Shift systems - How they compare

Taking a closer look at different ways of working

Shift work systems

Shift systems are a fundamental consideration for organisations that need to operate outside the traditional 9 to 5 working day.

2 shift, 3 shift, 4 shift and 5 shift systems provide a broad framework for aligning your labour capacity to demand.

However, by themselves they do not provide a magic bullet when it comes to staffing solutions.

Each requires adapting to meet an organisation’s specific coverage requirements, operational needs and shift worker preferences.

Tailoring your core shift system with optimised shift patterns and shift work processes is essential to underpin productivity, efficiency, delivery and success.

In this article, we’ll explore the various core shift systems, their features, benefits and considerations when looking to design, implement and optimise them.

Shift systems and their impact

For most organisations the shift work system they use has a huge, and often underappreciated, impact on their performance and people.

Shift systems can help or hinder based on their appropriateness to a wide range of factors such as demand, operating windows, coverage requirements and shift worker demographics.

In many cases the shift system and shift patterns it comprises can be behind a range of challenges that many organisations will recognise.

These include:

– Low productivity and high labour costs

– Labour shortages and capacity or service issues

– Increased health and safety risks and compliance breaches

– Poor employee relations and high churn

The right shift system can help you turn these challenges into opportunities, ensuring smooth operations and creating shift patterns and working conditions that appeal to shift workers.

Understanding the different shift systems becomes even more important in environments that require 24-hour coverage, whether in a 24 5 or 24 7 environment.

So, let’s take a quick look at them…

Shift Patterns

Finding shift patterns that balance the needs of your organisation and shift workers can be a slow and painful process.

optashift’s Shift Pattern Design service combines data science, expert insight and collaboration to create shift patterns that are fully optimised for your performance and people.

2 shift system

A 2 shift system involves two consecutive shifts per day, typically Monday to Friday.

They commonly feature two, 8-hour shifts to provide 16 hours of coverage across a day and 80 hours across the week.

These shifts often run between the hours of 06:00 -14:00 and 14:00-22:00 and are typically used to provide five-day cover.

06:30 and 07:00 start times with two shifts running through to 22:30 or 23:00 respectively are also common.

It can be a relatively straightforward to design and manage a 2 shift system.

Shift workers are either on an early shift (‘earlies’) or a late shift (‘lates’) which they rotate between on a weekly basis. This is often known as a ‘double days’ shift system.

However, some organisations fix the shifts within a two shift system, so employees always work either earlies or lates.

The decision to do this can often be based on your operational processes and the different skills required to deliver them at different times of the day.

It can also be based on shift worker preferences, with some people wanting or needing to have either their mornings or evenings free…and the choice will impact the shift premia typically applied.

The 2 shift system is used in industries where continuous 24 7 operation is not required, but extended hours outside of 9 am – 5 pm are necessary.

Positives of the 2 shift system:

+ A two shift system can be simple for you to plan and administer, particularly as it can be made to align with a 40-hour week full-time shift worker contract when it includes paid breaks (5 x 8 hour shifts). It also provides inherent flexibility in terms of extending shifts and securing overtime which can open up extra capacity to meet unexpected demand and increase asset utilisation.

+ Predictable 8-hour shifts and no night shift can support your employees’ work-life balance and productivity. The 2 shift system is therefore ideal for certain industries and demographics.

Negatives of the 2 shift system:

– With 10 stops or starts per week, a two shift system does not support 24-hour coverage and the operational benefits this can bring (such as increased productivity, efficiency and meeting customer demand). In some environments employees may be asked to work both shifts which is sometimes known as working double shifts or ‘double shifting ’. This creates a 16-hour shift that can contribute to shift work fatigue risks and shift worker health and wellbeing issues.

– When you have a requirement for significant additional hours, work can run into the weekend, where premia will be higher and your shift workers risk doing 12 consecutive shifts (if the full weekend needs to be worked).

– It’s worth noting that with a 2 shift system, 3 shift system or 4 shift system, you need to either build holiday cover into the crew (which can lead to overstaffing at times), or provide it via overtime (adding labour costs) and/or agency staffing (which can be inefficient).

