12-hour schedule – Workforce

February 6, 2023October 31, 2023

Most Common 12-hour Shift Schedules (2023)

Post Summary

12-hour shift schedules boost morale and lower inconsistency
Pick from a variety of the best 12-hour shift scheduling examples
Labor law compliance and occupational fatigue concerns need to be accounted for

So, you are considering a 12-hour hour shift schedule. This is a bold move that has the potential to increase both employee efficiency and morale. But how do you properly manage to transition your workforce to four extra hours per shift? Debbie in HR needs her priorities balanced with that of Dale down in the warehouse; their daily routines are at the mercy of you, the all-powerful manager. This is a lot of pressure, I know.

This pressure to make the perfect schedule stems mostly from all the potential benefits your company stands to gain from making the change. Workers get extended time off, allowing for a generally better work-life balance in the long run. 12-hour shifts also have lower turnover, resulting in fewer errors in employee miscommunication and inconsistency between shifts. Lower shift turnover also means less unproductive downtime – the value from this adds up quickly after a year.

All of these benefits are great and all, but let’s slow our roll. The first step is to choose a specific type of 12-hour schedule. Fortunately, there are many options to choose from for organizations operating 24/7.

So, let’s dive into some of the best 12-hour shift schedule examples. Make sure to evaluate them with your employees before adopting any particular one.

The DuPont

Named after the company where it originated in the late 1950s, its most notable feature is seven straight days off during every 28-day rotation. It uses four teams and two twelve-hour rotating day and night shifts to provide 24/7 coverage on a four-week cycle. Each team works 4 consecutive night shifts, followed by 3 days off duty, then 3 consecutive day shifts, followed by 1 day off duty, then 3 consecutive night shifts, then 3 days off duty, then 4 consecutive day shifts, then finally 7 consecutive days off duty.

The 2-3-2

This schedule emerged in the 1960s and became popular in the 1980s. It’s sometimes known as EOWEO or “every other weekend off.” Employees follow a 14-day pattern of 2 days on, 2 off, 3 days on, 2 off, 2 days on and then 3 off.

Workers know they’ll have a three-day weekend off every other weekend and won’t have to work more than three-night shifts in a row. However, workers don’t get more than three days off in a row unlike with many other 12-hour rotating schedules. Also, this schedule often requires workers to rotate rapidly between night and day shifts – this can be quite fatiguing.

A slightly adjusted version of this schedule is called the Pitman schedule and features the same 2-3-2 format. However, with the Pitman, there are two or more teams. Some of these teams are on day shifts while others are on nights.

4 On, 4 Off

Here, employees work four days or nights and then have four days or nights off. At some companies, workers stay on nights for as long as 24 days; at others, they switch every eight days. It usually consists of two teams, one covers day shifts and the other covers night shifts.

This schedule offers workers enough time off to recuperate. Also, in every eight-week cycle, workers have one period in which they get three straight weekends off.

Alternatively, management could adopt a three on, three off schedule, which, I would hope, should be fairly self-explanatory to you at this point.

5-5-2-2 and 5-2-2-5

If you are looking to maximize days off, this one might be for you. Two sequences are in the schedule here. On a two-week cycle, one squad works 5 days on then has 5 days off, then 2 days on 2 days off. The second squad works 5 days on and has 2 days off, then 2 days on and 5 days off. This sequence is repeated with two more squads for night shifts.

This method is great for getting consistent long breaks. However, workers are also subject to working five 12-hour days over a seven-day stretch with only a two-day break in the mix.

Solving the 12-hour Shift Schedule

Overwhelmed yet? I wouldn’t blame you. Crafting these schedules for yourself may seem like a daunting task. Luckily, Workforce.com has a solution for this task, offering software that combines a simple user interface with comprehensive employee scheduling automation. If you are a business staffed by hourly employees in retail, hospitality, food & beverage, or healthcare, workforce management software could be the answer to your 12-hour shift problems.

Here are a few of its key features:

Shift Patterns

The shift pattern tool allows managers to create schedules that follow “rules” like the recommended schedules listed above. Employees can be assigned to teams that follow certain patterns. Once a shift pattern is created, managers can then save and use it to auto-generate future schedules.

Shift Parameters

Workforce.com also allows managers to auto-build shifts based on demand. Managers can set parameters for every shift, like making them all 12 hours minimum in length. While this method sacrifices a consistent 12-hour shift schedule pattern, it properly adjusts for consumer demand and makes the scheduling process even faster.

