Layer 3

 

Custom-Designed Employee Work Schedules

 

clock-circular-outline 8:00am - 5:00pm (Pacific Time Zone), Mon-Fri  

Shift schedule fairness

Sometimes, organizations give priority to their most senior employees when assigning shifts. They also give them priority when selecting which days to work each week. We call this a fixed-fixed shift schedule. Both the shifts and the days worked are fixed for each employee. Some groups may allow employees to bid for the shift and the days worked on a regular basis, e.g., once a year.

 

In effect, the organization is giving a double reward to their most senior employees. Junior employees may understand and accept the use of seniority when making shift assignments. But few will understand having to work a shift they don’t want plus having to work every weekend. That can be a heavy burden, and it certainly doesn’t promote good morale or teamwork.

 

Basing shift assignments on employee preferences and seniority are common. But they can result in crews with unbalanced skill levels. Most of the senior employees (who have the most experience) will end up on the day shift. The junior (and least experienced employees) will end up on the other shift(s). We recommend that shift selection be based on additional criteria (such as skill levels and performance reviews) to ensure more balanced crews.

 

Most of the schedules we design feature rotating days of work. The work pattern will follow a multi-week cycle. For example, in a 2-week cycle, employees might work Mon, Tue, and Fri the first week, and then Sat, Sun, Wed and Thu the second week. They get every other weekend off. Everyone working this schedule would share equally in the number of weekends off.