24/7

[Stat1c]

We have an operations team that is currently working 24/6 with four staff. This will need to be increased to 24/7 and we will of course need to increase the headcount. Can anyone tell me if they work 24/7 what shift patterns they are doing as at the moment, are's falls apart for staff sickness and holidays.

Get Fat Up!

 

[SimonDavies]

I have experienced in the past shift rota's of either 8 hours or 12 hour days, usually on a 4 or 6 day rotation of nights\days and off.

With 4 staff tho you really are asking for trouble, ideally you need at least 2 people on duty at all time (health and safety as well as the boredom factor) and you need cover for holidays and sickness (with such a small team you are probably experiencing more sickness than normal anyway).

Keeping the staff happy is likely to be a hard task, I do hope that you have break out areas, free drinks\food and a great staff retention plan.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[SQLSister]

My mom worked somewhere with 24/7 shifts. They worked two different ways: 1. Rotating shifts - 1 week days followed byu 1 week evenings followed by 1 week nights. This involved a 4 not three shifts to ensure that days off were covered.
permanent shifts (much better on employee health)
days, evening, nights, swing (they convered the scheduled off days for everyone else)
Holidays were paid (they got doubletime and half, check your local labor laws for the legal requirement) and the shift worked them.

The bottom line is you need a minimum of four shifts with a minimum of two people per shift or you need to have a specifc person assigned on call to handle days when someone is off.

"NOTHING is more important in a database than integrity." ESquared

 

[MDXer]

I was at a company that had 24/7 shifts, fortunately I was not in that group. There schedule was 4 8 hour shifts, but they staggered the shifts so by like 2 or 3 hours with no less than 2 people in at anytime. Because of the over lap at times there were as many as 3 people.

Paul
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Shoot Me! Shoot Me NOW!!!
- Daffy Duck

 

[CR85user]

With single staff cover your 4 staff could cover 24/7 by operating 12 hour shifts on a 4 on 4 off basis and you would need dedicated day / night staff.

To be honest I would echo all previous posts and strongly recommend at least 2 staff per shift. Taking your minimum requirements to 8 staff.

When you consider holidays / sick days then you need further staff to cover these periods.

It is essential that you read up on the legislation specific to your area to ensure duty of care to staff and also consult your staff on how they feel about the current shift arrangements and ask for their input on how they would prefer to see the structure implemented.

It can be interesting to see if they have any recommendations that might have a dramatic effect on your staff morale & retention.

'J

 

[orypecos]

There is a different group of people that like to work weekends and night. Most people hate it and will quit and go some place elsewhere if they are forced to work those hours. So usually that means hiring some night owls specifically for these shifts. Most of the love it and will scream if forced to work a normal shift. They also have more of a penchant for deviate behavior, but after working for over 15 years with them I haven't seen any problems so far. If U don't think that the night shift draws a different group, just call a call center at 1am that isn't staffed overseas. U can get some really strange people, but they are usually great employees.

 

[Dollie]

Hey now, we night owls forced into daytime hours aren't deviants! <grin> After years of banging on various types of machines I have found some of the best technical support works at night. They're bored, and if the phone rings they'll just about jump through hoops to help out.

With a 24/7 schedule, you may also find those who are looking for weekend or evening/night jobs to supplement their income. There are a lot of people doing that right now, and I'm pretty sure the market is going to see even more before our economy gets fixed. Many support centers also have remote employees working from home who have a VPN or some type of terminal into the office. This would be a major bonus for people working a second job.

I wish I could help with the scheduling, but I've only dealt with a 24/5 schedule with 3 rotating shifts, and it appears that there are some good suggestions above.