Shift swap policy - Six key considerations

Shift swapping needs robust governance to succeed

Shift swap policy is vital

In many organisations shift swapping is a key mechanism to provide shift workers with additional flexibility and work-life balance opportunities.

Being able to shift swap with colleagues helps your shift workers secure time off work outside their shift pattern and annual leave allowance.

However, if you don’t have the right shift swap policy and systems in place, shift swapping can lead to gaps in cover, errors and conflicts that impact operational performance and workforce morale.

This article provides brief background on the topic and six key considerations when developing an effective shift swap policy.

Shift swap meaning

Shift swapping is the process where shift workers agree to exchange scheduled shifts within their shift pattern.

It is typically used by employees to move holiday slots within rostered holiday systems or to increase an existing block of time off to accommodate a holiday or social activity.

For example, shift swapping is often used ‘strategically’ to add additional days to rest periods or existing annual leave to create extended breaks from work.

Being able to swap shifts with a colleague is often the simplest and most effective way to secure time off when:

– A short notice need arises which conflicts with scheduled shifts.

– A bookable holiday system has no available slots on the required day.

– Time off is needed which falls outside rest days and rostered holiday periods.

Shift swapping happens in many industries but the flexibility it offers can often be constrained by capacity limitations, the shift pattern worked and/or the skills profiles required for any given role.

In other words, shift swapping in some organisations is hard to achieve simply because there is no one available to provide cover within the shift pattern, or the workforce doesn’t share enough skills to cover multiple roles.

For many these limitations can be overcome through shift work optimisation , shift pattern design that more easily facilitates shift swapping and the implementation of carefully considered shift swap policy, processes and systems.

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.

Shift swap policy considerations

How you approach your shift swap policy will be dictated by whether your shift work environment is using a rostered, part-rostered, or on-request holiday system.

Whichever approach you use, shift swapping needs to be governed and managed effectively to avoid situations that expose organisations to capacity shortfalls and compliance risk…and shift workers to frustration and negative work-life balance.

Despite this, we’ll often see shift swap policies and processes that are not up to meeting the often varied and complex demands of shift swapping.

Likewise we’ll see shift swap software and shift swap apps that don’t provide the visibility and control required to manage shift swapping quickly and accurately.

It’s important to focus on six key shift swap policy considerations when appraising the best approach for your organisation and shift workers…

1. Shift swap policy and shift patterns

Your shift swap policy will be fundamentally shaped by the shift patterns you use.

Certain implementations of shift patterns can limit flexibility due to their underlying structure providing very few opportunities to find appropriate cover.

Some designs restrict the ability to shift swap because available teams would end up working too many consecutive shifts, or it conflicts with best practice around shift rotations.

For example, 4 on 4 off shift patterns featuring 12-hour shifts are widely used, providing a structure and certainty that is popular with many shift workers.

However, shift swapping opportunities can be limited if your shift pattern is structured around runs of two days followed by two nights.

This limits the opportunities to find suitable shift swaps as colleagues can only work one additional day shift before the run, or one additional night shift after the run.

So a key consideration for your shift swap policy is: do your shift patterns enhance or restrict opportunities to shift swap?

Are the constrains insurmountable or are there opportunities to design shift patterns and introduce a shift swap policy that provides more flexibility?

It’s certainly worth considering as research indicates that employees who have the ability to swap shifts reported higher job satisfaction compared to those who did not have this flexibility.

Recruitment and retention are increasingly impacted by shift patterns and how shift work is managed.

Being able to give employees more options to secure time off when it suits them, whilst protecting operational efficiency and effectiveness could help you enlarge your labour pool, compete for talent and meet diverse life-stage and lifestyle requirements.

2. Shift swap policy and compliance

One of the key areas your shift swap policy will need to address is guaranteeing compliance.

Shift swapping naturally impacts the number of hours an employee works, and when the hours were worked over a given reference period.

If your shift swap policy doesn’t provide tight rules, defined parameters and governance around shift swap requests, approval and reconciliation…then you may be exposed to legal and reputational risk.

Your shift swap policy should aim to lock-in compliance with key legislation like the Working Time Regulations, which requires employees to not work more than 48 hours a week on average, and have at least 11 consecutive hours of rest in any 24-hour period.

It should also consider wider industry-specific regulations or best practice.

For example many manufacturers abide by standards set out in the Ethical Trading Initiative which requires a 60 hour limit on the total time worked over a seven-day period, and at least one day off in every seven-day period (or two days off in every 14-day period).

In addition to these external factors it’s sensible for you to embed internal operating rules and adherence to shift work best practice into your shift swap policy.

These could reflect key custom variables like providing an upper limit on number of shift swaps so you maintain the integrity of your core shift pattern. This will vary depending on whether you are operating with rostered holidays or a holidays-on-request system.

Likewise you may need to restrict shift swaps for certain teams at certain times of the year like during peak demand or popular holiday periods.

Your shift swap policy should set out shift swap rules and thresholds that are clear and understood by shift workers, managers and those responsible for workforce management.

The rationale for such decisions should be set out in your shift swap policy to communicate the context of why certain restrictions may be in place.

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.

3. Shift swap policy and wellbeing and fatigue

Poorly managed shift swapping increases the risk of your shift workers’ health being negatively affected.

