10 Hour Shift Suggestions

[JasonL]

Hi,
Figured this has been asked in the past, but could not find it in the archives.....
Our Dep. Chief has asked for suggestions for an alternate shift schedule. We currently work 8 hour-5 days on/2 off and shift one day forward every 4 weeks (Yes, it sucks. Very fun trying to schedule vacation 6 months in advance). The dept. has approx. 450 sworn with 5 pct.'s and no take-home cars for patrol.
The common suggestions are 12 hour (easiest to change to for manpower and vehicles) and 4 on/3 off 10 hour(Sun-Wed and Wed-Sat). Obviously, everyone works on Wed's.
Please send comments/suggestions on what shifts your dept. has or what you are familiar with.
Thanks,
Jason

[ 01-07-2003, 09:28 PM: Message edited by: JasonL ]

[Chippie Explorer]

I work the second suggested shift schedule in my dispatch center- 10hrs everyone works wednesday. At first it sounds real good- hey everyone gets atleast one weekend day off and it's pretty even. But in reality Thurs/Fri/Sat is so much better off it really doesnt work that way. Plus there are actually some people who want to work weekends and cant. The wednesday extra staffing was supposed to be used for training and meetings. However, people get the day off due to the extra staffing and the meetings are still held leaveing the center often understaffed on the wednesday . Inaddition we dont have enough terminals for everyone when there is good staffing.

My agency is probally going to dump that plan for a combination of 10's and 12's. The one they are talking over now is:: Monday-Thursday on 10's, with everyone working a 40 hour work week with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. The Friday-Sunday people would be on 12's and only have a 36 hour workweek (yet keeping the same pay as those working 40hrs). Pretty much everyone loves that plan.

[culbyak]

The schedule we are on is (2) 12-hour shifts, (2) days off. Every weekend is either (3) 12-hour shifts on, or (3) days off. This gives everyone a three day weekend, every other weekend. The only problem is the first week (Monday-Sunday) you work 60 hours and the second you work 24 hours.

But if you change the work week to Sunday-Saturday, you work 48 hours the first week and 36 hours the second week.

This would be a great schedule (4-hours overtime every two weeks), but then we screw it all up by adding a mandatory training day every other week (8-hours) and 1-hour brief and a short debrief.
Too bad we are on salary

[Blackrat]

I don't know whaat your staff levels are like but our division has about 160 officers and we work an extended hours pattern with five shifts, that has raised moral no end.
10 hour days with variable start times depending on duty committments (more officers start at 1700 on weekends etc)
8 hours nights.
6 days on with 4 days off each cycle.
its a bit difficult to explain here but if your interested let me know and I'll see if i can get a copy of the pattern on an excel spreadsheet which should make it simplier to understand.

[shooter1201]

We're a small department and went to 10-hour shifts last year.

0600-1600
1600-0200
2300-0600

I am a part-timer and never worked many 10-hour shifts. Recently, however, due to ONE officer quitting, we've gone back to 8-hour shifts. Everyone HATES it. They LOVED having 3 days off in a row.

[Pigskin]

Our guys really like the 12 hour shifts. They are set on the shift so they know who they are working with all the time & when. They work 3 days, off 3, work 4, off 4 with one day an 8 hour shift. They work either Sun., Mon., Tues. or Wed., Thurs., Fri. with each shift alternating working on Sat. as part of their 4 day week. A & B Shifts work 6AM-6PM & C & D Shifts work 6PM-6AM.

[PeteBroccolo]

My Unit works 10 hour shifts, in a 6 on/4 off, 5 on/4 off, 5 on/4 off pattern. However, there are only 3 of us here, and we do not provide 24/7/365 coverage, nor are we required to stand-by on-call after or before our shift nor on days off.

If anyone did want to see our schedule, they can eMail me at work (preferrably from their Department eMail), with their forum nickname, real name, rank, Department name, Department mailing address, Department phone and fax numbers. After I confirm the information I can fax them a copy of our schedule.

[IPDBrad]

We work 8.5 hrs 6 on-3 off. Makes for nice 3 days off, which are constantly rotating. It also makes for decent length days, so if you want to work PT you aren't killing yourself.
shifts are: 0530-1400
1330-2200
2130-0600

[Deputy Joe]

I work 4 on, 4 off... 12 hour shifts. Not a bad schedule.

I used to work 6 on, 3 off. That isn't a bad schedule.

I hated the 5 on, 2 off, 5 on, 3 off. That doesn't work so well for me.

[Sharky]

quote:

---

Originally posted by shooter1201:
We're a small department and went to 10-hour shifts last year.

0600-1600
1600-0200
2300-0600

---

OK, I'm not a mathemetician, but that dog watch is the ten-hour shift I'd bid...!

[Mackey]

We work 4 on 4 off, permanent shifts. However, the city says that doesn't equal enough hours in the year, so we have 164 hours of additional obligated time to make up (court, special assignment, overtime, etc).

Love the schedule, you have 4 days to work off-duty, make up your obligated time or just spend time with family.

[Bob A]

In our city, it's 5 on 2 off, 8 hr shifts, and each month alternates from day to evening shift, with midnights assigned all the time. It sucks when you have evenings, because you end up in court 2 days a week. Several of my friends also complain constantly about their day off being court days.

The SO I was PT for had 4 platoons. Each was in one phase of a 4 week cycle with 12 hour shifts

Week 1: M,T,W,Th 6PM-6AM, (off F,S,Su)
Week 2: M,T,W, 6AM-6PM (off Th) F,S,Su 6PM-6AM
Week 3: (off M,T,W) Th,F,S,Su 6AM-6PM
Week 4: Off all 7 days

If you were in courts, you worked M-F 7:30 until (which means they left at 3:30 most of the time

People in Legal Process were usually off by 3

[Padres19]

Our city works the 4/10 schedule, everyone works Wednesdays. Rotation is once a year. Everyone bids for one of the six shifts based on seniority and other qualifiers (breath test operators for example). Obviously the junior folks (and those more senior officers who crave the extra action of Fridays and Saturdays) get the Wed-Sat evening and night shift. Day shift with few exceptions is made up of 15+ year veterans.
The nice thing about the schedule is that every other Wednesday is "special assignment/training" so you either get your in-service required training, department training, or you get to "go upstairs" and assist with the investigations or traffic division. It also gives our SWAT guys a weekly training day. It takes a little more manpower than a 5/2 and your city needs two shifts worth of vehicles to cover the overlap.
In sum, the benefits are: ability to forecast vacation, dedicated training days, opportunities to see other divisions on a regular basis, shift overlap at peak call times and your vehicles sit out every other shift instead of being run 24/7.
Hope this helps.