1) Shift schedules need to be tailored to the specific needs and processes of each company or plant, not assumed to work the same as elsewhere. 2) While finding a schedule that provides coverage is not difficult, identifying the optimal schedule requires studying a company's unique needs. 3) Schedules should not dictate operations - they are a tool, so different areas may require different scheduling if needed to match production needs.

1. Myth #1: Shiftworkers do not like schedules
that cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Most of us would be happy to stay home and have a check mailed
to us. Compared to that situation, very few scheduling scenarios
would appear attractive.
However, if you must work and your company must cover 24/7, is
that the end of the world for the employees?
Let’s look at a few numbers first.
If you are working 8-hour shifts, five days a week, you will work 260
days a year and receive 40 hours of pay per week.
If you are working one of the more popular 24/7 schedules, you
will work 182 days a year and get 44 hours of pay per week.
Try asking one of your employees if they would like an additional
17 weeks off every year and a 10% pay raise.
Granted, 24/7 schedules mean that you will have to work half of
your weekends. However, those weekends you actually get off will
be off much more predictable.
Enhanced vacation time, fewer commutes, more day shift positions
and more overall sleep are just some of the benefits shiftworkers
on a 24/7 schedule will tell you about.
Shiftwork Solutions LLC <> (415) 763-5005 <> Shift-work.com

2. Myth #2: Using a weekend crew to cover
your weekends is a good idea.
What might seem like a good idea today, may turn into a nightmare
tomorrow.
A weekend crew is like this.
At first, a company wants to cover the weekend work and the
workforce wants their weekends off. A weekend crew will seem
like just what the doctor ordered. New crews will be hired just to
work on the weekends. The work gets done and everyone is
happy.
Then reality sets in. The weekend crew will underperform. They
will have attendance issues, quality issues and overall production
will fall by about 40%. As soon as they are able, the newly hired
weekend people will bid into weekday jobs, thus ensuring the self-
perpetuating low performance on the weekends where newly
vacated position is filled by another new hire.
Companies try to make the weekends more attractive but find that
the amount of financial incentives required to attract skilled
employees will make balloon the weekend labor costs.
Finally, companies tire of the low performance and high costs.
When they try to get rid of this “broken” schedule, the workforce
will rebel. They find that fixing this is way harder than it would
have been to implement the right schedule from the start.
Shiftwork Solutions LLC <> (415) 763-5005 <> Shift-work.com

3. Myth #3: People are less alert and therefore
less safe and productive on 12-hour shifts.
Lack of sleep equals a lack of alertness. It’s really that simple.
Yes, there are other factors such as shift rotation and time of day
but all other things being equal, the more sleep you get – the more
alert you will be.
So it comes down to who is getting more sleep; a person on an 8-
hour schedule or a person on a 12-hour schedule.
Research has shown that a person working 8-hour shifts will sleep
an average of 6.5 hours during the night before a workday. If they
don’t have to get up for work, then they will sleep 7.5 hours at
night.
On a 12-hour schedule, a person will sleep less on the night before
a workday (6.3 hours compared to 6.5 hours for an 8-hour person).
The 12-hour person will sleep 7.5 hours on the night before a day
off.
So we can see that 8-hour people get more sleep before a workday
than a 12-hour person (about 12 minutes).
However, 12-hour people have twice as many days off as 8-hour
people. This means they have twice as many night when they get
7.5 hours of sleep. Because of this additional sleep, a 12-hour
person will average 6.9 hours of sleep per night compared to only
6.8 hours per night for the 8-hour person.
Shiftwork Solutions LLC <> (415) 763-5005 <> Shift-work.com

4. Myth #4: The policies you had for your 5-day
schedule will also work for your 7-day schedule
Let’s take a look at just three policies and see how they will be
impacted by going to a 7-day schedule.
Vacations: Since most 7-day schedules use 12-hour shifts, you will
have to change from weekly vacation to hourly vacation. For
example, someone that has three weeks of vacation on a Monday –
Friday schedule will have 120 hours of vacation on a 12-hour
schedule. Failure to do this will result in people getting more total
time off but not being paid for it. A typical mistake is to continue
giving the same number of days but only paying for 8-hours of each
day missed. This means people actually take a pay cut when the go
on vacation while the company incurs an additional overtime
liability due to the extra unpaid time off. This is a lose-lose
situation.
Holidays: What day will you recognize a holiday that occurs on a
Saturday that you once recognized on a Friday? How much holiday
pay will you give to people if they were scheduled to work but
don’t because you shut down on a day they were scheduled to
work?
Shift Differential: If you pay a shift differential for 8-hour afternoon
and night shifts, what will you pay for a 12-hour day and night
shift?
Prior to changing schedules, make sure you have thoroughly
reviewed all of your policies. It is much more difficult to fix an
Shiftwork Solutions LLC <> (415) 763-5005 <> error is in favor
overlooked policy after the fact, especially if the Shift-work.com of

5. Myth #5: When it comes to schedules, one size
fits all.
Companies typically make two mistakes when selecting a schedule
for their site.
The first mistake is to assume that a schedule working somewhere
else in town will work just as well at their site.
The second is the assumption that all areas of a plant should be on
the same schedule.
The first mistake comes from the assumption that “all schedules
are the same” when in fact, they are not. They provide different
hours of coverage; different levels of exposure to different shifts;
require different levels of cross training; have different cost
structures and have different impact on processes in general.
While its not difficult to find a schedule that works, it takes an
effort and some study to clarify your needs and find the one that
works BEST for your site.
The second mistake comes from letting the tail wage the dog.
Companies should never take the stance of “We do it this way
because that is what our schedule tells us to do.”
A schedule is just a tool. It works for you. If some areas need 5-
day coverage or two-shift coverage, then that is what you should
use. Trying to make everything work under a single shiftwork
structure will cause over/under production, high WIP and costly
buildup of inventories. <> (415) 763-5005 <> Shift-work.com
Shiftwork Solutions LLC