Employee involvement in choosing a schedule leads to lower rates of absenteeism and turnover
Most large companies in Canada have at least some employees who work shifts. Over the last few decades many industries are relying more on shift work, either to make better use of capacity and meet demand, or to better serve the customer and improve revenue.
According to the Institute for Work and Health, a Toronto-based not-for-profit research group, around 30 per cent of working Canadians either work traditional shift work (17 per cent) or are on call (13 per cent). This amounts to just over four million workers.
The demands on the employee who works shifts can be high. There are greater health and accident risks associated with the disruption to sleep, and these vary greatly according to the type of schedule being used. But how does a company determine which schedule is the best? Are eight-hour shifts more suitable than 12?
The answer to this question is complex. It depends on the operational needs of the facility, the demographics of the staff, the needs and wishes of employees and the nature of the work. For example, a retail store’s schedule is usually driven by demand, with employees working short shifts that vary throughout the week, whereas a steel mill may run the same schedule every day of the week throughout the year.
There are many possible schedules out there, each with pros and cons. There are just as many myths around shift-scheduling. Here’s one myth to clear up straight away: there’s no one “ideal” schedule for every industry.
Apart from operational differences, not everyone wants the same out of work schedules. The nature of the job may be such that 12-hour shifts are just too much in certain types of work. Equally, employees may want every Sunday off to attend a religious service. This is an important point to understand. While there are many shift schedules that can be used to fit a facility’s operational needs, the “ideal” one is the one that matches both the operational requirements and the preferences of most employees.
Eight hours or 12?
So how does an employer choose a schedule? First, consider the main differences between an eight-hour shift and a 12-hour shift. Although the latter is four hours longer, the upside is that fewer days are worked per week and per year. That means more days off, fewer commutes, saving time, gas money and wear and tear on a vehicle. But, with only 12 hours off between working days, there’s little time to do anything beyond commuting, eating and sleeping.
For the difference between a typical eight-hour and a 12-hour schedule, see Tables 1 and 2 (these are just examples — there are many different eight and 12-hour schedules). As with most examples discussed in this article, these pertain to four-crew shift systems, where four groups of employees are scheduled to provide 24/7 coverage.
In the typical eight-hour rotating schedule known as the Northern Swing (Table 1), a worker works seven days straight, gets 48 hours off (starting at 3 p.m. Sunday and ending 3 p.m. Tuesday). He then works seven evenings and gets 72 hours off. Then he works seven nights and gets 96 hours off. On average, over four weeks, the employee works 42 hours per week. This assumes that payroll starts on Saturday.
With a typical 12-hour rotating schedule called the EOWEO, which stands for “every other weekend off” (Table 2), a person works two day shifts and gets 72 hours off (off at 7 p.m. Tuesday, returning at 7 p.m. Friday). Then he works three nights and gets 48 hours off. The next week he works two days followed by 96 hours off, and so on. On average, that person works 42 hours per week, with payroll starting on Saturday.
There are more days off in the 12-hour schedule, though both schedules require the same number of hours worked per week. But here’s another important myth to bust. It’s sometimes assumed that if a company switches to 12-hour shifts, it can somehow get by with fewer employees. That’s absolutely not true. The same number of hours requires the same number of employees.
Perhaps the easiest way to see the difference between a four-crew eight-hour schedule and a four-crew 12-hour schedule is in the summary table, Table 3. This shows the benefits of a 12-hour schedule, with the downside that the days worked are longer and harder, and employees achieve less outside of work on work days. However, here’s another myth to bust: 12-hour shifts are more dangerous than eight-hour shifts. In fact, scientific research has failed to find any major safety differences between companies that operate properly staffed eight-hour or 12-hour shifts. This is because although employees work fewer hours in an eight-hour shift, they also have fewer days off to get good sleep and recovery. If everyone’s working huge amounts of overtime, health and safety risks are higher, regardless of whether people work eight-hour shifts or 12-hour shifts.
Combination schedule
Perhaps the next most popular schedule is a combination schedule. This is a compromise where employees work some eight-hour shifts (usually during the Monday-to-Friday period), and some 12-hour shifts (usually on the weekend). This gives workers more weekend days off, but they’re not always working the longer shift length.
By far the best way to select a schedule is to allow employees to choose a schedule that also meets the operational requirements. These could be the number of operating hours per week, staffing levels by hour/day/month, training and relief coverage, or payroll needs. Once these are set there are still many schedules that can be selected, including eight-hour or 12-hour shifts with long breaks, or schedules where employees get every other weekend off. The advantages of allowing employees to choose: lower rates of absenteeism and turnover.
