How does rotating shifts work

The Southern swing schedule uses three eight-hour shifts rotating on a day cycle. Companies use four teams that work each shift throughout the month according to the following schedule:. A benefit to the Southern swing schedule is that employees work eight-hour shifts compared to or hour shifts.

However, some people may need time to adjust to working seven consecutive days. Read more: What are Swing Shift Hours? Also knows as a schedule, the Pitman schedule runs on a two-week cycle and requires employees to work two shifts, take two days off, work three shifts, take two days off, work two shifts and take three days off. Each consecutive shift is either a day or night shift, and all shifts are hours.

Using this rotating schedule, employees get every other weekend off, which provides a measure of normalcy for employees to spend time with family or complete personal tasks.

The schedule follows a day cycle of rotating hour shifts in the following pattern:. The benefits of this schedule are that employees get frequent days off, never working more than three consecutive day, and have a three-day weekend every other weekend. However, hour shifts can be demanding, especially for jobs in construction and healthcare. Industries that commonly implement rotating shifts include:. Healthcare: Doctors, nurses, lab techs and administrators often work on shift schedules, especially in hospitals and other medical facilities with extended hours.

Manufacturing: Factory employees, like assemblers and production managers, use shift schedules to increase output. Emergency responders: First responders such as firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians work rotating shifts.

Transportation employees: Bus drivers, rideshare operators and rental car company employees must be available at all hours. Retail employees: Sales associates at retail stores, gas stations and convenience stores often work on rotating shifts. Military: The military incorporates rotating shifts for active duty service members and reserves.

Rotating shifts provide benefits to both employees and businesses who use this strategy, including:. Related: 35 Best Night Shift Jobs. Rotating shifts can be a challenging adjustment for some employees. Here are ways you can help make these schedules work for your team:. Please note that none of the companies mentioned in this article are affiliated with Indeed.

Find jobs. Each crew is given the night or day shift. It is also known as the every-other-weekend off shift. It looks like:. While employees get to have every other weekend off to spend with family and friends, the hour shifts can be long, especially at night.

This shift is a variation on the Pitman shift schedule where the crews split the shifts between days and nights over a four-week cycle. According to the Sleep Foundation , the benefit of this schedule is your employee never has to work more than three days in a row and gets a three-day weekend every other weekend.

The downfall of this schedule is an employee could work up to 62 hours in one week, impacting sleep issues. For companies, scheduling workers on rotating shifts allows for continuous operation, ultimately improving productivity.

But there are other benefits as well. While rotating shifts provide benefits to companies, there are some downsides. The U. To help workers get enough rest on rotating shifts, the Sleep Foundation suggests to:. Scheduling workers is difficult enough but figure in rotating shifts, and it is even harder. There are also several considerations to make when developing a rotating shift scheduling strategy to keep workers happy and reduce your workload.

You can ask employees to rate their shift preferences, schedule based on seniority or require everyone to work the same rotating shift schedule, like the DuPont Schedule. Keep in mind you might not be able to make all of your employees happy.

On average, employees will work 42 hours per week on the Pitman schedule. The shift pattern a. In the schedule, each team works a three-day cycle that consists of:. Team 2 or B works Tuesday and then has Wednesday and Thursday off. Team 3 or C works Wednesday and then has Thursday and Friday off. You can tailor the schedule to cover any amount of time that your business is open. In the schedule, each team works a three-week cycle that consists of:. This schedule type is useful because teams will overlap work hours.

You can use this overlap to cover high activity periods. The schedule uses five teams working overlapping hour shifts. In this shift schedule, each team works a day cycle that consists of:. Like the schedule, you can tailor the to cover shifts of any length. For example, your first shift can be from 8 a. Your second shift can be from 12 p.

And your third shift can be from 4 p. The rotating shift schedule uses five teams working overlapping shifts to provide full coverage for your business. In the schedule, each team works a day cycle that consists of:. A key variable of the schedule is that you can mix the shifts from one week to the next. You could set it up so that Team 1 works first shift one week, third shift the next week, and second shift the last week. The schedule uses five teams working overlapping shifts of variable length to provide your business full coverage throughout the workday.

If your business is open 24 hours a day, each shift will last 10 hours. The hour workday provides specific hours when extra manpower is present to help cover increased activity.

Whether you choose to use a fixed shift schedule, a rotating shift schedule, a split shift , or even a compressed workweek for your business, you still need the right tool to help make your scheduling system successful.

We developed Sling to streamline the scheduling process and make even the most complicated rotating shift schedule run like clockwork. And Sling is about more than just plugging names into time slots. The intuitive and well-organized scheduling tools Sling offers make it simple to create clear, easy-to-read schedules with just a few clicks of the mouse or taps on the screen. Just post your schedule in the cloud for all to see.

You can even control exactly who can view the schedule and who can make changes to it. All you have to do is give individuals permission or send them a link.

They can then log in to Sling to view or edit the schedule anytime, anywhere. But remember, Sling is about more than just scheduling. In addition to the power of its onboard schedule maker, Sling brings together two additional toolsets to make your work life easier: time tracking and labor cost control.

Sling will even notify you and them about upcoming shifts and whether an employee is running late or forgot to check in. Simply review the timesheets, edit and approve, and then send them to your choice of third-party program for seamless payroll calculation and distribution. No more endless revisions trying to squeeze all the shifts and work necessary under your existing budget. All that and more helps managers bring teams together, keep everyone informed and engaged , and build a better work culture regardless of the schedule they use.

For more free resources to help you manage your business better, organize and schedule your team, and track and calculate labor costs, visit GetSling. Employee scheduling made easy Save countless hours each week scheduling your employees while reducing cost of labor.