #7, they must choose between more consecutive days of work with longer breaks vs. fewer consecutive days of work with shorter breaks.

Most people think of work schedules as merely an on-off pattern for a specific shift length, for example, a 5-on-2-off pattern for 8-hour shifts or a 2-3-2 pattern for 12-hour shifts. While it's true that the work pattern and shift length are essential components of the schedule, they are not necessarily the most important and definitely not the best place to start the search for a new schedule. What? How can I say that? Let me explain.

When people search for a new schedule, they often forget about its primary purpose. It's not to give employees 40 hours a week. It's not to give employees more days off each week or more weekends off. No. The schedule is there to make sure the organization always has the right number of people at work. Let me re-emphasize that point:  the primary purpose of the schedule is to match the coverage with the workload.

In smaller organizations where the workload isn't constant (e.g., it's  lower at night or on the weekends), it's critical to schedule more employees to work when it's busy and fewer employees to work when it's slow. I can't tell you how many times I've had inquiries in which the person says they need 3 people for 16 hours and 1 person for 8-hours a day, but they wanted to change to 10 or 12-hour shifts. When I try to explain that these longer shifts don't match their workload distribution, they get indignant and say something like, "The employees are unhappy with the current schedule, so we're looking for a schedule that will give them more days off. If you can't help us, we'll find someone who can."

This may not be an issue for large companies that have a steady workload around the clock. But with smaller organizations (less than 50 employees), it's often critical. And it applies to a variety of industries. You'd be surprised to hear the types of businesses that I've recently done schedules for - restaurants, auto dealers, and hair stylists. These are not typical shiftwork operations. Yet they all need to align their staff with the changing volume of work, whether it changes by hour of the day or by day of the week (or both).

Let's take a closer look at a simple example: the mechanics at an auto dealer. Their service department is open 6 days a week (Mon-Sat) from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (10 hours a day). There were 15 mechanics altogether. The workload is highest on Friday and Saturday. I assigned the staff to 5 crews of 3 each. Here is one of the schedules I came up with:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's how it works. Team A is initially assigned to Week 1 of the schedule. They work 10 hours on Monday through Thursday that first week. When that week is done, they drop down to the second week of the schedule. For this second week, they work 10 hours on Wednesday through Saturday. They then begin the 3rd week of the schedule, followed by the 4th and 5th weeks. Once the 5th week has been completed, they go back to Week 1 and start the 5-week pattern over again. All 5 teams are working the same schedule; they are merely in different weeks of that pattern.

The mechanics will naturally be most concerned with the schedule features listed below the schedule. As you can see, they will get one full weekend off every 5 weeks. They will have to work a maximum of 4 consecutive days. They will get 5 days off in a row (Week 1 into Week 2). Several times over the 5-week cycle, they will only get 1-day breaks (Sundays). Although they don't get many weekends off, they do get more days off than they would with an 8-hour schedule.

The manager's primary concern is the coverage that the schedule produces. Three teams (9 mechanics) are scheduled to work Mon-Thu and four teams (12 mechanics) are scheduled to work Fri-Sat. We could have shifted more coverage to the two busy days, but the manager wanted the mechanics to have at least one weekend off. He was not happy with the 5-day break, since that would leave unfinished repairs for too long and the employees might forget what work they had completed in the prior week. To satisfy this concern, I revised the schedule by rearranging the weeks so that the longest break was only 3 days in a row.

The key point of this example is to demonstrate the importance of starting the schedule design by examining the workload and coverage requirements rather than starting with a desired shift length and work pattern. Had we started with a 4-on-3-off pattern, the schedule might have looked like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike the previous schedule, the teams don't rotate to a different set of days each week. Instead, they always work the same 4 consecutive days and get the same 3 days off. This is great for Team A, which gets a 3-day weekend off, but not so great for the other four teams that have to work every Saturday. Most people probably would tolerate this because they are getting 3 consecutive days off. The big loser with this schedule is the organization. Although there are sufficient mechanics working on Fri and Sat, there is only one team working every Mon and Tue, and 5 teams every Wed and Thu. No matter how you juggle the weeks or the patterns around, you can't avoid problems with the coverage.

