Have you ever worked the DuPont rotating shift schedule?

[ulav8r]

In 72-73 worked at a paper mill on rotating shifts. Best I remember started Monday at midnight. Worked 5, then off 2, came back on second shift, 5 on and one off, then 5 days on, one off, 5 more days, then a 5 day weekend. Sundays were double pay, any week over 40 got time and a half. Averaged 42 hours a week.

[Frosty Boolit]

I still maintain that 4/10 days is the greatest. Hire a 3 day weekend crew, and pay them for it if you want people to work weekends.

Blue collar wisdom right here, I've heard this statement hundreds of times in just 22 yrs of work.

[country gent]

The can plant at Campbells was on crews, it had to run 24-7 to keep up with the production schedule. If I remember there were 4 crews.
A crew was day shift Monday to Friday with one 12 hour shift on Tuesday
B crew was afternoon shift Monday to Friday with 12 hour on Tuesday
I dont remember C and D crews but they covered the 4 night shifts and Saturday and Sunday
A and B got 42 hours with 2 being overtime
C and D got 36 with 24 being overtime

[dverna]

There is no perfect schedule. Best you can do is find one most people are ok with. Impossible to keep everyone happy.

[trails4u]

I do a fair bit of incident management work (fire, hurricane, flood, national emergency, etc...). Typically it's 0600-2200, 16hr days, 14-21 days at a stretch, depending on the incident and/or other resources available. What we say is..... 'Embrace the Suck'....

[fatelk]

I spent nearly a decade in a semiconductor fab, working the "compressed shift": `12hr shifts, four on, three off, three on, four off. A shift was Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and every other Wednesday 7am-7pm. B shift was 7pm to 7am. C was back half of the week, alternating Wednesdays, and D shift was back half nights. There was no rotating, seniority determined the best shifts. 48 hours one week, 36 the next. The built in overtime was nice.

Then one day they decided on a money saving change. They decided we needed an hour-long lunch break, alternating of course so the shift was still covered. We still did the same work in the same day as before, took the same lunch as we had time, arrived and left at the same time, but got 44 and 33 hours per week instead of 48 and 36. I've never seen so many angry workers in my life.

I work 4-10's now, love it. OT on Fridays occasionally, and call-out on weekends when things break down. Add in a short commute, flexible hours, and lots of time off after nearly 20 years, and it's hard to beat.

[Bmi48219]

When I first started working construction, on weekdays your first 8 hrs were ST, next 2 hrs were PT (time and a half) any hours after that we’re all DT (double time). Saturday, Sunday and holidays were all double time.
Back then we had a saying; all I want is forty hours, ten Saturday and ten Sunday.
Also if you didn’t have a full 8 hour shift off your next shift started and stayed on overtime, either time and a half or double time, which ever the day of the week required. Within 10 years they had negotiated away our double time on weekdays and Saturdays.
A 4-10s schedule was good but not a rolling 40 (4-10s on and 4 days off) because you wound up working weekends for straight time. That didn’t go over well.

[MT Gianni]

I was friends with several who worked that shift in Idaho in the 80's. Most loved it as it allowed them to farm and still get in a days paid work. Their farms usually suffered a little for it. I think it depends on your body. many can get used to it but some cannot. Many love it as the bosses are usually 8-4 Mon-Fri and they can do a lot less with only foreman trying to cover a shift.
I worked in an industry where there was real concern about who could drive the pull truck when the DOT said you couldn't drive more than 16 hours in a day. WHen power or gas is out 20-25 hours straight work was not unusual. The money was good if you could hang on to it.

[Geezer in NH]

As a FF in a big city I worked 2 10 hour days and 2 14 hour nights. 4 group system. Had a calenderer with groups on it so new year in advance when my group worked.

Day 1 10 hrs off 14 hrs, day 2 10 hours, 48 hrs off, next 14 hour shift, 10 off, 14 hour shift 72 hours off.

