Career Path > NRC
Rotating Shift Work
hamsamich:
According to evidence derived from many studies, rotating shift work ain't good for you (lower life expetancy, lower quality of life). What do you think? I don't like it, but would work it if I had to or if the pay was insanely high. Some people like it because of the extended packets of time off built in to the schedule (like a 7 off).
Rad Sponge:
7/0ff 0/0n start there and negotiate.
SloGlo:
strait shifts. usta be i'd take da knight shifts fer da differential pay. butt twoday i'd rather have da evenings phree.
HydroDave63:
--- Quote from: hamsamich on Aug 02, 2007, 12:54 ---According to evidence derived from many studies, rotating shift work ain't good for you (lower life expetancy, lower quality of life). What do you think? I don't like it, but would work it if I had to or if the pay was insanely high. Some people like it because of the extended packets of time off built in to the schedule (like a 7 off).
--- End quote ---
We had this very debate here recently, and schedule votes dragged on for months. Some items to consider are:
1. No matter how cool the schedule looks on paper, if you are short on staff, and the Great Machine runs 24/7, you WILL have OT on your days off, so you'll just have the unwelcome sleep pattern change with short to no warning.
2. Just because all crews have to work nights and days, there is no 11th Commandment that you MUST go from days to nights to days to nights. As long as nights and days all get covered equally, one can have X night shifts, time off , X night shifts, time off , Z days, etc. I found it amazing that at one of my sites, it was Security that was able to wrap their minds around this concept, but sadly Ops could not.
3. It also depends on the needs of the crew. Some workers with young kids like the ability to minimize vacation hours expended for the big 3 week excursion to VacationLand. Some workers find anything more than 3 days off is an invitation for the spouse to nag them into household chores, stupid quarrels,yard work etc. Like why didnt she mow the yard while I was on nights?!? But I digress...
4. When negotiating/strongarming schedules, it is best to have current homework available. If you think you can sell the Circadian Rhythm concept of minimzing sleep disruptions, reduced insulin swings and digestive problems to a crew of workers washing down half a cold pizza with a box of Red Bull, good luck! Most workers are thinking of the big hollow plastic carrot of days off, not the Louisville Slugger stick of extended shifts on, and a 24 hour swap to days...
Already Gone:
--- Quote from: hamsamich on Aug 02, 2007, 12:54 ---According to evidence derived from many studies, rotating shift work ain't good for you (lower life expetancy, lower quality of life). What do you think? I don't like it, but would work it if I had to or if the pay was insanely high. Some people like it because of the extended packets of time off built in to the schedule (like a 7 off).
--- End quote ---
I remember my next-door neighbor being elated that he was going onto a rotating shift at Kodak. I held my tongue about the fact that all those "extended periods of time off" were a lot less exciting than having actual weekends off.
In all the years I rotated as a house tech., I had far more Wednesdays off than any other day. Well, actually my wife and I had a standing agreement that she could schedule things for me; like dentist appointments, parent-teacher meetings, ... etc. All she had to do was start at Wednesday between 8 a.m. and noon and I would be available almost every time. I was either on a night shift (11pm - 7am), an afternoon shift (3 - 11pm), or I had the day off. Only one Wednesday in five was I actually working during those hours.
Now, when your boss tells you about all those "7 off's", ask him if you can get them starting Friday at 3pm and ending the next Saturday at 7am. The answer will be "no". The best case will be if the weekend is in the middle of the 7-off, but you ain't getting that either. Rotating shifts are based on the premise that you only get one weekend off out of every four - and not all of that one either. One week you'll work Saturday, another week it is Sunday, and yet another week you will work both. On the week that you get Saturday and Sunday off, you will probably have to work Friday or afternoon or Sunday night shift (which will look like a Monday shift on the schedule, but will ruin your Sunday anyway). Seven off, or four off, or whatever, are all inflated numbers. While the normal weekend gives a person 64 hours away from the job, the shift worker's weekend in no more than 48 or 56 hours at the most.
You can get more continuous hours off for weekends if you work 12-hour shifts. Those people who swear that longer shifts are less productive and more likely to cause accidents or injury are all for 12's if they are paying straight-time for them. Apparently, it is not the extended hours, or even ten-day stretches without a day off, that cause these problems. It seems that it is the overtime premium pay which is the root cause of people turning the wrong valve or breaking their fingers. Try this: the next time extended work hours come up as a topic of discussion, notice how management shuts up about productivity, or injuries, or the NRC rules if you offer to work Sundays or 12's for straight time.
The afternoon shift means that you will see your kids for a minute before they go to school. You'll be gone to work when they come home, and they'll be in bed when you get home.
If you need a weekend day for a special event - it's going to cost you a vacation day. The boss will never let you swap a shift if it results in the other guy getting OT on your straight-time Sunday. So, you'll burn a V-day and the other guy will get doubletime anyway. Do this enough times and the boss will no longer approve vacation days on weekends. So, you'll have to use sick days to go to your cousin's wedding or your family reunion. So much for using those days off to save up vacation. When you take your real vacation - if you try taking that 3-week excursion to VacationLand - you had better hope that the boss was kind enough to schedule you for that 7 off at the right time. If you are not the first person to put in your vacation request, you could be stuck taking your two weeks vacation, combined with your 7 off, in November. The value of these long periods between shifts is greatly diminished by the fact that your kids will be in school for most of the days that you are getting in exchange for your weekend days.
The world does not accomodate the shift worker by having things like weddings, school events, football games, soccer games, Little League games, dance recitals, band concerts, picnics or poker runs on Wednesday morning. You can get in some golf if you are willing to plod along behind the retired folks who are in no hurry at all. You can get your banking done - if you are the last person on earth who actually needs to go to the bank during business hours for that - but again, you'll have to wait in line behind all the retired people who are not pressed for time in the least. You can mow your lawn in the high-noon sun instead of the cooler air of the evening.
You can get in line at the pharmacy - again joining a queue of retired folks - to get your Prozac filled. But, you should opt for Paxil instead so you can keep your security clearance. You are going to need it. And when you are at the end of your options, can't sleep anymore when you are supposed to sleep, and can't stay awake at work, don't try to get any help from the company who put you on the shift schedule that caused it. They, who work 7am - 3:30pm M-F, will not listen to you telling them that it is the job that is causing it. They, who haven't missed a family function, Sunday church services, or an NFL game in 25 years will not be affected in the slightest by the family pessure that is piling on top of the insomnia, weight-gain, ulcers, and anxiety.
If, and only if, you have no children, no wife, and no outside interests, rotating shifts might be for you - as long as your brain and stomach can handle it.
The only exception I know of is for firefighters. The ones I know work a schedule of four ten-hour days, and three 14-hour nights with short turn -around long gaps between. The key to this is that they "unoficially" come in two hours early on nights so the day shift can leave after eight, and they can sleep on night shifts unless they have an alarm.
The neighbor lasted about three months. He was on disability leave and they finally gave him back his regular hours. He was lucky.
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