As companies grow, their equipment and facilities are often pushed to the limit. Managers face the challenge of satisfying demand while simultaneously trying to keep costs from spiraling out of control. The two most popular ways to address this situation are:

• Purchase more equipment and/or move to a larger facility
   
• Operate the existing equipment/facilities more hours per week

Most organizations choose the second option because it is less expensive than making a large capital investment in facilities or equipment. If they had been running three 8-hour shifts five days a week, they must decide which of these paths to follow:

• Weekend overtime. This is a good starting point, especially if demand varies from week to week, since it allows the organization to expand or contract as needed. If the overtime becomes regular or excessive, however, it can cause problems (increased costs, errors, accidents, employee dependency, etc.) that can be mitigated by pursuing one of the options below.
   
• 5.5-day schedule. If the organization does not want to hire additional staff, but wants to adopt a schedule with the overtime already built in, they can adopt this type of schedule. It uses 3 crews that work an average of 44.0 hours a week. This approach ensures an equal distribution of the weekend overtime. It also enables employees to better plan their time off rather than waiting until Friday to see if they have to work on Saturday or not.
   
• 6-day schedule. This approach requires hiring another half crew. The schedules rely on 3.5 crews that work an average of 41.1 hours a week. As with the 5.5-day schedule, this also enables employees to better plan their time off. 6-day schedules require unequal treatment of crews if they are designed for fixed (permanent) shifts.
   
• 7-day schedule. If demand is expected to remain high, the organization can adopt a 7 day-a-week continuous schedule. This requires 4 crews that work an average of 42 hours a week. It will avoid the headaches associated with periodic weekend overtime and make better use of existing assets, since they don’t have to sit idle on weekends. It will eliminate weekly start-ups and shut-downs, which slow productivity. It will also improve service to customers who are already open all week.

The biggest problem, of course, is uncertain or fluctuating demand. Some possible options for dealing with this are:

• Make slow, incremental changes. Start by using overtime on the weekends. Then adopt a 5.5-day schedule for a while. If warranted, expand to a 6-day schedule, and eventually to a 7-day schedule.
   
• Only change part of the organization to a 7-day schedule. Leave the remainder on a 5-day schedule with occasional weekend overtime as needed.
   
• Adopt a 7-day schedule. If demand temporarily declines, only work 6 days a week. This will lower the workers' weekly pay to 36 hours. If the demand drops to a point where the organization only needs to work 5 days a week, they may have to eliminate the 4th crew since few employees will tolerate the 30 hour pay weeks.
   
• Adopt a 7-day schedule. If demand declines on a more permanent basis, change to a 6-day schedule. This would require the organization to reduce its staff by 1/2 crew. This can be an awkward transition since the two schedules are not likely to link up perfectly.
   
• Adopt a 7-day schedule. If demand declines, reduce the crew size instead of eliminating a crew.

Making the change to a 7-day schedule is not an easy one. Some people assume that all they need to do is find a 24/7 schedule, post a start date, and everything will be fine. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. In addition to the issues of uncertain or fluctuating demand, here are some of the other problems that often arise:

• Workers insist that the company hire a weekend crew, so they can have every weekend off.
   
• Unions want to dictate terms of the change, or seek additional pay/benefit concessions.
   
• Employees threaten to organize if the company proceeds.
   
• Employees can’t agree on the “best” schedule, and spend valuable work time debating different possibilities.
   
• Maintenance and shipping are not well integrated into the new production schedule.
   
• Pay-related policies (vacations, holidays, and other paid time off) are not matched to the new schedule.
   
• Other groups / departments worry about when they will be “forced” to change, resulting in a productivity decline.
   
• Other issues arise that indefinitely delay implementation.

When an organization decides to adopt a 7-day schedule, the change process must be thoroughly planned and managed to have a successful outcome. Depending on the size of your group and your budget, here is what we recommend:

If your group is larger than 50 shift workers, we recommend on-site support from a consultant that specializes in this. They can help with: (1) a cost analysis to justify the change, (2) business analysis to determine the optimal coverage requirements, (3) employee surveys and education so that everyone is involved in the solution, (4) review of pay policies to make sure they match the new schedule, and (5) support with implementation of the new schedule. This is really the best way to ensure widespread support and buy-in to the schedule change. We don't offer this service ourselves, but we work closely with people that do. Call us today at (415) 717-3754, and we'll refer you to the person we think is best qualified to handle your situation.

If your group is smaller or you don't have the budget to hire a consultant, we recommend you follow the same steps that the consultants use. More>>