Would you work this rotating shift?

A local company has 4 crews. They work 12 hour days, rotating two weeks of days, two weeks of nights. You work a couple days, then off a couple days, etc, so you get 7 days working out of 14. Then you swing to the other shift. You must be an experienced electrician with plc experience. The environment is hot, and dirty. Pay is $16-18, and may be as high as $20 for some. they advertise every week, and can never get a full staff.

Would you move to the middle of nowhere in Illinois and do it?

Thanks for the input!

regards.....casey

kc9ih said:

...and can never get a full staff.

Click to expand...

Gee, I wonder why?...



-Eric

The shift is Ok but the pay seems quite low. I've always thought the 12 hour a b c d shifts would be nice. Where a & b work Sun, Mon, Tue, & every other Wed. c & d work every other Wed, and Thur, Fri, & Sat. a & c are days, b & d are nights.

That's nothing, I once worked a shift that went something like this -

3 Days - Day
2 Days - Off
4 Days - Night
2 Days - Off
4 Days - Day
2 Days - Off
3 Days - Night
4 Days - Off


But then I was 20 or 21 at the time and wasn't doing control work. After awhile you didn't know if you were comming or going.

The environment is hot, and dirty

Sounds like a paper mill? If they are that needy for people they might work out a non rotating shift for the ones they need the most. No probley not.....

That type of rotation is pretty common in any 24/7 operation. We use a variation on the same thing. Production people work 4 days one week, and 3 the next. Have to work every other weekend. 12 hour shifts. Most people like having days off during the work week, it's easier to get personal business done.

Our operators are paired together, so if you and the other guy do not want to rotate, you don't have to. The big question is who gets steady nights.

I worked in a facility that had exactly this schedule. It was hell, pure and simple. An absolute nightmare.

Morale stank, the management abused it (real easy to turn that hairball schedule into 12/7/52) and BECAUSE we were permanently understaffed, it was nothing to end up splitting another guy's shift if he decided to quit, so you wound up doing 18 hours.

They say, "Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity." But in the place I was, stupidity didn't begin to cover it. It was callous disregard for the well-being of their workers.

This schedule, and those like it, are based on wringing maximum coverage with fewer people. Think what that means. Take your pick:

1. They don't care if they overwork their employees.
2. The job sucks so badly they can't get people.
3. They're such cheap bastiches they won't hire more people.

Lastly, it's false advertising. You may be promised 7 days off in 14 - but you'll never see it. "We need coverage, so-and-so quit today!" will become the mantra of your life. Remember - more work from fewer workers. Do you really think management can achieve that by giving people MORE time off?

Avoid this job like the plague. You need a "HELL NO!" option on your poll.


TM

I once worked 12 hours days.. 12 on, 2 off...

It didn't help that I was working away from home as well (4 hours drive) so had to stay in a hotel whilst working the 12 days on.

I think there is a lot of truth in this new work life/home life balance thing that people are banding about.

If you are working too many hours its because the employers need more staff.. simple as that. Unless the wages reflect the extra sweat that you are having to put in then steer clear. There are plenty of cushier jobs out there...

Just as a PS to this post.. (and a bit off topic so my apologies) I have just returned from a weekend holiday in Derbyshire (county in the UK) and, whilst there, visited Speedwell Cavern.

It was opened as a lead mine and the miners used to work down in the dark for 14 or 16 hours a day. They worked by the light of a candle made from tanning (animal fat and other stuff) which they held in their teeth. Their hands were full with a pick and a shovel. They also had a bucket around their necks that they used to collect the lead.

Obviously, their gums rotted and their teeth fell out from holding the candle. They also usually contracted severe lead poisoning from having the bucket around their necks. Lead poisoning is a terrible disease that causes painful swelling of the joints, bleeding of orifices, and eventually death. The average age expectancy of someone working down the mine was 28 years old.

There used to be a job for a "pump man" who used to use bellows to circulate the air down there. There was only a very small cut out in the rock where they would sit so it was normally a young boy that was chosen to do it (generally the son or nephew of one of the miners). The youngest recorded worker for this position was a boy of four years old... he too had to work 14 to 16 hours down there in the dark pumping these bellows...

Thank god for Health and Safety legislation!

My employer uses shifts like this in our plant for certain departments. Most people love it and other departments are trying to implement it. As for the part about having to cover other peoples shifts, there are always people calling in on their off days looking for some overtime. Wish my department would work these shifts. But then agian, it would make going to school next to impossible.

dale

Eric Nelson said:

Gee, I wonder why?...



-Eric

Click to expand...

They will have to stopp expanding someday. They will run out of people.

twbrock said:

The environment is hot, and dirty

Sounds like a paper mill? If they are that needy for people they might work out a non rotating shift for the ones they need the most. No probley not.....

Click to expand...

Real close!

Just think "heavier duty".

Don't forget to add paint, too!

Absolutely no way!

del

Why would anyone want to do this?

I thought the dairy industry was rough.

I think I was the second to vote no but didnt make a reply. I have worked this and other 12 hr shift schedules. All of the 12 hr schedules can be to demanding/demeaning especially in a rough environment. The rotating nights and days makes it worse.

Paint? Cant be Dupont because their pay scale is better and they usually have people waiting to go to work.

Sounds more like a steel mill or a place that works with steel to create a finished product (painted)...like ornamental iron. There is a plant that does that right down the hi-way from me, I worked for the original company back in the 70's...we were either layed off or on strike. I was in the bending/twisting dept and metal was kept in drums outside (full of water too). In winter there was no heat, hands got wet getting metal, long hrs wanting people to stay over because someone called in.

BTDT..with age you are suppose to learn not to keep making mistakes.

I wondered how long it would be before we saw another Casey opinion poll.

What brought this one on, then Casey?

I used to work 12hr rotating shifts before I was 'promoted' to my present position, I liked the shifts we work, plenty of time off and plenty of oppotunity for overtime if you wanted it.

The shifts were like this:-

 

Monday - Nights (6pm - 6am)

Tuesday - Nights

Wednesday - Nights

Thursday - Nights

Friday - Off 

Saturday - Off

Sunday - Off

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Off

Thursday - Off

Friday - Days (6am - 6pm)

Saturday - Days

Sunday - Days

Monday - Days

Tuesday - Days

Wednesday - Off

Thursday - Off

Friday - Nights

Saturday - Nights

Sunday - Nights

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Days

Thursday - Days

Friday - Off

Saturday - Off

Sunday - Off

Then we come back to the start, Monday night shift.

With that shift you worked 14 out of 28, seven night shifts and seven day shifts. It also worked out as an average of 48hrs per week. Not too bad really.

Paul