Rotating or fixed?
Approximately half of shift workers work rotating shifts, cycling through day, then evening, then night schedules. When facilities switch from an eight-hour schedule to a 12-hour schedule, they usually keep rotating shifts if these are already in place, and vice-versa. Is there any advantage to one type over the other? It’s down to personal preference. People on fixed shifts may become a little more used to working just at night, but equally they never get the extra chance to sleep better while on a day shift.
One factor to consider is that when someone is working fixed night shifts, there’s a good chance that person switches back to a day schedule for days off anyway, which is almost like working a rotating schedule. People on rotating schedules have to constantly alter their body clocks, but perhaps they do get a better chance to rest when on day shift. A good compromise is to have slow rotations, where you switch between shifts only every two weeks or so.
Finally there’s the question of start times. Ideally, when to start a shift is driven by a compromise between the night and day shifts. When you’re on the night shift it’s best to get home before or soon after the sun rises, because this maximizes your chance of getting some good sleep that morning. However, it’s not advisable to have the day shift starting too early. If employees start at 5 a.m., they’ll probably have to get out of bed at 3:30 a.m. This means they’ll be getting less sleep than they need, resulting in their suffering from greater fatigue than those on the night shift. Facilities often start day shifts around 7 a.m. for these reasons.
Alex Kerin is senior consultant at Circadian Technologies, a U.S. research and consultancy firm specializing in shift work. He can be reached at (800) 284-5001 or at www.circadian.com.
Average hours worked: 56
Average hours in pay week: 42
*Pay week begins on Saturday
Average hours worked: 42
Average hours in pay week: 42
*Pay week begins on Saturday
According to the Institute for Work and Health, a Toronto-based not-for-profit research group, around 30 per cent of working Canadians either work traditional shift work (17 per cent) or are on call (13 per cent). This amounts to just over four million workers.
The demands on the employee who works shifts can be high. There are greater health and accident risks associated with the disruption to sleep, and these vary greatly according to the type of schedule being used. But how does a company determine which schedule is the best? Are eight-hour shifts more suitable than 12?
The answer to this question is complex. It depends on the operational needs of the facility, the demographics of the staff, the needs and wishes of employees and the nature of the work. For example, a retail store’s schedule is usually driven by demand, with employees working short shifts that vary throughout the week, whereas a steel mill may run the same schedule every day of the week throughout the year.
There are many possible schedules out there, each with pros and cons. There are just as many myths around shift-scheduling. Here’s one myth to clear up straight away: there’s no one “ideal” schedule for every industry.
Apart from operational differences, not everyone wants the same out of work schedules. The nature of the job may be such that 12-hour shifts are just too much in certain types of work. Equally, employees may want every Sunday off to attend a religious service. This is an important point to understand. While there are many shift schedules that can be used to fit a facility’s operational needs, the “ideal” one is the one that matches both the operational requirements and the preferences of most employees.
Eight hours or 12?
So how does an employer choose a schedule? First, consider the main differences between an eight-hour shift and a 12-hour shift. Although the latter is four hours longer, the upside is that fewer days are worked per week and per year. That means more days off, fewer commutes, saving time, gas money and wear and tear on a vehicle. But, with only 12 hours off between working days, there’s little time to do anything beyond commuting, eating and sleeping.
For the difference between a typical eight-hour and a 12-hour schedule, see Tables 1 and 2 (these are just examples — there are many different eight and 12-hour schedules). As with most examples discussed in this article, these pertain to four-crew shift systems, where four groups of employees are scheduled to provide 24/7 coverage.
In the typical eight-hour rotating schedule known as the Northern Swing (Table 1), a worker works seven days straight, gets 48 hours off (starting at 3 p.m. Sunday and ending 3 p.m. Tuesday). He then works seven evenings and gets 72 hours off. Then he works seven nights and gets 96 hours off. On average, over four weeks, the employee works 42 hours per week. This assumes that payroll starts on Saturday.
With a typical 12-hour rotating schedule called the EOWEO, which stands for “every other weekend off” (Table 2), a person works two day shifts and gets 72 hours off (off at 7 p.m. Tuesday, returning at 7 p.m. Friday). Then he works three nights and gets 48 hours off. The next week he works two days followed by 96 hours off, and so on. On average, that person works 42 hours per week, with payroll starting on Saturday.