Way better than the older 48 hour weeks. We were however on call by recall group for multiple alarms (no extra pay) 1 day and one night (14 hour)

2 Years after I retired dept went to 24 hour shifts no idea how that works but brothers were very happy with it. I could see it be nice in a slow company but I was never in one of them. (to me that would be very BORING)

[rbuck351]

I did corrections for 20 years. We worked 7 12s on days then had a week off and then 7 12s on nights. I switched institutions and they gave some positions straight nights or straight days. I got lucky and got one of the straight night positions for the last six or seven years. You take a week of and have a three week vacation. And with straight nights I avoided the stressful day night switch and admin. There were no days off for holidays but you got an extra 8 hrs pay if you worked a holiday. You got OT for any time over 84 hrs a week or any time worked on your week off. If you worked a holiday on your week of it was 12 hrs OT and 8 hrs holiday pay. I really liked the schedule.

[gwpercle]

Could be worse ... You could be in business for yourself ...
then your schedule is from can untill can't with no overtime and no time off .
Gary

[TyGuy]

I work as a tech at an auto dealership. My department has three techs and works Monday through Friday, 7a-6p and alternate one day off during the week. So one week I’m off Monday. The next week I’m off Wednesday. The third week I have Friday off which rolls into the first week of the cycle (Monday off) resulting in a 4 day weekend every three weeks. It also opens up an extra lift three days a week to increase capacity for the two techs working M,W, and F. I really like the 4 ten hour days.

[Rich/WIS]

Before retirement worked for a company that provided underground locating services to various utility companies. Work was nominally 8 hours a day, overtime started after 40 hours. Say nominally because during the construction season was not unusual to be on OT on or before end of day on Wednesday. Had a lot of pay periods of 80 regular and 70-80 OT hours. We were also called out at night if utility repairs required digging, call out time was time and a half from when we left home until we got back. Was the best job I ever had, as long as you did the work only saw the supervisor when he brought supplies, and had a company truck so no vehicle expenses.

[Bmi48219]

The can plant at Campbells was…..

country_gent,
Do you recall when Campbells rejected a shipment of can steel from National Steel? I think it was around 1999 or 2000. It became a joke in the steel construction industry that their steel couldn’t hold soup.

[MaryB]

Before retirement worked for a company that provided underground locating services to various utility companies. Work was nominally 8 hours a day, overtime started after 40 hours. Say nominally because during the construction season was not unusual to be on OT on or before end of day on Wednesday. Had a lot of pay periods of 80 regular and 70-80 OT hours. We were also called out at night if utility repairs required digging, call out time was time and a half from when we left home until we got back. Was the best job I ever had, as long as you did the work only saw the supervisor when he brought supplies, and had a company truck so no vehicle expenses.

My job at the casino was theoretically 40 hours a week... it was very rare I was under 60 hours a week. I was 1 of 2 electronic repair techs keeping 1800 slot machines, 40 or so signs, the slot machine accounting data network, and anything else electronic running... we worked until it was fixed!

[fatnhappy]

The schedule itself is not designed to short you on overtime. You are still working 7 days in a 2 week pay period no matter what. The purpose is to get people to work weekends. It's an older concept, you don't see it in that exact form very often anymore. I currently work with two guys who do a version of that, except the rotation isn't much of a rotation with only two. They work 12 hour shifts. It's the 12 hour days non-stop that gets you. I opted for mon-fri 9 hour days.

3M is a good example of what that schedule has become. They not only rotate days, they rotate shifts. So you are working 8 hour days in theory, but one week you are on 1st shift, the next on 2nd, then the next on 3rd. I don't know what order they do it in. It's straight up torture. Why anyone would subject themselves to that for a little more pay, I'll never know.

I still maintain that 4/10 days is the greatest. Hire a 3 day weekend crew, and pay them for it if you want people to work weekends.

4/10 is almost the greatest.


The greatest was the deal I negotiated in 2001 when my son was born. I worked 3 12s. Friday, saturday, sunday. paid lunch. 6:00 am to 6:00pm. no swinging of shifts. I was paid a 40 hour week. the 4 additional hours granted to me so long as I worked 36. Anything over 36 hours was OT.