3 shift system

Compared to the 2 shift system, the 3 shift system adds an extra 8-hour shift to give you 24-hour coverage.

The 3 shift system typically runs Monday to Friday (a 24 5 shift pattern), although some organisations commence on a Sunday night shift at 22:00 (or 23:00) and so finish after the Thursday afternoon shift.

Compared to the 2 shift system, your weekly capacity is increased by 50% from 80 hours per week to 120 hours per week with a three shift system.

It is used to cover semi -continuous operations that span both day and night during the mid-week. The 3 shift system remains semi-continuous as there is a stop and start every week (but not every day like the 2-shift system).

The three shift system comprises a morning shift, afternoon shift and night shift (also known as ‘first’, ‘second’ and ‘third’ shifts respectively).

It is common for these shifts to run 06:00-14:00, 14:00-22:00 and 22:00-06:00 (but start times are regularly 06:30 or 07:00, which pushes the other shifts back similarly by 30 or 60 minutes) to provide full 24 hours shift coverage per day and 120 hours per week.

Shifts can be fixed (so shift workers stay on the same shift all the time) or rotate so they work a mix of mornings, afternoons and nights across a three-week period.

Often employees work double shifts (also known as ‘double-days’), with mornings and afternoons rotational like the 2 shift system.

Night shifts on a fixed pattern are typically staffed by a different team/crew…often because demands are lower and therefore less workforce capacity is required.

24 5 shift patterns avoid weekend working in the base pattern. Weekend shifts can be unpopular and attract additional shift premia which increases labour costs.

An additional consideration with three shift systems is whether you create a 10-day fortnight which means running continuously for 10 days, followed by a four-day shut down.

This provides the same capacity as a typical 24 5 shift pattern but halves the number of closures/shutdowns and opening/start ups.

For example, if you start the shift pattern on a Monday, shift workers finish on the second Wednesday. This means any overtime required to meet demand can be targeted for the first day of closure/shut down (Thursday) rather than the weekend (which attracts additional shift premia).

A 10-day fortnight also gives you the opportunity to incorporate 12 hour shift patterns into a 3 shift system.

Positives of the 3 shift system:

+ Provides 24-hour coverage for 5 days, with 50% more capacity than a 2 shift system.

+ 8-hour shifts structured in a predictable shift pattern within a three shift system can be appealing to certain demographics and therefore support your recruitment, retention and diversity strategies.

Negatives of the 3 shift system:

– In a 3 shift system, overtime requirements typically fall in weekends. This can result in 12 consecutive shifts if a full weekend is worked. Similarly, some employees may need to work double shifts to provide absence cover, which poses potential regulatory compliance and shift work fatigue risks.

– 8 hour shifts require your shift workers to attend work more often and provide less days off on average per week compared to the 12 hour shift patterns possible with a 4 shift system or 5 shift system.

– Operating with a fixed three shift system means some individuals will be working night shifts consistently, which has health and well-being impacts that you need to consider carefully.

4 shift system

The 4 shift system is designed to support 24 7 operations and continuous coverage.

The 4 shift system generates 40% more capacity than the 3 shift system, giving you 168 hours per week compared to 120 in the 3 shift system.

Whilst it can be used by organisations of all sizes, it is widely seen in large organisations requiring 24 7 shift coverage and can be referred to as the ‘Continental shift system’, ‘Panama shift pattern’ or ‘Dupont shift pattern’ (read our Shift Pattern Examples article for more detail).

So how does a 4 shift system work? It sees your shift workers divided into four teams (also known as ‘crews’).

These teams can work fixed 12 hour days, or rotate forward quickly (or slowly) through days and nights according to a shift pattern that can span four, eight, 12 or 16 weeks.

A four shift system can give you 24 hour shift coverage by using three 8-hour shifts spanning the morning (M), afternoon (A) and night (N).

Alternatively a 4 shift system can provide 24 hours shift coverage by using two 12 hour shifts in the day (D) and night (N).

Ultimately there are a huge range of variables when it comes to tailoring your four shift system.

This includes shift length (8 hour or 12 hour), whether shifts are fixed or rotating…and if rotating, how they deploy mixed shifts (runs of Days and Nights) or same shifts (runs of Days OR Nights).

