OT...7 day 8 hour work schedule suggestions needed

[ToddM 0]

Hi folks...Due to some unexpected resignments and retirements we are now short handed , which has left me {the newest guy in the shop} alone on 3rd shift. Well not really alone they have people coming in early or staying over to help me. The other new guy has been here about 10 weeks longer than me and next week he is coming back to 3rd. But now to my question...we are now working 7 days a week which means one or both of is going to have to be here all the time. they will let just one of us carry the load on the week ends because they are not running wide open.I am trying to figure out some way we can rotate 7 days between the two of us so we both don't get worn out. I thought about if one of us came in in sunday and worked till trusday and the other came in on tuesday and worked till saturday but we ran into the fact that sunday is a double time day and saturday is a time and a half day. Does any know of or worked a schedule that would allow you to maybe swing the weekend so as to be fair to both people. I don't really know if they would try it but it wouldn't hurt to ask. Thanks for any and all input. Later....Todd

[leonuce 0]

How long is the shift, 8, 10, 12, 16 hours.? It is really tough make and schedule for two people seven day a week.

[Nathan 7]

I can tell you how, on a ship, the Navy schedules it to not make the schedule worse on any one person by equitably screwing all parties... Seriously, what are your shop hours (weekday and weekend)? It sounds like you really won't be able to avoid getting burnt with that situation. I'll try to suggest ideas that might minimize the effect. Bring a cot and seek reinforcement. Or brew strong coffee...sounds like a real relationship killer. Your employer can't seriously worry too much about OT if they expect the two of you to man the shop 7 days a week. Plus your value to them as an employee depends largely on how much you cost to replace.

[ToddM 0]

8 hour shifts from 11:00 pm to 7:00am. later...Todd

[Ken Moore 23]

So.... is your goal for each of you to only work 5 days per week, but still cover weekends? An unpleasant but workable solution would be to just take turns working the weekends, It would mean a 12 on 2 off schedule, not fun. Most "standard" schdedules would have only one of you there at any one time, but have 7 day coverage, what you're trying to do, will be tough to get right. One solution: You work Mon-Thurs, then you take Friday and Saturday off, work Sunday. The other guy works Mon-Wed, takes Thursday off, works Friday and Saturday, Sunday off. Next week: You work Mon-Wed (you worked the previous Sunday, so will be 4 days in a row) Take Thursday off, work Fri & Sat, off Sunday. Other guy works Mon-Thursday, Friday and Sat. off, work Sunday.. and so on.

[Nathan 7]

What are your busy days and what are your slow days? The absolute minimal total coverage would be always being one deep - that puts you both at 70% of a normal work week. You could scale this up with double coverage as necessary. With the worst case scenario being what Ken described with you both working all 5 days, then one of you covering weekend days.

[Clay B. 1]

We use the 12/2 shift here. It gives you every other weekend off. Both guys work thru the week. Several of the guys here have been on that shift for years. Not sure how your pay period works but with a 12/2 shift you really only work 6 days a pay period. There are all kinds of flavors of shift splitting. but if you have only 2 guys and your looking for 7 day coverage one or both will have to work some overtime.

[BudMan 1]

Sorry, I can not help out with the shift swing. I work for a OEM that has only one shift but, I have worked in all kinds of plants with all kinds of different shift schedules. While working in these plants it seems the third shift ALLWAYS get the s**T (worst) jobs (work) and gets the blame for all the trouble. Good luck on third shift. Bud

[Nathan 7]

Lol - that sucks. Hard to have the 3rd swing shift problem when 2 guys are working the same hours every day.

