# ATTENTION ALL SHIFT WORKERS...post your shift schedule, tell us why you like/hate it



## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

alrighty then. here's the deal. i've been working rotating shifts for 20 years now....and it sucks. i posted my schedule on another thread and ********* was kind enough to post one he knows about at dupont. i like his and i'm looking for alternatives to the one i work. here's mine....

it's 4 shifts working 8's with 3 shifts covering the 24 hours. one shift is always off. it starts off with.....

evening shift, 3 - 11, wednesday through tuesday.
off wednesday and thrusday and go back in thrusday night for mid shift. 
midnight shift, 11 - 7, friday through thrusday morning.
off friday and saturday.
day shift, 7 - 3, sunday through saturday (with saturday being an overtime day) then off sun, mon, tues and then it starts all over again wednesday. 

in a nut shell.....it's 7 days of eve shift with 48 hours off and then 7 days of mid shift followed by 2 days off and then 7 days of day shift with 3 days off. 

i've always said that we've been doing this backwards. if we have to work 8's, it should be day shift, then mid shift followed by evening shift and then back to days. working mids for that lenght of time (7 days) with only a 2 day turn-a-round then jumping into days is insane. it really screws with your body. i've done this for twenty years and you always feel like you have perpetual jet lag. 

management doesn't really care and have groaned about sending the book keepers into a hissy fit if we do something different. they've never had an alternative to this shift and this is the only one they've ever done. they did say that they'd consider an alternative if we could come up with something different that they'd agree too. so there it is.....i'm looking for alternatives. i'd like to hear what you guys do and why you like it/hate it. thanks.


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## MarcusT (May 25, 2005)

I enjoy my shift work. Two weeks on two weeks off. I worked in refining for 13 years and rarely had any time off. Even though I was on an M-F 8 to 5 schedule, it seemed we always had "special" projects that required many long nights and weekends. Now I work in the oil patch and my two weeks off can be totally devoted to my family and hobbies.


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## OUTLAW (May 26, 2004)

I'm working a 8 hr rotating shift (5 day long change)and it kinda sucks but it beats the 15 yrs I was on nights only. We're voting on a Dupont 12 hr shift (7 day long change) in a few weeks to see if enough people here want to try it. Hope we get to at least for a year.


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## FormerHR (May 21, 2004)

I've worked what we just refer to as the "Dupont or plant" schedule. That seven days off every month was a little mini vacation. The only bad part of that schedule was the short turn around, I think it was getting off Sunday afternoon and then coming back Tuesday night. The seven off still made it worth while.

Now we work a 12 hour schedule of 4 on, 5 off, 5 on, 4off, 5 on, 5 off. You work a month of days and then flip flop to nights. It's not a bad schedule either. Shift work is the best. I've been working shift for about 10 years and I can't imagine only having 2 days off a week.


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## Txpintal (Sep 19, 2004)

Dupont schedule the only way to go ! I've worked the rotating 8's where you only get four days off and working 7 straight on Nights, then Day, then Grave yards, still spent 12 hours a day with Vactions and people calling off. Seemed like you never had anytime off. We've been on the dupont for 15 years now.
Always got time off to fish , hunt, play golf. Only draw back to this is you spend a whole lot more Money... Thinking about straight day job now and it's hard giving up all the time off.


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## judweiser (May 22, 2004)

*Love mine*

I work 12 hr shifts, one week, WORK mon, tues, OFF wed, thurs, WORK fri, sat sun, next week, OFF mon, tues, WORK wed, thurs, OFF fri, sat sun. 84 hrs in two weeks, at first we worked on 8 hr shift in to keep it at 80 hrs, now the city just pays us straight time for the extra 4 hrs. Currently rotating days to nights monthly, the rotation isn't as bad as I thought it would be doing it that short, but with working 14 and off 14 in a 28 day period, I guess the body doesn't get too used to days or nights, and every other weekend being a three day weekend is great.


