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Shift/Shedule Work

By Allyson Gentry posted 08-16-2010 04:01

  
Hello!

I am a Dispatcher in St. Paul, MN.  Our agency, a few years ago consolidated three agencies into one. Our center is large with a two stage dispatch system. We have 53 call takers, 18 Fire Dispatchers and 15 Police Dispatchers (city cvrg), and 18 Dispatchers (county cvrg).

Our agency has tried two different schedules so far, a 4/2 modified schedule that consisted of 4 weeks of 8 hr days where you worked 4 days on and 2 days off. When you got to the 5th and 6th week you would work 4 days on of 10hr days and still only 2 days off. Then the rotation would continue again.

Now we are currently on a 4/40 schedule where we work straight 10 hr days. The rotation goes as such: 3 weeks of 5 days on and 3 days off; 1 week of 5 days on and 4 days off; 2 weeks of 4 days on and 4 days off. Then the rotation would continue again.

At this time we are considering yet another schedule change. The 10 hr days have not provided enough coverage for our center during our busiest times. We have tossed around different schedules such as: another modified 10 hr day,  12 hr days, a mix of 12's and 8's, or just going back to 8's (which would be a hard sell to a lot of employees here since moving to a 10 hr day.)

I am very intrested in knowing what kind of schedules have been successful for larger agencies? And what that roation/schedule looks like?

How employees that are working 12 hr days currently enjoy working such a long shift?

If you work 12 hr days, how does your agency handle sick calls?

Any information/thoughts/comments would be great!!!

Thanks for your time!
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Comments

Christina Dravis
08-20-2010 09:43

My fire dispatch center has 22 dispatchers and 4 supervisors. We have 2 day squads and 2 night squads that work 12-hour shifts. The day shifts (0600-1800) consist of 6 dispatchers + supervisor, and the night shifts (1800-0600) consist of 5 dispatchers + supervisor. The first day and night sqauds work Sun-Tues and every other Wednesday, and the other day and night squads work Thu-Sat and every other Wednesday. Basically, each person works 3 days one week and 4 days the next. Employees like the schedule because it allows them to potentially have a 4-day weekend every other week.
If somone from night shift calls in sick and there are no volunteers, 2 employees from day shift must share the shift. One employee holds over, working 0600-0000, while the other employee must work 0000-1800. No employee may work more than 18 hours in a row, and there must be an 8-hour turnaround in between shifts (requiring the employee to either go home 2 hours early or come in 2 hours late the following day).
When we've been up to full staff, we've made one person on each day shift a "relief" shift working 1200-2400. If possible, their shift can be flexed to cover the sick leave.

Anna Pendergrass
08-18-2010 18:37

We utilize a 4 10.25 schedule. Employees report 15 minutes prior to the time they are schedule on the floor and have a 15 minute briefing period. The shifts start every two hours 0500-1500, 0700-1700, 0900-1900, etc. This allows me to maximize the shift coverage during the busiest hours of the day. It also requires that I only have to manadatory people 2 hours to hold over or come in early if someone calls out sick. We rarely have to work anyone over 12 hrs. This schedule works very well for us and the employees love it.