It’s vital that your shift swap policy considers the impact of shift swaps on shift work fatigue risk and wider wellbeing issues related to long hours working and sleep disruption.

Your shift swap policy needs to stipulate limits and set out how each shift swap should be assessed for the potential impact it may have on the individuals involved.

It’s crucial to consider what hours and rotations the person providing the cover has worked (and will work) in and around the period when they are taking on additional shifts.

Likewise it’s also vital to consider when the swapped shift falls for the other shift worker involved.

Does it fall in a busy period?

Will it create an unhealthy run of night shifts or break shift rotation best practice?

It’s a good idea to set out your commitment and responsibility to systematically manage risks around shift work fatigue and wider heath issues as part of your shift swap policy.

It’s vital that when establishing the limits and rules you consider how shift swapping interacts with other factors such as:

– Overall staffing levels

– Overtime limits and deployment

– The management of systems like on-call/call-in or relief

– The nature and intensity of the roles

– The position of individuals and shifts within a rotation cycle

4. Shift swap policy and skills matching

For many organisations the level of potential flexibility provided by shift swapping is dictated by the current skills mix and composition of teams.

Your shift swap policy should recognise and reflect this limitation, ensuring skills matching and maintaining operational integrity is a primary focus.

Often this can be a dynamic area of shift swap policy, with wider initiatives capable of increasing the potential capacity for shift swapping over time.

For example, sometimes minor tweaks to crewing structures can open a range of additional shift swap flexibility without the need for drastic changes to shift patterns.

Likewise, highly focused training regimes can ensure specific shift workers develop the key skills needed to cover specific roles.

This can increase the overall pool of colleagues who can shift swap and provide additional resilience.

Shift work data analytics will help you assess the skills mix within your current shift patterns and identify where the opportunities lie.

A rolling programme of targeted training can then be delivered which continues creating new opportunities for shift swapping over time and will influence the rules and thresholds set out in your shift swap policy.

The impact of increased multiskilling illustrates why your shift swap policy should remain dynamic and responsive to changing operational factors as well as the needs and preferences of your shift workers.

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.

5. Shift swap policy and fairness

Fairness is fundamental to successful shift swapping and should therefore be a key consideration.

Your shift swap policy should set out the rules, roles and responsibilities for managing shift swaps in as fair and transparent a way as possible.

How shift swap requests are administered, and by who, is central to managing an optimised and fair system.

Informal shift swapping can sometimes be influenced by favouritism making it a potentially ‘political’ and divisive issue that impacts employee satisfaction.

New starters or less confident shift workers who haven’t built strong internal networks may find themselves at a disadvantage when it comes to finding people to shift swap with.

If this is the case, then it’s worth considering including a ‘buddying’ system (or some other method) in your shift swap policy that helps facilitate introductions to skills-matched colleagues who are willing to swap.

It is also important to consider those shift workers who are keen to stick to their planned shifts and don’t want to swap.

Your shift swap policy should be formal and transparent.

It should establish clear, objective criteria for shift swaps and every effort should be made to ensure your shift workers understand how and why the system works.

It’s worth considering whether your shift swap policy can include creating a centralised system for managing shift swaps (shift ‘matchmaking’, anonymised shift bidding etc).

This can help eliminate biases and ensure that all requests are handled consistently and quickly.

6. Shift swap policy and efficiency and accuracy

Many organisations use paper forms, informal WhatsApp groups and homebrew spreadsheets to document and manage shift swapping.

In many cases we see different departments in the same organisation using diverse approaches, tools and processes for shift swapping.

This can be notoriously time intensive to administer and can lead to errors.

These challenges are amplified when considering additional complexities around reconciling account balances and pay premia across different reference periods.

It’s important your shift managers have the tools they need and that your shift swap policy sets out systems and processes that provide transparent, accurate and effective shift swaps…that ideally complete in a single interaction/transaction.

The deployment of shift swap software and shift swap apps is a key consideration if you want immediate visibility and error-free reconciliation over the shift swap request and approval process.

By applying the rules and thresholds set out in your shift swap policy, software can automate many shift swap workflows, locking in compliance whilst drastically reducing the administrative burden.

These digital tools can also integrate with payroll, time and attendance and other HR systems to ensure accurate calculation of hours worked and make appropriate pay adjustments.

They also provide a centralised point of data which can be analysed for optimisation opportunities both within your shift swap policy and the systems which underpin it.

Shift swap policy experts

To avoid performance, compliance and employee relations issues your shift swap policy should be viewed as an important strategic component of shift work optimisation and improvement.

The first step is always to analyse data to understand how this flex mechanism is being used, or could be used.

Our experts can then identify how adapting shift swap policy or shift swap software and shift swap apps could improve things.

We also focus on the generating a deep understanding of the needs, preferences and sentiment of your shift workers.

Why, when and with what frequency do they need to swap?

Where do they see the limitations?

This insight will help you create the right solution.

There’s often plenty of shift swap policy ‘quick wins’ that can deliver a dramatic improvement in productivity and employee satisfaction in short order.

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

They will help you assess your current approach and identify what benefits you could achieve through an optimised shift swap policy tailored to your specific shift working environment.