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## gater (May 25, 2004)

*Schedule*

I work the Dupont schedule but have worked the 4 on 4 off before and I 
believe the Dupont is the best. Not only having the week off every 28 days but the fact that all your days working and all your days off stay the same. The only thing that changes is the dates. The short turn around in the middle is what I hear the most complaints about but it does'nt bother me. That is what I'm doing now, finished days Sunday evening and start back on nights tonight. The worst part for most of us is what we call He!! week, which is the 4 days prior to our 7 days off. By the way, I would work straight nights if they let me. Gater


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## bd2dabone (Aug 16, 2005)

*4 on 4 off/ 12 hours, rotating*

i start nights tonight, working tues, wed, thurs, friday, come home saturday morning and be off saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday, go back on wednesday dayshift, working wed, thurs, fri, saturday, off sun, mon, tues, wed, go back on nighshift thursday night, working thurs, fri, sat, sunday nights etc.......


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## reef_runner (Mar 21, 2005)

I work the "Dupont" schedule also. Long breaks are really nice when we get to take them. I have been working this schedule for 11 years now. Worked the 7-7-6 eight hour schedule for 7 years, it had it good points and bad points. I could get a lot more done after work on the 8 hour shift versus the 12 hour shift. I hated the evening shift (2pm-10pm). Never could get anything acomplished that week.


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## Walkin' Jack (May 20, 2004)

First of all let me start by saying that I LOVE shift work. I have always enjoyed chasing my dreams when every one else was grinding away at their jobs. To me Sat and Sun were days to do the yardwork and honey-dos. I hate the crowds that always flock to the water on the weekends and ruin it for every one. I wouldn't have survived as a 9-5er m-f.

I went to work for Shell in the late 70s and worked rotating 8s for most of my time there. I retired in Jan of 01 and worked the DuPont rotating 12s for the last few years. There is good and evil in both schedules.

Below I'll list the things I loved and hated about both schedules.

8 hour shift
Pros. 1. You only worked 8 hours a day. When on days I could get home by 3:00 PM and have plenty of time to take care of any business I needed to. I still had enough steam left in the old boiler to enjoy my family and have some quality time with them.
2. More overtime opportunities were available. 
3. Back then I was fishing hard. On days I could get down to the surf for a few hours of fishing. On evenings I could get up early and go BEFORE work. Manys the time I went to work and 3:00 PM with a big garbage bag full of fresh caught fish. And Graveyards...Graveyards was like having the day off. Get up about noon or before and have the entire day at my disposal.

Cons. 1. Only one weekend off per month. 
2. each longchcange, only 3 1/2 days, was preceeded by 7 long graveyards in a row. It took me a day or two to get my hours straightend back around after each set. Then the LC was followed by 7 evening shifts in a row. If your wife worked you can appreciate the concept of "Friday night on 3-11s"  ) Depending on your breaker day you had to get up early every morning for 6 days in a row (The worst for me).

12 hour shift
Pros. 1. Obviously the 7 day long change. 
2. Never working more than 4 days in a row. 
3. Working 14 days per month vs 21. 
4. 2 weekends off per month instead of just one.

Cons. 1. On any day I worked, day or night, Shell had be for the day. By the time I got home I had time to shower, eat, and sleep...PERIOD. Family and personal bubsiness had to wait for a day off. 
2. This one is political. When we went to 12s we lost 57 jobs. As a member of OCAW that is not a thing I could easily abide. If a labor union isn't growing, it's dying. We should not even considerd anything that would reduce our numbers. We killed a lot of jobs. I know a lot of the younger folks don't care much about that but most of the older guys, guys that were around when the union still had some teeth, will be able to see the difference. 
3. Working 12 hours a day without getting overtime pay.

When we were going through the difficult time of getting permission for 12s a lot of friendships were distroyed, a lot of feelings were hurt, a lot of harsh comments were generated from both side. Our union suffered some terrible division. It was ugly. I was glad when it was over and it didn't make much difference to me by that time what shifts shcedule I worked. All the proponents of 12s went around saying that once we made the change all the dissenters would change thier minds. While I fought against it, I must admit that it wasn't that bad in a lot of ways. I just hated giving up all those jobs. If I had to chose today which one to go back to I'm still not sure what I'd pick.

I brought home a copy of the DuPont schedule for my wife right before the final election. The one where 12 hour shifts passed. I told her that I saw no way that I would get to finish my time on 8 hour shifts. She looked it over and said... "You don't want to do that??" She thought it was good. I explained my objections but like the vast majority of folks, she couldn't see past the 7 day long change. "If you go on that", she said, "I'll quit my job and we'll ALWAYS be together. I told her not to threaten me that I was already having some problems with it. 