A 4 shift system using 8-hour shifts could look like:

MM > AA > NN > 2 DAYS OFF > MM > AA > NN > 2 DAYS OFF

A 4 shift system using 12 hour shifts could look like:

DD > NN > 4 DAYS OFF > DD > NN > 4 DAYS OFF

The Panama shift system also offer a variation on the four shift system which features 12 hour shifts with slow forward shift rotations that span four weeks (when operated with 4 teams/crews).

Positives of the 4 shift system:

+ Provides full 24 7 shift coverage and gives you certainty of cover. This is essential in environments where shutdowns or closures are not possible or extremely costly (like key infrastructure, foundries, processing plants, data centres etc.).

+ Your 4 shift system can utilise 8-hour shift patterns, 12 hour shift patterns or a mix of the two. This gives you flexibility around shift pattern design. A suite of shift patterns can be created that appeal to a diverse range of shift workers which can underpin your recruitment, retention and resilience strategies.

+ The shift pattern rotations within four shift systems can provide your shift workers with more visibility and certainty over working hours, ensuring they can more easily plan their leisure and family time.

+ A 4 shift system (as well as a two shift system and three shift system) provides the opportunity to provide shift workers with holidays on request. However, choice and flexibility is often constrained by capacity and there can be inherent unfairness in many on-request annual leave systems (e.g. ‘best’ slots booked early, favouritism within the approval process).

Negatives of the 4 shift system:

– It can be difficult to manage absences in a 4 shift system as it requires overtime to avoid capacity gaps. This means reliance on employee goodwill (or mandatory overtime policies) is required to secure cover.

– The rotation in a four shift system means that shift workers are required to work many weekends across the year (50% more if 12 hour shifts are used, and 75% more if you are using 8 hour shifts).

– Continental shift pattern rotations always finish on a night, so the first day of any rest period is impacted. This limits the practicality and appeal of 4 shift systems for many shift workers with certain demographics and lifestyles.

– This shift system typically needs a larger shift work contract size than 2 shift systems or 3 shift systems. 4 shift systems require 42 hours per week contracts compared to 40 hours in 2 shift systems and 3 shift systems (assuming all breaks are paid).

– It can be difficult to cover absence on 8 hour shifts in four shift systems, especially given the overall lower number of rest days that are a feature of 8 hour shift patterns providing 24 7 coverage.

– Your 4 shift system will require additional capacity to be built into crews/teams to cover sickness, holiday, training etc. This may result in understaffing at certain times or create an overtime requirement at others.

– A 4 shift system is based on a 42 hour contract…which is higher than a 2 shift system, 3 shift system and 5 shift system. When using 8 hour shifts this equates to a ratio of 6 on 2 off, compared to 5 on 3 off in a two shift system and three shift system.

Shift Work Assessment

Optimising shift patterns and shift work delivers huge benefits…but complexity and competing priorities sees many organisations leave things as they are.

Our Shift Work Assessment is a streamlined process which quickly analyses all relevant operational and HR factors to give you a tailored plan for immediate improvement.

5 shift system

The underlying structure of the 5 shift system is effectively the same as the 4 shift system, but with holidays planned into the shift pattern, rather than on-request.

Known as ‘net’ shift patterns or ‘rostered holidays’, 5 shift systems schedule shift workers’ annual leave into the overall shift pattern.

Both employees and employer have 100% clarity over working and non-working days and can plan accordingly.

The five shift system typically requires weekly contractual hours of c. 38 hours (depending on holiday entitlement and unpaid break policy).

This means it is lower than the 42 hours per week required for a 4 shift system.

Whilst many shift workers may initially react negatively to the idea of rostered holidays, in practice it often becomes popular with flexibility offered through a shift swap policy (which needs to be consistently managed).

A 5 shift system provides employees with complete certainty and long range visibility over when they are going to be off.

Rostered holiday systems can also be designed to align rest days with holidays to create extended periods off work that appeals to many shift workers.

A 5 shift system can also be tailored to provide a part-rostered holiday solution, with a proportion of annual leave scheduled and the rest available on-request.

These are typically more complex to manage so require robust shift work policy and workforce management systems.