If you start the schedule selection process with a specific work pattern in mind, the resulting schedule may be acceptable to employees but detrimental to the organization. In our example, the organization would have been understaffed 2 days a week and overstaffed 2 days a week. If you start the process with the coverage requirements and use rotating days of work, you can optimize the coverage and give employees a decent schedule that treats everyone equally. In our example, the coverage was perfectly matched to the workload and the employees all get one long weekend off every 5 weeks.

Even when employees understand the need for the employer to change from operating 5 days a week to 7 days a week, they aren't very receptive. Yes they are fed up with regularly working 6 days a week and sometimes all 7 days. Even though they will get more days off (and more full weekends off) on a 24/7 schedule, they resist the change.

I thought you might like to read some of the typical comments from employees facing this major change:

• If we choose to go to 12-hour shifts, will everything over 8 per day still be overtime or will it change to only being over 40 hours a week?
  
  
• Seniority and how the people working those new shifts will be selected. Vacation/personal days (how they work). Holiday pay. Coverage of shifts for call-outs, sick days and vacation. Do we still get paid for not taking a lunch break? If we work 12-hours, how does that work?
  
  
• How will working a 24/7 work week will affect the wear and tear on the equipment used on a daily basis?
  
  
• Can this be done with an 8-hour shift? Does everyone have to work 12 hours?
  
  
• What about those of us who need all the OT we can get because our bills can't be paid without it? Do we get a second job?
  
  
• If I would have to work the overnight shift, everything in my life will be affected. I would also hope my pay to stay the same or get better.
  
  
• Overtime is very important to ALL of us because a lot of us are under-paid and need it to make ends meet. So please keep that in mind as well.
  
  
• The fact that we are being forced to make a decision that increases the company's profit, and in turn we have to bend over backwards to do it and get no sort of compensation to do it. It's bullshit and greedy.
  
  
• How does seniority relate to any of this?
  
  
• I understand the reason for 24/7 operation. However, this process to me is just another way management confronts challenges/issues. In short, the management team does not address the core problem. Rather they address the symptoms of the core problem.
  
  

If you manage a business that is considering the idea of expanding to 24/7, you may be wondering how your employees will react to the change. You can expect most employees to focus on the loss of weekends off and the loss of overtime. This is despite the fact that they are already working every Saturday and some Sundays, and even though most 24/7 schedules have some overtime built into them.

Employee responses often depend on how the question is asked. If you simply ask whether they would mind working the weekends, you can expect the answer will be, "No way!" If the question is reframed to whether they would like 10% more pay and 78 more days off annually, you would probably get a completely different response. Responses also will be based on their specific concerns, such as the following:

• Employees may not understand or appreciate the economic and competitive reasons for running the business 7 days a week. Larger organizations often prepare a business case that discusses reasons for the change. You may not need to be this formal, but you must clearly explain and justify the need for a 24/7 schedule. Lacking a compelling reason for making this change, employees will assume the worst. Management is doing this to get rid of people they don't like. Management doesn't care about the workers or their families. Management is doing this to bust the union. Management is doing this for their convenience, etc., etc.
  
  
• Employees may be concerned about the unknowns of a new schedule. It's important to give them as much information as possible: days off, weekends off, maximum consecutive days of work, maximum consecutive days off, minimum consecutive days off, pay impact, paid time-off (vacations, holidays, bereavement leave, etc.) impact, and so on. They may need time to digest this information, so don't rush it. While there is no way to eliminate all the unknowns in advance, you should tell the workforce as much as you can. If you can know the absence rates and can estimate the overtime requirements, show them. If you are planning to change the vacation or holiday policies, let them know.
  
  
• Employees may misunderstand 24/7 schedules. When told the company will operate 7 days a week, they mistakenly think they will have to work every day of the week. They may have friends who are shift workers who have told them horror stories about 24/7 schedules. You will need to show them several different schedule examples and compare the number of days off, weekends off, and pay vs. the current schedule.

I highly recommend following a strategic schedule selection process. I have described this process elsewhere on my website. Here's a link: http://www.shift-schedule-design.com/Schedule_Selection_Process.

When businesses grow, they sometimes reach a point where the managers start to think about working 7 days a week, i.e. a continuous 24/7 operation. Here are some of the common reasons they decide to make this change:

• The cost of starting and shutting down equipment on the weekends is expensive. Although this weekly shut-down may provide an opportunity for maintenance, it also can result in the loss of product and unnecessary cleaning costs. In food processing plants, for example, any product left in place when the equipment is stopped will spoil or clog up the machinery. By operating continuously, these weekly clean-up costs can be avoided.
  