Anyway she kept her word and quit her job. She rotated with me. When I was on nights she'd stay up and do house work or computer stuff etc and hit the sack with me when I got home. When I was on days she'd kiss me good by in the morning and have her regular day. Then we'd sleep at night. I do believe that this is the reason I made the adjustment as well as I did.


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## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

Walkin' Jack said:


> 3. Working 12 hours a day without getting overtime pay


thanks walkin....very indepth response....just what i'm looking for. i'd like to print out all of you guys responses and take them to work for a 'round table discussion if you guys don't mind. so far, i'm very interested in the dupont schedule. i have to admit, i'm also very interested in that 7 days off period......sounds almost to good to be true.

your point walkin' about the overtime. i'm not sure i understand how the 12 hour thing works in regards to pay. with the rotating 8's, even though your working 7 days straight, the pay period includes only 5 of those days so you get your 40 for the week (the only exception to this is that one saturday at the end of day shift...which is 8 ot). anything after 8 and after the 40 is considered ot. with the dupont schedule, how does the company and timekeeping work the 12 hour thing. is the last 4 considered ot? just how do they compute your time?

thanks for your responses. i want to be able to explain (to co-workers AND to management) how other companys deal with this.


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## gatorbait (May 21, 2004)

*4 on 4 off*

Thats the schedule I work. Its ok as a red headed step child to the DuPont. My biggest complaints on the 4on4off schedule is you work 3 straight weekends then your off for 3. Makes it tough to make GATHERINGS and kids sporting events. Also our checks rotate. Somemonths we are on 48hr checks and then some months we are on 36hr checks. You have to adjust your budget a little for the swing but once your used to it its manageable. Other than them two things I like the schedule. We have tried to get this place to go to the DuPont but we got too many OLD hands that are HARDHEADED and wont change just because they dont wanna change. Refuse to be open minded and at least try. Maybe they'll retire soon and we can make another run at it. Management was up for it because our marketing and trade group work DuPont and it could line us out with them since we wotk so closely with them downtown.

Z


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## Tall Steve (Jun 22, 2004)

I hate to digress, but I wanted to add to what WJ said about being on the same schedual as your family.

I work nights also (from 3 p.m. untill job completion normally around 3 a.m.)
My wife and 2 children (3 yrs and 6 months.) stay up till about midnight.

People laugh at me when they see my kids up at 11 or 12 p.m. or later on my days off. But they dont understand I need them to stay in bed untill about 10 am. in order for me to get some sleep on my work days.

This would not be possible if my wife did not stay home with the kids. I thank God every day for a wonderfull wife, she is amazing and I would not be able to do it with out her.

hear, hear for the Bailey time-zone as my friends like to call it.


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## elkhunter49 (Jun 7, 2004)

*12's all the way*

I worked the 8hr schedule for about 15 years and I've been on
the Dupont schedule for 8.5 years now. I've got two kids (14 and 16)
and my wife is a school teacher. For my family and I, the 12 hour schedule
is by far the best for us. Later Baker


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## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

Burglar said:


> i just want to thank all of you for the information. normally it would take me weeks to gather all this up. cities, names, work schedules and much more. thanks for making my tough job a little easier see ya soon, the burglar


....and when ya do, you can say hello to my 12 ga. or the 38. the wife knows how to use 'em too. one of the benefits to working any rotating shift is that somebody is almost always home. now please don't hijack my thread. back to topic......


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## Channelcat (May 22, 2004)

We work the dumbest schedule possible. Our maintenance crew is divided into four teams. Each team works two weeks of 5-8's, off Sat and Sun. Then work two weeks of 4-10's off Sat, Sun, and Monday. Best way to demo:
Team 1.....8,8,8,8,8-OO-8,8,8,8,8-OOO-10,10,10,10-OOO-10,10,10,10-OO
Team 2.....8,8,8,8,8,-OOO-10,10,10,10-OOO-10,10,10,10-OO-8,8,8,8,8-OO
Team 3.....O, 10,10,10,10-OOO-10,10,10,10-OO-8,8,8,8,8-OO-8,8,8,8,8-OO
Team 4.....O-10,10,10,10-OO-8,8,8,8,8-OO-8,8,8,8,8-OOO-10,10,10,10-OO

Best thing about this schedule is the management doesn't have a clue which employees are working on any given Monday or how many hours an employee is working that week.