When I took a week's vacation I only needed to use 36 hours from my PTO bank and was paid 40, so I was effectively awarded 2 additional vacation days a year. Any holidays that fell M-Th were banked in my PTO.

When my son was little I was a stay at home Dad monday to thursday. My wife and I never paid for daycare. I was able to get out of all the BS in-law stuff on the weekends. I never dealt with weekend hunters. I got to take my son fishing anytime I wanted. When my mother was dying of pancreatic cancer I had the time I needed to take care of her, take her to the oncologist and chemo, see to it she was fed and ultimately was able to help her live at home until she passed.

They had to pull me off that shift kicking and screaming.

[shortlegs]

Try working the extra board at a railroad. 8hr to 11hr 59 min. and you get 8 hrs off add 1 min more and you get 10 hrs off. You never know when your next shift will be except that you will have 8 to 10 hrs off before you can work again. It was great pay and the retirement is great, but the extra board is not a family friendly work cycle.

[megasupermagnum]

4/10 is almost the greatest.


The greatest was the deal I negotiated in 2001 when my son was born. I worked 3 12s. Friday, saturday, sunday. paid lunch. 6:00 am to 6:00pm. no swinging of shifts. I was paid a 40 hour week. the 4 additional hours granted to me so long as I worked 36. Anything over 36 hours was OT.

When I took a week's vacation I only needed to use 36 hours from my PTO bank and was paid 40, so I was effectively awarded 2 additional vacation days a year. Any holidays that fell M-Th were banked in my PTO.

When my son was little I was a stay at home Dad monday to thursday. My wife and I never paid for daycare. I was able to get out of all the BS in-law stuff on the weekends. I never dealt with weekend hunters. I got to take my son fishing anytime I wanted. When my mother was dying of pancreatic cancer I had the time I needed to take care of her, take her to the oncologist and chemo, see to it she was fed and ultimately was able to help her live at home until she passed.

They had to pull me off that shift kicking and screaming.

Yes, that is a dedicated weekend shift that I wish more companies would use. There are quite a few people that are more than willing to work weekends for the extra pay, and weekdays off. The night weekend shift is still a tough sell, but it is what it is.

[armoredman]

i work corrections i work 12 hour days 4 on 4 off that is the greatest perk. I take 4 days off equals 12 without having to go in to work.

Greetings brother, been working behind the wire for 20 years now.
We have a 3 on, 4 on schedule. We get paid ALL overtime.

For example, PM Back shift, (back half of the week off), will work first week, Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed 12 hour shifts. Then 3 days off. Then 3 12 hour shifts, Sun/Mn. Tue...and on Wed things get goofy.
You HAVE to have 40 hours on your time card, so the original plc was on the long week, on day 4, you claim 4 hours regular time, then 5 hours over time and 3 hours compensatory time. The comp time translates to basically 4.5 hours of leave/vacation/whatever you wanna call it. Then, on the hort week, you burn 4 hours comp to get your 40, and bank 1/2 hour comp. Since I earn the top rate of annual leave, (vacation), I take all 8 as OT and burn 4 hours AL every pay period, and still end up on top.
Goofy, but we've been doing it for over 5 years now.

[armoredman]

As a FF in a big city I worked 2 10 hour days and 2 14 hour nights. 4 group system. Had a calenderer with groups on it so new year in advance when my group worked.

Day 1 10 hrs off 14 hrs, day 2 10 hours, 48 hrs off, next 14 hour shift, 10 off, 14 hour shift 72 hours off.

Way better than the older 48 hour weeks. We were however on call by recall group for multiple alarms (no extra pay) 1 day and one night (14 hour)

2 Years after I retired dept went to 24 hour shifts no idea how that works but brothers were very happy with it. I could see it be nice in a slow company but I was never in one of them. (to me that would be very BORING)

God made firefighters so COs could have heros - I've had to fight fires in the Navy and in the prison - no WAY do I wanna do that full time!