Shift work advice

[Staplebug]

Hi all,

I have just been offered an internal IT operations role which is on a 12 hour shift pattern (7 till 7)
Looking at the rota it seems its 4 days on (2 days 2 nights) 5 days off and then 5 days on (2 days 3 nights) 4 days off.
It comes will a promotion and pay rise plus shift allowance which works out approx. 20k. I am comfortable at the moment but the extra money could come in really handy.
Does anyone have any experience of working these type of shifts?
Are you constantly tired? Do you miss your home life?
Just to add I have 2 young kids (3 & 6) so 2 days a week I will be leaving before they wake and returning when they are in bed.
Although it will give me a chance to pick them up and drop them at school when I am off.

Any advice is much appreciated

[Rick101]

Not ideal with young kids and 20k isn't a great deal of money for the inconvenience.

You lose all regularity, say goodbye to and clubs, or events you attend. You will put on weigh and you will die early. The time off is nice though

[littlebasher]

A couple of my friends work that pattern (plus all my colleagues in the data center). They all seem to love it, in particular all the time off they get between shifts.

Most of them have youngish kids as well, and they don't find it a problem

Go for it.

[MitchT]

No experience of shift work but I've wondered how alternating between different times affects you. Surely it must be like having jet lag regularly? I'd sooner work fixed unsociable hours than have to repeatedly switch between two different sets of hours.

[4x4Tyke]

Are you talking 20k extra? Because frankly £20k gross for IT Operations staff, they are taking your pants down.

[Staplebug]

4x4Tyke said:

Are you talking 20k extra? Because frankly £20k gross for IT Operations staff, they are taking your pants down.

Yes it's 20k on top of my current salary

[Rick101]

Ahh, that changes things! I was really amazed you were managing to look after a young family at under £20K but some people are in that situation.

It is hard, but if that's the uplift, you can use that extra money to make the most of your leisure time and get a few extra holidays in to make up for the shift work.

Your leave agreement might change (due to 12hrs) but you will only need to book your 2 days 2 nights off, to get 13 days off. You can make the most of that.

[djc206]

Rick101 said:

Not ideal with young kids and 20k isn't a great deal of money for the inconvenience.

You lose all regularity, say goodbye to and clubs, or events you attend. You will put on weigh and you will die early. The time off is nice though

I work shifts and I'm 11 stone wet. I work in a building where most people work shifts and very few of them are overweight so the weight thing is nonsense.

I work 8 hour shifts, 2 x 0630-1330, 2x 1330-2200 and 2x 2200-0630 then 4 days off. I cannot imagine going back to working 9-5 it truly is hell for those of us without kids. 2 days off in a row is not enough, I don't have to spend any time sat in traffic jams as I don't commute at rush hour and I don't have to wait until the weekend when everything is mobbed to go shopping etc.

7-7 doesn't sound good to me though as you don't really get to realise any of the above benefits of shift work. 12 hour shifts and nights is as the poster quoted points out a ticket to an early grave. £20k is a lot of money though, is there no way to give a go for a while and then if it doesn't suit revert to your current pattern?

[4x4Tyke]

Staplebug said:

Yes it's 20k on top of my current salary

Good, worth considering then.

Some places are manic all the time and other are manic only during rare crisis. If things are well run, you will be looking for things to do while you wait for issues to emerge. If it is not well run then it can be very high stress at a time (night) your mind & body are least equipped to deal with it.

Night shifts particularly rotating shifts are well documented as having a negative impact on health and works like compound interest it adds up over extended periods. I strongly suggest you do some of your own research on this specifically, there is plenty of good info out there and accessible.

A starting point.

https://sleepfoundation.org/shift-work/content/liv...

Some people handle it better than others and having the space, peace and quiet to properly catch up fatigue is essential.

I guess from your kids ages you are still pretty young, so you could consider do this for few years without too much negative impact. If so, I would recommend setting yourself a strict limit and put the extra income into saving as much as possible rather than adjusting your lifestyle to the higher income and getting trapped in it.

Edited by 4x4Tyke on Thursday 22 December 20:24

[renmure]

I don't do shifts, but I do some work in a factory where everyone is on 8hr Continental shifts. During the summer holidays when one shift is off the rota goes to 12hr shifts, 4 on - 4 off.