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

Burg, I hope your post are in jest. If not, take a hike.
Mike


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## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

another question.......how are vacations and holidays handled? when you take a day of sick or vacation, i assume that your charged a day and a 1/2 (12 hours)...right? 
what if you need someone to stay and cover part of another shift if someone calls in sick or something? does that mean that you have to work a 16 hour day? sorry to ask so many questions, but i've never delt with 12 hour shifts before (and neither has management) and i need the answers to present to co-workers and the anti-christ, uh...i mean the boss.


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## elkhunter49 (Jun 7, 2004)

Hey dirt, forget about burglar. There is one in every crowd. now to 
answer your questions as best I can. All vacation and time off is 
figured on 12 hrs. If your working and your relief calls off then whomever
calls the overtime on your shift starts calling people who are on days
off to work 12 hrs O.T. If nobody takes it then somebody is going to
have to stay over 6 hrs and someone is going to have to go home and 
return 6 hrs ahead of schedule, which will give them time and a half pay
for their regular schedule. This overtime policy get's complicated and can
and will be manipulated by some for their personal gain. Gotta run, Later Baker


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## reef_runner (Mar 21, 2005)

That is right vacation is 12 hours a pop. It does go quick, I try to plan stuff around my long break when possible. At our plant we cover the open shifts with OT. The person wanting off has to find the coverage unless it is an emergency(calling in sick, funeral leave, etc) the it falls onto the shift leader to find the coverage. If you have a good group of people that take care of each other it works fine, but if someone doesn't cover their part it doesn't work. That is one of the problems we have at our plant right now. A handful of people will not cover their part and then they get mad when they cannot get coverage. We get payed every two weeks and it usually comes out 36 straight time hours (3 days worked) the first week, the second week is 40 hours straight time hours and 8 hours overtime(4 days worked).


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## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

thanks for the help guys.....keep 'em comming. the more info i have the stronger case i can build.


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## bigreave (Aug 28, 2004)

7 days 6 to 6 off, 7complete days , 7 days 6to6 nights . love it went from working 4 10's to this and have a whole week of no call out unless you want the over time and if you get a call out min of 3 hours overtime . great working for the state


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

> Originally Posted by *Burglar*
> _i just want to thank all of you for the information. normally it would take me weeks to gather all this up. cities, names, work schedules and much more. thanks for making my tough job a little easier see ya soon, the burglar_


Perhaps this person felt the need to let all of us know, that posting too much personal information might leave us all vulnerable and didn't want to make that point under his usual handle. For example, he might have paid a hefty price in the past for his personal convictions, and might have been only trying to protect us from ourself. Perhaps he speaks from experience. Just a thought.


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## dicklaxt (Jun 2, 2005)

*Think about this one*

I worked this exact shift while serving with Uncle Sam 1955 t0 1963

Heres the shift sequence with 4 crews

3 day shifts
3 days off
3 mid shifts
3 swing shifts..
Double back to days and start the sequence all over.

The fill in crew when needed was always the next scheduled crew to come on duty.That way your off time was never compromised unless it was an emergency setting.

Work hours start and stop times can be any thing you elect but always a 9 hour shift with 30 minutes overlap on the front and back ends for briefing,,,,,,in the civilian world this gives you one hours overtime each day. The crew working day shift on sat & sun gets time and a half for sat and sun work and all crews working Holidays from 12 mid to 12 mid get double time, thats for all crews in that 24 hour period.Details can and should be added or deleted to best fit your Unions/employers requirements etc. I don't recall what company and/or companies worked this schedule but there were some to my recollection.

I did a random 30 day sampling of overtime hours and it was 48 hours OT plus or minus,this will of course vary on the start and stopping of schedules but should all balance out for each crew in the long run.That doesn't include double time hours that may come into play for Holidays.