  
• The cost of acquiring additional equipment is too high. It's cheaper to maximize the output from the equipment you already have. This means running it for as many hours as possible each week, including weekends.
  
  
• The company has run out of space. This applies to businesses that aren't typically thought of as shiftwork operations. For example, an office that has out-grown it current space may find it cheaper to operate multiple shifts and / or 7 days a week to avoid moving to a larger space or moving part the workforce into another facility.
  
  
• To be competitive, companies want to fulfill orders as quickly as possible. If they are closed on the weekends, this delays the fulfillment process and may cause customers to seek other vendors that promise faster delivery. With a 7-day schedule, orders can come in on Thursday or Friday be filled on the weekend rather than waiting until Monday.
  
  
• If production works 7 days a week, this can reduce the amount of goods in storage. Since shipping normally occurs on weekdays, inventory can be allowed to run low during the week and replenished by the weekend production.
  
  
• In tight labor markets, offering a 7-day shift schedule for at least part of the company can attract employees who want more days off each week and the higher pay found with 24/7 schedules.
  
  

I'm sure there are other reasons for adopting a 7-day schedule. In most cases, it is a combination of several issues and cost considerations that drive the decision.

When organizations expand from working 5 days a week to 7 days a week, there will always be someone who suggests hiring a weekend crew. The current employees don't want to work weekends, so why not bring in someone else to do it? That would make the existing workforce happy. Besides, there are plenty of people who would do anything to get a job, even if it means working every weekend. It's a way to get their foot in the door. So everyone wins, right?

Unfortunately, no! There is a big loser, and it's the organization itself. Here are the things we typically hear about weekend crews that have been in place for a year or more:

• The weekend crew has a high turnover since the employees are continuously leaving for jobs with better hours (especially on the night shift).
• The weekend crew has high absenteeism. The weekend job is typically their second job. When they go on vacation from their "main" job, they simply call in sick for their weekend job.
• The weekend crew is out of touch with the rest of the plant.
• The weekend crew personnel move to the weekday crews as soon as there is an opening, which keeps the weekend crew staffed with the newest and least-skilled employees.
• The weekend crew typically performs at about 60% of the rate expected of weekday employees.
• If the weekend crew is also given weekday shifts (to bring them closer to 40 hours/week), the plant becomes overstaffed on the extra days they are scheduled to work.
• The weekend crew often gets a full benefits package. This means a 50% burden rate on the weekday employees equates to a 60-85% burden rate on the weekend crew's hours.

But it gets worse. The weekend crew will continue to under-perform unless the company over-pays. Some companies, in an attempt to improve retention and performance of the weekend crews, may pay 40 hours for 24 hours of work. This can raise the hourly cost of the weekend work to as much as double that of a weekday crew when the cost of benefits is factored in.

Once this becomes apparent (usually within the first 18 months) it's too late. Changing to a true 24/7 schedule will seem like a take-away and the workforce will fight it - tooth and nail. So before you jump at this tempting solution, please read this post one more time.

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.

I just finished designing a set of 8-hour shift schedules for a client. They wanted 8-hour shifts because their HR Department is requiring them to abandon their current 12-hour shift schedule and start working 8-hour shifts. I assumed that this was to avoid the overtime in the 12-hour schedule. Was I surprised when I learned that wasn't the case!

HR decided to convert the company's paid time-off policies to days instead of hours. The handful of employees working 12-hour shifts used to get 120 hours of vacation each year. With the policy change, they were now getting 15 days off. It was simply costing the organization too much money.

Rather than change the policy back to hours or reduce the number of days for people on 12s, HR said no more 12-hour shifts. So now the employees are facing some really ugly schedules with a limited number of weekends off. They still get 15 days of vacation, but they are 8-hour days.

The company will save money by offering less paid time-off, but they likely will have higher costs:

Increased employee turnover.

Increased absences.

Lower productivity.

More complaints and grievances.

Usually I see this in reverse. A company has 8-hour shifts and wants to adopt 12-hour shifts. If they fail to change the paid time-off policies to be stated in hours off instead of days off, they will spend a lot more money needlessly. Changing schedules should always be accompanied by a review of the policies. In this case, a change in the policies forced the organization to change schedules. What a shame!