Shift Schedule

[captainchaos]

What kind of shifts do you guys work. We work M-T-F-Sa-Su-Tu-Th. Problem is it 44 hours one week and 36 the next. According to HR, FLSA makes them gives us two hours comp on the 44 week. We currently do 12 hour shifts set shifts. Anybody do anything different? Suggestions?

[bobbbbbbbbbbo]

We have a front half, and a back half schedule.

Front half works Su-Mo-Tu, Su-Mo-Tu-Wed. The Wednesday alternates.

Back half works Thu-Fr-Sat, Wed-Thu-Fr-Sat, again the Wednesday alternates.

12 hour shifts, so 36+48 (8 extra being overtime) ends up being about 88 hours of normal pay.

And shifts are 0500-1700, 0600-1800 and 0700-1900, staggerd so we dont all come into something as a shift and have no idea whats going on.

I like the setup. I couldnt imagine working 5 days a week anymore.

[lt4107]

Our schedule is laid out like this 6-7 people per 12 hr shift.

Week one:
Work Sunday - Wednesday - Thursday(off Monday,Tuesday,Friday,Saturday , Sunday)

Week two:
Work: Monday - Tuesday - Friday- Saturday (Off Wednesday and Thursday)

This gives us every other weekend off. One day we work a 8hr shift so it doesn't create overtime. Everyone chooses a different day for their 8hr so it works good.

[NorkinMan7]

Our dispatching schedule works like this. We have 2 night shifts and 2 day shifts of two people each.

Week 1: 7a to 7p or 7p to 7a
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday,

Week 2: 7a to 7p or 7p to 7a
Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday

It comes out to 48 hours one week and 36 the next. The three day weekends are great.

Yep...same as the schedule above.

[bobbbbbbbbbbo]

Our dispatching schedule works like this. We have 2 night shifts and 2 day shifts of two people each.

Week 1: 7a to 7p or 7p to 7a
Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday,

Week 2: 7a to 7p or 7p to 7a
Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday

It comes out to 48 hours one week and 36 the next. The three day weekends are great.

Yep...same as the schedule above.

I like how you never have to work more than 3 days in a row... Thats amazing, the 4 day work weeks here get rough.

[ridebmxnc]

I work for Raleigh 911

We have 5 Crews (4 telecommuniator and 1 call taking)

we all work set shifts of...

week one
monday, tuesday, friday, saturday, sunday
week two
wednesday, thursday

hours are 0630-1830 or 1830-0630 and we have swing shift people who come in from 0700-1900, 0900-2100, 1300-1500, and 1500-0300 to have more coverage during our peak work load times.

During our busiest times of the day we have 17 people on a shift but usually start in the morning around 11-12 depending on call outs/vacation.

[BoxAlarm187]

My wife is a fire & EMS dispatcher, assigned to permanent evening shift (1500-2300). Her schedule has rotating days off based on a 3-week cycle:

Mon-Tues-Wed-Thurs-Friday off-Sat-Sun
Mon-Tuesday off-Wednesday off-Thurs*-Friday-Sat-Sun
Mon off-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday off-Sunday off

* Every third Thursday is a training day, and the dispatchers from all three shifts work 0830-1700 in lieu of working in the comm center. They receive EMS continuing education, classes from the FD, PD, and SO, take tours to the county public safety facilities, do ride-alongs and the like.

[flyboy9503]

[QUOTE=ridebmxnc;1189327]I work for Raleigh 911

We have 5 Crews (4 telecommuniator and 1 call taking)

we all work set shifts of...

week one
monday, tuesday, friday, saturday, sunday
week two
wednesday, thursday

hours are 0630-1830 or 1830-0630 and we have swing shift people who come in from 0700-1900, 0900-2100, 1300-1500, and 1500-0300 to have more coverage during our peak work load times.

During our busiest times of the day we have 17 people on a shift but usually start in the morning around 11-12 depending on call outs/vacation.[/QUOTE


good thing you don't work the 24 hour shifts. i don't want anyone showing up at my house that has been up for that long deprived of sleep. how rediculous to think that someone can still perform after this time schedule. yes it may seem like less of a job when you stay at a station for 24 hours and that you have more time off , but it puts the public at great risk!

[BoxAlarm187]

Unless things have changed in the past couple of years, the Montgomery County, MD fire dispatchers are firefighters selected to come out of the field and serve as dispatchers. They still work 24-hour shifts, but have time alloted for sleep, meals, workouts, etc like the guys in the stations do. Don't quote me, but I believe that they work with 4 dispatchers per 24 hour shift with staggered breaks, meals, and sleep.