I spent nearly 9 years in the USAF and worked this schedule almost exclusively. We would swap out shifts on occasion to get a longer stretch of time off to go see that special squeeze on occasion,LOL


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## SpecklFinAddict (Dec 19, 2004)

The Burg just might find us at home in the middle of the day with a special bonus for his endevour. Unless he knows what shift we're/ I'm on he's more than likely gonna find me waiting for him. But your right Mont, too much info, especially over the internet isn't a good thing.

I too, work the Dupont and like my 7 off.Problem is when your company/ refinery understaffs then your forced into mega OT. For some it's not a problem and I like my share, except when the fish are biting. 
Did the 14 and 14 offshore thing also for 10 years. It got old after 2. Plus they stuck me on a rig that you couldn't fish on. Took all the joy away real quick like.


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

Flatout, his intentions were good, maybe his delivery was off, but anyone on schedule simply needs to be careful about posting that. I have no use for thiefs, nor does the burg. How come you couldn't fish off of a rig? That's a new one to me.


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## Profish00 (May 21, 2004)

24/7


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## SpecklFinAddict (Dec 19, 2004)

First 2 years I was working a platform rig for Texaco. It was sweet too. 200ft of water and plenty of time on my hands. Caught snapper, grouper, amberjack, shark... The rig stacked and I got sent to a barge rig out of Venice. Problem was, they were drilling in 15-50 ft of water out of SW Pass. I could fish , just got tired of hardheads. They were the biggest hardheads you'd ever seen though.Spent 6 years on that rig drilling for Ocean Energy. Ended up working for Transtexas out of....Dickenson Bay. Ironically, that was some of the best fishing I ever had. Those wells between Moses and Eagle Point produce some good fishing at times. I once caught 10 flounder in one spot in 2 hours. One was a beast at 24". Not bad for a day's work!


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## N.O.B.S. (Oct 3, 2004)

Here's one,start Saturday 12 hr, 6-6 days,4 day's, come back Friday nights 6-6 for three nights.Come back on Wednesday for three days 6-6 weekend off.Start Monday 6-6 for four nights, get off Friday morn at six and don't come back till the following Saturday for a total of eight days off. Sucks the first night shift because have been on normal sleep schedule for 15 days at that time.Week off is nice though and do get days off when no one is around.


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## BigBay420 (Jun 20, 2005)

I work 4am to 1pm and I love it. I miss the traffic and I get home early. I run the chill water plant at the Houston Gallaria. You wouldn't believe how big the chillers are. It takes a lot of a/c to cool the galleria if you think about it. I hate to say, but I like my job very much.


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## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

BigBay420 said:


> It takes a lot of a/c to cool the galleria if you think about it.


it takes alot of a/c to do this too.


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## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

BigBay420 said:


> You wouldn't believe how big the chillers are.


yea, i would.


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## BigBay420 (Jun 20, 2005)

What tonage are those sob's


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## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

BigBay420 said:


> What tonage are those sob's


300 tons. 3 units, 2 compressors on each (1 high stage and 1 low stage). top of unit is at the bottom of the third floor. that's the end of one of the low stages you're looking at. here's a couple more......we do from -105f to +165f.


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## BigBay420 (Jun 20, 2005)

We got 4 1400 ton and 4 650 ton 2 stage machines and there all Tranes. Also one small 350 ton carrier for the ice rink and 4 700 hp steam boilers. So what do yall do?


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## dirtracer1 (Sep 17, 2005)

we have 3 hundred horse boilers. number 2 is broke right now. the refractory broke....blue flames coming out the front.....very kewl. scared the s___ outta of a couple people. 
what we do? we provide envoironmental conditions for the dod and civilian contractors. cold, hot, wind, dust, rain, sun, salt exposure....just about any weather extreme except lightning from -65f to +165f. actually, we can get down to -105f if needed. we can fit a c5-a galaxy in the main hanger (there are several other smaller test cells available too). we have the capability to run engines and simulate inflight conditions for any aircraft. we also provide the conditions for icing tests and faa icing certifications (simulating inflight icing conditions without the fear of crashing) for military and civilian aircraft of all types and sizes. our customers range from everything in the military (airforce, navy, army, etc) and nasa to civilian custormers. some of the latest have been ford, crysler, goodyear, etc. you name it, it's been here. there's not another facility on the planet that can do what we do. 
btw.....our units are made by york.


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