Quick Guide To 24 7 Shift Patterns

The best shift patterns for 24 7 working aren’t always obvious...

24 7 Shift Patterns

Round the clock working is essential in many industries, which require shift patterns to cover 24 7 operations.

optashift works with organisations that are either moving to 24 7 shift patterns for the first time…or are looking for a 24 hour rotation schedule that is more closely aligned to changing demand and / or the needs of its shift workers.

The best shift patterns for 24 7 working aren’t always obvious, so our shift work experts put together this quick guide to cover some of the most important considerations.

Demand is key to 24 7 shift patterns

When trying to create shift patterns for 24 7 it’s vital you have a solid understanding of your demand which may be flat or fluctuate across the day, week, month and even year.

It’s important that factors affecting demand for labour are taken into consideration and workforce demand and supply calculations are as accurate as possible.

This will help you identify a baseline 24 hour shift schedule template which can be used in shift pattern design and to develop a 24 hour shift calendar.

Teams, crew size and shift lengths for 24 7 shift patterns

If your demand for labour is flat, then a 5 team 24 7 shift pattern or a rotating 4 team 24 7 shift pattern may be best for your organisation.

With this team or crewing structure you can run different length shift patterns to provide 24 7 shift coverage.

For example you may look at:

If your demand fluctuates across the day, week or year then the team or crew size will depend primarily on the total labour demand hours, contractual hours and skill requirements.

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.

4 team 24 7 shift pattern Vs 5 team 24 7 shift pattern

So which of these is better? The answer to this is entirely dependent on your organisation but there are a few things to consider.

A 4 team 24 7 shift pattern delivers a weekly average of 42 working hours per team, which is close to the Working Time Regulations limit of 48 hours.

In this instance using overtime to cover 24 7 operations could breach shift work regulations whilst using agency labour can have a significant impact on costs, productivity and quality.

Making additional hires to provide the cover could add too much capacity and therefore create inefficiency.

A 5 team 24 7 shift pattern meanwhile delivers a weekly average of 33.6 working hours per team.

It typically includes holidays being rostered into the pattern and therefore ensures that holiday and skill supply is evenly spread across the day, week or year.

When looking for the best shift schedule for 24 7 coverage it’s worth remembering that both a 4 team 24 7 shift pattern and a 5 team 24 7 shift pattern have their pro’s and con’s.

Ultimately multiple different shift patterns can be designed for each team or crew structure that accounts for the preferences of shift workers.

A much less common team structure is a 6 crew 24 7 shift schedule.

A 6 team 24 7 shift pattern delivers a weekly average of 28 working hours per team, which for many organisations is simply too low.

It can have specific applications, but you are much more likely to find the right solution in either a 4 team 24 7 shift pattern or 5 team 24 7 shift pattern using 8 hour shift patterns, 12 hour shift patterns or a mix of the two.

When you combine all these variables you have hundreds of potential shift pattern designs.

What about a 3 team 24 7 shift pattern?

Different elements of shift work can have multiple different interpretations and a 3 team 24 7 shift pattern is one example.

For some this may mean a rotating 24 hour pattern with 3 teams. This would result in a 56 hour working week per team.

This clearly breaches shift work regulations, including the 48 hour limit within the Working Time Regulations.

Other organisations could be referring to a 3 shift system as described above with the use of 3, 8 hour shifts across a 24 hour period. So whilst there may be 4 or 5 teams in total there are 3 teams on a shift each day.

In some niche environments there are also 3 week 24 7 shift pattern solutions where shift workers are on-site for 3 weeks at a time.

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.

The best shift patterns for 24 7 working might be a fraction!

Don’t worry if you’re head’s spinning now. 24 7 shift patterns can be complex to work out.

The considerations are broad and varied and there are literally thousands of options.

It’s important to think about how to balance your performance and people’s requirements creatively.

For example you might want to consider breaking your shift workforce down into half teams.

If you are looking at 24 7 12 hour shift patterns it opens up the possibility to create a 4.5 team structure delivering 37.33 hours per team, per week.