[unionprivate]

I work as an Emergency Dispatcher for a county Sheriff's Office. Not only do we dispatch the Sheriff's, but we also dispatch 5 local, town and village police departments, the State Police when needed, and assist the 3 other cities located in our county. In addition to PD, we also dispatch 35 volunteer fire companies, 2 volunteer ambulance services, and a career fire department. Our shifts run 645-1500, 1445-2300, 2245-700. Day shift and afternoons have minimum staffing of 4 dispatchers on at all times, while midnights has a minimum staffing of 3, except for Fri and Sat nights during the summer, then staffing is 4 until 300. Each of us bid on a year long shift, awarded based on seniority, from Jan- Dec. We all work a 4on-2off shift, with 3 platoons on each shift. We currently have 1 part timer who fills shifts as needed. The only requirement for that position, is that they must work half the hours of a FT schedule by years end. Lots of info for ya, take care!

[peak85]

We have 43 dispatchers working 4-10 hours shift per week with a long weekend off every other weekend.
We have staggered start times, eliminating confusion of everyone logging off/on at the same time.

My Shifts
Week 1 – Sun off, Mon off, Tue 0600, Wed 0600, Thu 0600, Fri off, Sat 1600
Week 2 – Sun 1600, Mon 1600, Tue off, Wed off, Thu 0600, Fri 0600, Sat off

We switched to this from the 5- 8 hour shifts about 3 years ago, which was a major improvement.

Daylight- Afternoon staffing = 7 Dispatchers 1 Supervisor
Afternoon – Night staffing = 10 Dispatchers 1 Supervisor

[thenextebell2]

at our center we work 24s, same rotation as the firefighters. It's nice because it keeps a sense of consistency across the shifts. obviously there are shift trades/sick calls/overtimes/mandates etc. so it isn't perfect but i couldn't imagine working anything other than the 24s

[Bostondude]

we have 4 dispatchers...we work 3 on/1 off/3 on and then 1 day the following week...84 hour pay period which is pretty sweet...plus lots of OT when people take LA

[Brick3633]

I dispatch for my local PD.. we have 6 dispatchers total..and have a dayshift, a nightshift..and some crap in between..allow me to explain lol..

*oh they're 10hr shifts also..

SHIFT TIMES:
Days - 0700-1700
Afternoons - 1400-0000
L1(layover) 1100-2100
5-3 - 1700-0300
Nights - 2100-0700

now if the times aren't jacked enough for you..here's my rotation...

Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, (2100-0700), off Fri, Sat, Sun (2100-0700)
Off Mon, Tues, Wed..Thurs(1400-0000) Fri(2100-0700), off Sat, Sun.

and it begins over again..so in a nutshell..every other weekend off, and every other week a 3 day off..so its confusing at first, but kinda nice too.
of course other dispatchers have a different rotation based on days and times, but thats my exact shedule above.

[BSFD140]

Saw this in the "new posts" miss understood it was in the dispatcher section.
(editing to talk about the dispatchers)

We have 3 full time dispatchers (one for each shift) and they are there for 24hrs. They have a bunk, and can relax and watch tv when not answering calls/radio traffic.

[Rodney15]

Sorry for the late post (and long post) just stumbled across this one!

Before I retired, Suppression side was 24 hours on - 48 off, basically you worked every third day, so you could be on say, A shift, or B or C, along with a Kelly day, and if I remember right, it was every 3 weeks, and we/they came on at 0800.

And there was, when I left (finally a total of 4), 1 Captain, 1 Driver-Engineer, 1 F/M and 1 F/F (usually a rookie), on each engine/ladder with all having a Fire-Medic on board, with lesser staffing on squad, brush, air and other smaller trucks.

Communications/Dispatch/Radio/Control (you name it) was a little different, they were 12 hour shifts (A and C were day shifts and B and D were night shifts), with two 12 hour shifts on, back to back with 2 days off, back to back, and NO Kelly days, and you worked 0700 to 1910 or 1900 to 0710.

Minimum staffing in Dispatch was 4 people and on a perfect day you had maybe 7, plus one supervisor, to operate the lead channel, plus 2 TAC channels (Eastside and Westside) plus answer 911 lines, but sick/vacation times kept that constantly whittled down.

And for a high stress environment in there, they had only a 40 minute Lunch and two 15 minute "mini breaks" and they had to pay for all three!

It got so bad in there, after the "old timers" retired (myself included) that they offered to hire them back, part time with no benefits and to work them whenever they needed some fill, needless to say I never even considered it and counted myself lucky to have a pension (no thanks to the State) after 32 long and hard years.

Stay safe and sleep all night (not anymore!)