Hi all,

I've been tasked with carrying out some analysis on our current shift patterns for agents. The focus of this review is to be aimed at making shifts agent friendly, while maintaining some degree of fit-for-purpose.

As such, I was looking for some input as to what sort of set-up other companies use, and what level of satisfaction there is with this set-up exists within the agents (are they happy) and within planning (does it cover requirement well).

For example, do you use fixed shifts, rotational shifts, flexible shifts? Are days fixed/constrained? Are times fixed/constrained? Do you have a number of options for one group (eg Full-time day) of staff, or is there one option for all?

Do you assign shifts randomly, rotationally, based on preference, seniority, performance?

What notice period do staff get for shifts?

A lot of questions, however any input would be much appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Bob.

Simple answer, you need to balance business requirements with what your staff would like.

Very dependant on the background, if you have a well established workforce working fixed shifts and a union backing then it will be difficult to move towards a very flexible pattern without much disruption and potentially attrition. However, with staff churn you could adopt full flexibility within new workforce whilst implementing a lesser flexible approach to long term employees.

If you have a young company or one with a lot of temporary staff then a very flexible approach will be fairly straightforward to implement.

Issues over employing suitable staff can also affect shift patterns, if you can get evening workers without difficulty - students etc then you dont need as many staff working patterns that mix days and evenings, whereas if you dont have a demand in the marketplace for evening jobs you will need to get more of your day staff to adopt patterns with some element of evening/weekend working.

I have seen in the travel industry companies that adopt a rotation where 3 out of 4 weeks are fixed following a predictable pattern, but the 4 week is a wildcard where the staff can be asked to work a very different pattern to the norm. This makes best use of flexible patterns to workflow whilst guaranteeing the staff a healthly element of predictability to their shift pattern.

Ultimately the shift patterns you adopt are those that keep the company afloat and not what the staff want because most will opt for a start between 8 and 10 and a finish between 4 and 6 M-F. Look at the demographics of the people who work for you, consider what options would be acceptable and then draw up proposals around these and approach your staff. Identify Win-Win scenarios, if there is a benefit to the staff they are more likely to adopt.