It’s easier to think of it as nine ‘half-teams’ where two different teams combine on the same shift to create a full team.

This means you have more scope to ‘mix and match’ the teams within the core 24 7 shift patterns to deliver 24 7 cover and stay within shift work regulations.

It’s worth noting this type of 24 7 workforce structure requires additional operational and shift work management considerations (particularly achieving the right skills mix).

The possibilities really are endless which means it is possible to design 24 7 shift patterns that are fully customised and aligned to your organisation and shift worker’s needs.

Annual leave and 24 7 shift patterns

Holiday cover is a key consideration when working out the best shift patterns for 24 7.

A 4 team 24 7 shift pattern provides the opportunity to create many different shift patterns including a 4 on 4 off shift pattern with 12 hour shifts that repeats across an 8 week period.

In these 24 7 shift patterns annual leave can either be built into the team or agency and overtime used to cover.

It’s worth noting that if the cover is built in then this can lead to underutilisation when there are no employees on holiday.

A 5 team 24 7 shift pattern requires holidays to be rostered. In this case the 24 7 shift pattern repeats every 5, 10, 15 or 20 weeks.

Whilst the concept of rostered holidays can initially be unpopular with some shift workers there are clear upsides.

For example a 5 team 24 7 shift pattern actually sees employees benefit from an average of 1 week off every 5 weeks and often up to 10 or 11 days!

With the right approach to shift pattern design and shift work management you can ensure rostered holidays is a fair and popular solution that supports 24 7 working.

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.

24 7 shift rotation

How 24 7 shift patterns rotate is essential to ensure they provide the cover required and support the health and wellbeing of your shift workers.

optashift always look to create 24 hour shift rotation schedules that distribute shifts in a way that is both optimised and fair.

Don’t simply rely on traditional 24 hour rotation schedules like DuPont and Pitman.

Every organisation, working environment and shift workforce is different, so think about how you can create something that is more tailored.

Among many things it’s worth considering your 24 7 shift rotation to ensure:

The optimal mix of skills on shift and to increase training opportunities.
There is an equal distribution of shifts that might be less popular (i.e. Night Shift, Weekends, Bank Holidays etc).
You factor shift work management, rostering systems, support (HR, engineering etc), facilities (car park, canteen etc) and other interdependencies (shut downs, supply chain etc) into your rotations.

Variable demand 24 7 shift patterns

The earlier examples provide some insight for organisations with a requirement for flat 24 7 shift patterns.

When demand for labour is variable, the process of shift pattern design becomes even more complex.

Many manufacturing environments have a seasonal demand profile that may be met with a 24 5 shift pattern (with overtime in higher customer demand months) or a 24 7 shift pattern (with underutilisation in lower customer demand months).

The solution does not have to be one or the other and cover can vary across the year within a shift pattern through a mix of 24 7 shift pattern, 24 6 shift pattern, 24 5 shift pattern and even a 24 4 shift pattern at times.

This creates opportunities to consider concepts like 6 day weeks or 12 day fortnights to create the best shift patterns for 24 7 and ensure optimised use of assets as well as labour.

There are also other industries that, while needing 24 7 shift coverage, will see significant variations in demand across each day or week.

For example Airports, Ports, Warehouses and Utilities need to create 24 7 shift patterns that meet both seasonal fluctuations and in-day, week and month volatility.

Here 24 7 shift schedules need to be created that meet this varying demand.

Such demand profiles offer great opportunity to be creative in shift pattern design and create attractive options that help support recruitment and retention.

Finding help for 24 7 shift patterns

Shift work is complex and requires many factors to be considered and balanced to arrive at the right solution for an organisation and its shift workers.

optashift has helped hundreds of organisations design 24 7 shift patterns over the last 40 years.

Our shift work experts use data science and collaboration to quickly design 24 7 shift patterns that will unlock a huge range of benefits for your performance and people.

Get in touch if you’d like one of our experts to assess your situation and identify a pathway to the best shift patterns for 24 7.