[IO_Rack 181]

As mentioned by Clay, the 12 hour shift will probably be the most efficient and favorable but with a little overtime. Here at our plant we have tried many 24/7 operations and we've resorted to the 12 hours several times through the years. Mon: A Tue: B Wed: B Thr: A Fri: A Sat: B Sun: B Mon: B Tue: A Wed: A Thr: B Fri: B Sat: A Sun: A This equates to 4 Hours overtime per 2 weeks. Edited 4 Dec 2007 by IO_Rack

[Clay B. 1]

Actually what I was refering to in a 12/2 shift is 12 days on 2 days off. We have guys in our maintenance department that work this shift. Basically they work 12 days in a row then get a weekend off. This gives the plant weekend coverage with one person then full staf thru the week. What it means for the guy working the shift is 48 hours a week on an 8 hour shift. Personally I find it to be exhausting. When you finnaly do get your weekend off all you want to do is rest. But if the alternate was no days off I think I would take the 12/2.

[OkiePC 14]

I have worked a lot of different shift schedules, nights, days, rotating 8 hour, and rotating 12 hour. My previous company paid several hundred thou$and for consultants to present us with good viable schedules (a large tire factory of about 2100 mostly hourly employees). The 12 hour rotating shift we chose was awesome, but the frequency of flipping back and forth from days to nights was difficult. We worked 4 days, Mon-Thur, then off a week, start nights on Friday, 7pm to 7am Through Tuesday morning. Off til Friday, then work 3-12 hour days that weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun). Then flip back to nights Tuesday evening for 3 consecutive nights. Off Friday morning at 7 am, weekend off, and then repeat. Some general things I remember about the schedules prepared by the experts in the field: Most were based on a 28 day cycle. The twelve hour schedules were designed to maximum the number of consecutive days off. Our plant actually modified the payroll end time and day to occur at 11 am on Monday. This was done to spread the OT out to two paychecks, which made for a more stable paycheck, since we chose a 4 shift 12 hour rotating shift schedule 7-7, days and nights, with an 8 day break every month built in. We had and average of 42.5 hours a week, so we all got a little overtime pay out of the deal. For your situation, you are talking about 8 hour straight nights... If it were me, I would go 4 on 4 off, 3 on 3 off, repeat, and have your buddy do the complimentary shifts. Now both of you would need to work some of your off nights (with each other) as necessary until reinforcements arrive. That will work out to a repeating pattern every 14 (and therefore 28) days. EDIT: Oops, that won't work for eight hour shift.... If you need two people every single night, then eventually, you will need four guys to cover the whole workweek, but depending on your company, it may be better to go with three and allow some overtime. Your are trying to cover 1/3rd of a 168 hour week, which is 56 hours a week. So, i you split that, its 28 hours. you need to throw on another 12 each to hit 40. Maybe you overlap (come in early, stay late) as necessay, and do one extra shift per pay week, or you work all twelve on a day off. Coleman and Associates gave us all sorts of medical, psychological and environmental facts to back that magic number of 28 days. It was about 12 years ago, so I don't remember much more. Paul Edited 8 Dec 2007 by OkiePC

[PLC GURU 0]

Do your Sunday to Thursday and Tuesday to Saturday and just switch every month. one month you'l work all of the sundays and next month you'll work all of the saturdays. at the crossover weekend one guy gets only a 1 day weeekend the other guy gets a 4 day weekend.

[BobLfoot 302]

In purusing this I did not see this so I'll suggest it. Assuming as the "juniors" you have any say and assuming that the 2 guys on 2nd and the 2 guys on first are also having to work 7 a week the following might help you all. A1 & A2 - First Shift Guys B1 & B2 - Second Shift Guys C1 & C2 - Third Shift guys. A1 - Every other Sunday and Monday thru Wednesday 7 am to 7 pm A2 -Alternate Every other Sunday from A1 and Thursday thru Saturday 7 am to 7 pm B1 - Every other Sunday and Monday thru Wednesday 1 pm to 1 am B2 -Alternate Every other Sunday from B1 and Thursday thru Saturday 1 pm to 1 am C1 - Every other Sunday and Monday thru Wednesday 7 pm to 7 am C2 -Alternate Every other Sunday from C1 and Thursday thru Saturday 7 pm to 7 am Everybody works 48 one week and 36 the next. Every body gets either a 3 day or 4 day weekend. When I worked this we got 1.5 OT after 40 and on first OT day. All other OT days were 2x.