There are more days off in the 12-hour schedule, though both schedules require the same number of hours worked per week. But here’s another important myth to bust. It’s sometimes assumed that if a company switches to 12-hour shifts, it can somehow get by with fewer employees. That’s absolutely not true. The same number of hours requires the same number of employees.
Perhaps the easiest way to see the difference between a four-crew eight-hour schedule and a four-crew 12-hour schedule is in the summary table, Table 3. This shows the benefits of a 12-hour schedule, with the downside that the days worked are longer and harder, and employees achieve less outside of work on work days. However, here’s another myth to bust: 12-hour shifts are more dangerous than eight-hour shifts. In fact, scientific research has failed to find any major safety differences between companies that operate properly staffed eight-hour or 12-hour shifts. This is because although employees work fewer hours in an eight-hour shift, they also have fewer days off to get good sleep and recovery. If everyone’s working huge amounts of overtime, health and safety risks are higher, regardless of whether people work eight-hour shifts or 12-hour shifts.
Combination schedule
Perhaps the next most popular schedule is a combination schedule. This is a compromise where employees work some eight-hour shifts (usually during the Monday-to-Friday period), and some 12-hour shifts (usually on the weekend). This gives workers more weekend days off, but they’re not always working the longer shift length.
By far the best way to select a schedule is to allow employees to choose a schedule that also meets the operational requirements. These could be the number of operating hours per week, staffing levels by hour/day/month, training and relief coverage, or payroll needs. Once these are set there are still many schedules that can be selected, including eight-hour or 12-hour shifts with long breaks, or schedules where employees get every other weekend off. The advantages of allowing employees to choose: lower rates of absenteeism and turnover.
Rotating or fixed?
Approximately half of shift workers work rotating shifts, cycling through day, then evening, then night schedules. When facilities switch from an eight-hour schedule to a 12-hour schedule, they usually keep rotating shifts if these are already in place, and vice-versa. Is there any advantage to one type over the other? It’s down to personal preference. People on fixed shifts may become a little more used to working just at night, but equally they never get the extra chance to sleep better while on a day shift.
One factor to consider is that when someone is working fixed night shifts, there’s a good chance that person switches back to a day schedule for days off anyway, which is almost like working a rotating schedule. People on rotating schedules have to constantly alter their body clocks, but perhaps they do get a better chance to rest when on day shift. A good compromise is to have slow rotations, where you switch between shifts only every two weeks or so.
Finally there’s the question of start times. Ideally, when to start a shift is driven by a compromise between the night and day shifts. When you’re on the night shift it’s best to get home before or soon after the sun rises, because this maximizes your chance of getting some good sleep that morning. However, it’s not advisable to have the day shift starting too early. If employees start at 5 a.m., they’ll probably have to get out of bed at 3:30 a.m. This means they’ll be getting less sleep than they need, resulting in their suffering from greater fatigue than those on the night shift. Facilities often start day shifts around 7 a.m. for these reasons.
Alex Kerin is senior consultant at Circadian Technologies, a U.S. research and consultancy firm specializing in shift work. He can be reached at (800) 284-5001 or at www.circadian.com.
| Table 1: Northern swing eight-hour schedule | |||||||||
| 1 | days | days | days | days | days | days | days | 56 | 40 |
| 2 | off | evening | evening | evening | evening | evening | evening | 48 | 48 |
| 3 | evening | off | off | nights | nights | nights | nights | 40 | 40 |
| 4 | nights | nights | nights | off | off | off | off | 24 | 40 |
Average hours worked: 56
Average hours in pay week: 42
*Pay week begins on Saturday
| Table 2: Typical EOWEO 12-hour schedule | Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Actual hours worked | Hours in pay week* |
| 1 | days | days | off | off | nights | nights | nights | 60 | 48 |
| 2 | off | off | days | days | off | off | off | 24 | 36 |
| 3 | nights | nights | off | off | days | days | days | 60 | 48 |
| 4 | off | off | nights | nights | off | off | off | 24 | 36 |
Average hours worked: 42
Average hours in pay week: 42
*Pay week begins on Saturday
| Table 3: Eight-hour versus 12-hour shifts | Schedule feature (per year) | Four-crew continuous: eight-hour | |
| Days worked | 273 | 182 | 91 |
| Days off | 91 | 182 | 91 |
| Hours worked | 2,184 | 2,184 | 0 |
| Full (two-day) weekends off | 13 | 26 | 13 |
| Long weekends (three or more days) off | 13 | 26 | 13 |