Positives of the 5 shift system:

+ It gives you full 24 7 shift coverage but enables labour supply to be more consistent as holidays are scheduled in. This delivers significant benefits in terms of productivity and reduction in unnecessary overtime.

+ Your administrative and governance overhead of managing holidays is reduced significantly in a 5 shift system as all holiday is planned in and can be managed by exception.

+ The five shift system provides reduced weekend ratios compared to the 4 shift system (40% of weekends impacted compared to 50% with 12 hour shift patterns).

+ It requires reduced contractual hours for shift workers compared to 2 shift systems, 3 shift systems and 4 shift systems.

+ Much of the flexibility required to secure short notice annual leave within a rostered holiday 5 shift system can still be achieved through a robust shift swap policy and process.

+ A 5 shift system keeps teams together with all members having holiday at the same time. This helps ensure skills coverage and reduces complexity.

Negatives of the 5 shift system:

– Rostered holidays can be unappealing to individuals who think that on-request holidays systems provide more choice and flexibility. However in our experience the rules that govern on-request holiday systems often don’t always provide maximum flexibility or fairness. For example, the number of staff/roles allowed off at one time is typically limited and ‘first come first served’ systems mean people often miss out on the specific days they wanted off.

– Poorly planned 5 shift systems can result in shift workers not getting enough time off during the most popular periods (e.g. during school holidays, bank holidays and Christmas). This can be remedied through a shift pattern design process that is influenced by shift worker preferences and targets a fair distribution of popular holiday slots (both within years and across years).

– Whilst popular with shift workers, the regular long breaks that can be achieved with a 5 shift system disrupts the regularity of work. This can create issues for management in terms of staff returning ‘cold’ and taking some time to get back up to full productivity.

Shift Work Health

The effects of shift work on physical and mental health are clear…so responsible employers need to provide shift workers with tailored support across sleep, nutrition, exercise and social issues.

optashift will help you deliver a programme that blends strategic, operational, practical and technical solutions that are designed in collaboration with your workforce.

Shift system considerations

Whether 2, 3, 4, or 5…the shift systems detailed in this article are simply a broad framework outlining the concepts and structures that underpin different shift work models.

Ultimately, it is the balance of demand, operational processes and shift worker preferences which will dictate which shift system is the best fit for your organisation.

All of the shift systems provide flat labour supply and none deal with seasonal demand fluctuations.

This makes careful shift pattern design and shift planning vital to avoid periods of over staffing and under staffing.

For example, in manufacturing it may be optimal to mix the shift systems so you run a 24 5 shift pattern at some times of the year…and move to a 24 7 shift pattern during periods of peak demand.

They also don’t suit businesses with variable in-day demand (airport security operations and call centres for example), where shifts of varying lengths and different shift patterns need to be created to meet intraday demand changes and suit shift worker demographics

As such it is the specific shift patterns, shift work policy and shift worker support you design into the shift system which will have the most impact on your organisation and employees.

When considering tailoring a shift system, the fundamentals to focus on are:

Data – Analytics will help you build a complete picture of your shift work requirements. Understanding demand and capacity and how it varies over time will ensure your shift work system meets the needs of your stakeholders in the most efficient and effective way.

Engagement – Shift systems have a huge impact on your workforce, so ensuring they have a meaningful influence over how they are designed, implemented and managed is important. Collaboratively designed shift systems tend to maximise benefits across productivity, efficiency and employee satisfaction.

Design – For every shift system there are countless ways of tailoring them to precisely balance operational requirements with shift worker preferences. Think creatively and explore options that adapt shift work best practice to your specific environment, culture and objectives.

Customising shift systems is covered in much more detail within our 3-step guide to changing shift patterns and shift pattern design fundamentals articles.

Shift system experts

optashift experts will help you create an optimised shift system that delivers wide ranging benefits.

Using our unique shift work analytics and shift pattern design tools we’ll help you weigh up the positives and negatives of the different shift systems and tailor one for your organisation.

In addition to helping create robust shift work policy and processes, we’ll also engage meaningfully with your shift workers to ensure their needs and preferences are considered.

Get in touch if you’d like to discuss any shift system with our experts.