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Employee Shift Work Schedules
An Introduction for HR Generalists
Bruce Oliver and Dan Capshaw
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14.5 million full-time wage and salary
workers, 14.5% of the total, were working a shift other than a daytime schedule in 2001.
These “shift workers” are often stereotyped as blue-collar manufacturing, mining or
transportation employees. In fact, shift workers can now also be found in around-the-
clock customer service call centers, retail establishments, information technology
monitoring and support centers, hospitals, utilities, hotels, casinos, emergency response
services, and 24-hour news operations.
As the need for extended operating hours grows, more and more organizations are
adopting work schedules that require longer and/or multiple shifts. HR Generalists are
often asked to participate in efforts to develop and implement the new work schedules.
This is the perfect opportunity for them to take on a leadership role, and ensure that the
schedule satisfies both the business requirements and preferences of the workforce.
However, if they are new to the job or unfamiliar with shift schedules, this can be quite a
challenge. This paper will introduce HR Generalists to five fundamental components of
shift work schedules:
Shift length
Schedule format
On-off work pattern
Overtime
Scheduling policies
Shift Length
Most shift workers want to work shifts longer than 8 hours in order to get more days off.
The benefits can be substantial. For example, on a 24/7 shift schedule with level coverage
(the same number of employees working on every shift), 8-hour shifts will provide 91
days off per year, 10-hour shifts will provide 146 days off per year, and 12-hour shifts
will provide 182 days off per year.
Ten-hour shifts are preferred by many employees because they are viewed as more
tolerable than 12-hour shifts. Unfortunately, 10-hour shifts are unsuitable for most 24-
hour operations. They take more personnel because they require 30 hours of work per day
instead of 24 hours (3 * 10 hour shifts/day = 30 hours/day). They also result in 6 hours of
double coverage when the shifts overlap (30 hours– 24 hours = 6 hours). If the workload
is constant throughout the day (as it is in most continuous operations), these overlaps
increase the coverage and the staffing requirements unnecessarily.
However, 10-hour shifts can be a good fit in organizations where the workload fluctuates,
especially if there is a busy period that occurs around the same time every day. Good