Compliance

Beyond the obvious logistical hurdles of manually creating a 12-hour schedule, errors in labor compliance and break scheduling are additional causes for concern. Luckily, Workforce.com has compliance features such as classification tags designed to conform your business with regional labor and union policies regarding minimum wage, overtime, and break schedules.

Breaks in particular are a tricky part of the 12-hour schedule equation. Employee burnout resulting from excessive work demands and mismanaged break planning can be quite a common problem with this style of schedule.

Oh, you want an example? I’ll give you one. Nurses are especially prone to a condition deemed “occupational fatigue” when working 12-hour shifts according to a study published earlier this year in The Journal of Nursing Administration. The last thing a hospital or a patient wants is a bleary-eyed nurse haphazardly administering the wrong meds.

Employee burnout like this is something you absolutely want to avoid. Proper measures need to be taken to ensure workers subject to 12-hour shifts have sufficient recovery time between and during shifts. Luckily, Workforce.com makes it quick and easy to set up breaks to be automatically built into every employee’s schedule. Managers can also track breaks in real-time via notifications to ensure employees are taking properly timed breaks.

Labor Tracking

And remember: often, switching from an 8-hour to a 12-hour shift schedule can increase wages by around 2%. Workforce.com ensures cost neutrality during the switching process via live labor tracking that can tell you exactly when employees are working and how they are being compensated for their time.

Not for everyone

It is also worth knowing that 12-hour rotating shifts are not always applicable to every industry. For jobs requiring strenuous physical activity or long hours in the outdoors, 12-hour shifts may be too physically draining for employees to handle on a daily basis. Older employees and single parents may also find difficulty adapting to 12-hour shift schedules.

Moreover, workforce management software is best suited for automating 12-hour shifts for hourly workers in retail, hospitality, staffing, and sometimes healthcare. If your business is in a much more niche industry with highly specialized needs, it would be best to look for software specific to your use case.

Get Started

Are you ready to get started scheduling 12-hour shifts? Workforce.com has your back. Go ahead, book a call today or see it in action with a free trial.

(Psst…be sure to check out our user reviews below!)

April 25, 2022February 16, 2024

The Pros and Cons of 12-Hour Shifts

Summary

Knowing the pros and cons of 12-hour shifts can help scheduling managers determine if the model fits with the specific demands of their business and the availability of their employees.
The pros of 12-hour shifts are that they minimize shift handovers, reduce absenteeism, and save employees time and money.
The cons of 12-hour shifts are that they can increase labor costs and burnout while also making labor compliance more difficult.

Do 12-hour shifts make sense? Or is it better to schedule a standard eight hours a day per employee? Which one is for you?

Knowing the pros and cons of 12-hour shifts can help scheduling managers determine if the model fits with the specific demands of their business and the availability of their employees. Scheduling managers can set optimal hours for their employees, whether by following a scheduling pattern or scheduling employees according to user demand, while also ensuring they meet labor compliance requirements.

The Pros:

There are definitely certain advantages to 12-hour shifts, including:

Simple 24-hour coverage

For businesses that need 24-hour coverage, 12-hour shifts make schedules simpler since you only need two shifts per day to have total coverage (i.e. a day shift and a night shift). Because of this, 12-hour shifts tend to be much easier to routinely schedule than a multitude of smaller 8-hour shifts. Simplified 12-hour shift patterns can also be used, meaning administrative staff will spend fewer hours constructing schedules and filling shifts while dedicating more time to accomplishing more important tasks.

Fewer shift handovers

Working 12-hour shifts reduces miscommunication and variability between shifts while also allocating more time for employees to work on projects on a continuous basis. Focusing on projects for longer periods of time with less variability in the staff managing them means objectives get completed on time and to a higher standard, as opposed to a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation.

Most importantly, 12-hour shift patterns mean fewer shift handover problems. In a hypothetical scenario, let’s say a building needs security guards to work 24 hours a day to ensure it’s secure. If there were three guards scheduled for eight hours each, all of them would need to be filled in on important events/information occurring outside of their shifts. But if only two guards are scheduled for 12 hours each, only the two of them would need to be briefed on the security issues surrounding the building. Reducing the occurrence of shift handovers in this way helps to minimize employee skill and cost variability. It also helps minimize issues that can occur between shifts like miscommunication, equipment mistakes, and wasteful meeting times.

Reducing employee absenteeism

Employees working 12-hour shifts work fewer days, meaning they are usually more likely to turn up on the few days they’re scheduled. Employees have more to lose by skipping a 12-hour shift than an eight-hour shift since they would be sacrificing a greater number of working hours and, consequently, accrued annual leave hours. Moreover, greater responsibility tends to come with a 12-hour shift, further reducing the frequency of no call, no shows.

The greater number of days off that come with working 12-hour shifts may also reduce absenteeism. Employees can put this valuable time towards family, running errands, or dealing with other personal matters that might typically conflict with a traditional 8-hour shift schedule. Moreover, it seems as if the workforce is increasingly moving in the direction of more time off. A whopping 92% of US employees want a four-day workweek, which has been found to reduce stress, improve work-life balance, and actually increase productivity.

Saving money

Working fewer days per week means employees can save on other costs, like travel costs to and from work. If they worked eight-hour shifts, five days a week, they’d have to spend money traveling to work five days a week, while if they worked three 12-hour shifts per week, they’d only have to travel to work three days a week, helping them save on travel costs.

As per Jerry, a car insurance company, each American spends over $4,500 every year commuting to work, and that doesn’t consider the opportunity cost of the travel time involved. The opportunity cost in itself averages nearly $1,700 per employee per year. Saving on these costs would be a massive benefit.

The Cons:

Deploying 12-hour shifts also comes with several disadvantages, some of which include:

Increased risk of burnout

Working longer shifts can be emotionally and physically exhausting and can lead to burnout. Most notably, longer shifts might mess up sleep cycles for employees which can negatively affect their health.

This is especially true for employees who work night shifts – they typically get two to four hours less sleep than usual. Moreover, it can be quite difficult for night-shift workers to sleep during the day. Over time, this can cause health issues like insomnia.

In healthcare, where most nurse schedules typically involve 12-hour shifts, working longer hours may reduce the empathy nurses have for their patients and diminish the standard of care they provide to their patients. In the hospitality industry, employees may not be able to provide the same level of service throughout their 12-hour shifts. For factory work that involves manual labor, working 12-hour shifts may be physically draining and impossible to sustain. This also negatively impacts employee morale since working long shifts can take its toll on their health.

Higher labor costs

Depending on overtime laws in your location, 12-hour shifts may lead to higher labor costs.

For example, in New York, any hours worked over 40 hours a week are eligible to be paid at the overtime rate (1.5 times the regular pay rate). So, if you schedule employees to work four days a week, working 12-hour shifts each day, that means they’d be working a total of 48 hours. Forty of those hours are paid at the normal rate, while the remaining eight are paid at 1.5 times the normal rate. Employers need to be mindful of these overtime costs and schedule employees accordingly.

Typically, switching from an eight-hour to a 12-hour shift schedule can increase wages by around 2%. Ensuring cost-neutrality when switching to 12-hour shift scheduling is quite difficult, especially when no plan is in place. Even the slightest rise in labor costs can be extremely detrimental to a business’s operations. However, purposefully planning and designing a new scheduling process for cost-neutrality with the right workforce management strategy may actually eliminate an increase in labor costs.

Labor compliance difficulties

Beyond the obvious administrative issues of manually creating a 12-hour schedule, errors in labor compliance and break scheduling are additional causes for concern. You need to be mindful of minimum wage laws and overtime laws to ensure you remain legally compliant.

Breaks, especially, are very tricky to administer when dealing with 12-hour schedules. While no federal law requires you to give your employees breaks, you still need to provide them to ensure your employees remain productive. Now, if these breaks are between five minutes and 25 minutes, they’d have to be considered paid work time, but if they’re longer than 30 minutes, you can make them unpaid work breaks. You’d have to manage which breaks are paid or unpaid, adding to the difficulty of managing breaks.

Monitoring overtime laws to ensure employees get paid at the right rate for the hours they’ve worked can also be an administrative hurdle. Every location has different overtime laws, so you need to be mindful of these.

Involve employees in their scheduling decisions

While there are pros and cons to 12-hour shifts, a good way to determine if they’re right for your business is to involve employees in their scheduling decisions. Doing this empowers your staff and helps you determine whether 12-hour shifts are right for your business. Changing to 12-hour shifts represents a major cultural change. Involving your employees from the outset might pay off in the long run.

A good place to start is with a survey or open meeting intended to identify your employees’ priorities. Management should encourage workers to rank the importance of issues such as days off, consecutive workdays, weekends, overtime, and family and social needs. Once these group criteria are determined, management can begin looking at 12-hour options that address workers’ concerns and satisfy the company’s business objectives.

Want to know what role employee scheduling software plays in all this? Contact us today.