Not much help to you but some folk seem to love the 12hrs, mainly focusing on the concentrated work and lots of time off, while others hate it, mainly focusing on the feeling that they are always at work, getting ready to go to work or recovering from being at work.

[bearman68]

Shift work is st. You don't know if you are awake or asleep. Your days off will disappear in a long lie in and a catch up on sleep, while your Mrs nags you for being 'lazy' and why haven't you painted the back bedroom (or whatever). You'll eat junk food,and regular exercise will be a thing of the past. Any social activity with clubs is limited, and all your friends will give up on you as they don't know when you are off or in work. You will won't fancy your wife, but that's OK because you'll never see her anyway. Any TV you watch will be interrupted by 40 winks.
In work you will be out of the main decision making environment, so you won't know what's going on. No-one will like you, as you will become irritable, and unpleasant. Because you are tired, you will make erratic and bad decisions, and have no possible method of justifying it. You will write a long line of ZZZZZZzzz's in the shift log because that's what you are thinking about. Management will forget you, and leave you to rot on the 'backshift'
You will live on ready meals at 3 in the morning, or a kebab at 7am. You may well have a few beers to wash it down at the same time, as this is what it takes to get you to sleep. 3 pints of Stella at 7am is not a good lifestyle choice.
One day, you will crash your car, because you are asleep coming home from night shift, so get rid of the nice'thing you drive, and buy a 1.0l Corsa. It does't matter if you smash that, there are too many about anyway.

So, no in my opinion, the downsides are not worth the upside of having a Tuesday afternoon in Winter off.

All in my opinion of course.

[helmutlaang]

I work shifts 7-7 days and nights and have done for the last 11 years

I work 141 shifts a year so get plenty of time off.Granted I have no kids so only have myself to look after and nights can be tiring with an average of 4hrs sleep after every shift but after a set of nights I get 7 or 8 days off.Generally you only need 2 days to recover.

To say its a way to an early grave is a bit extreme I think.It's all about how you manage working the hours.

I manage to go to the gym or go for a bike ride most of the time I'm on nights.

I cant imagine ever going back on days.

[BIGDAI]

In the late 70's and early 80's l worked a 12 hr shift system in central London but, while it was 7-7 it was a week of nights, week of days, week off - none of this 2+2 and 2+3 nonsense!. My week ran Wed-Wed so we would start at 7pm Wed and do Wed, Thu, Fri night, Sat & Sun off, Mon, Tue night, finish at 7am Wed and be back in on days at 7am Thu & & Fri. Often would work Sat and/or Sun on overtime then Mon, Tue, Wed on days then off until 7pm the following week. If we worked it right a 2 week holiday only "cost" us 6 days' leave - Personnel never really twigged that! :-)

Money was stupidly good, l didn't have to fight rush hour traffic and the only time l struggled was on the Wed of night/day changeover. l was young and single and, importantly, no kids so it was fine and l really struggled coming to terms with 9-5 when l left.

Could/would l do it now? Not a chance but then, times have changed and l am hurtling towards 60! It's a young man's game!

[Efbe]

Staplebug said:

4x4Tyke said:

Are you talking 20k extra? Because frankly £20k gross for IT Operations staff, they are taking your pants down.

Yes it's 20k on top of my current salary

Ok Staple, careful with it is all I would say.

Have a few friends who have gone down this route. It's great for getting time off, a few days holiday gives you a nice long break.
Mentally and emotioally it is draining, many people bomb out of this shift work quie quickly, so make sure you are able to get another job in the company should this happen. Both of my friends have been doing it for 2-3 years and are now wanting out. My FIL on the other hand has done it all of his career and handles it well.

Biggest problem for them has been getting stuck in the job. To get another non-24x7 job means getting a job two/three paygrades higher to make the same money, unless of course you can find a promotion within 24x7 ops, which are very hard to get and even then hard to get out of.

[Rick101]

helmutlaang said:

To say its a way to an early grave is a bit extreme I think.It's all about how you manage working the hours.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33638905

Was a very good listen - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0639jpl

[Ms R.Saucy]

Rick101 said:

Ahh, that changes things! I was really amazed you were managing to look after a young family at under £20K but some people are in that situation.

It is hard, but if that's the uplift, you can use that extra money to make the most of your leisure time and get a few extra holidays in to make up for the shift work.

Your leave agreement might change (due to 12hrs) but you will only need to book your 2 days 2 nights off, to get 13 days off. You can make the most of that.

leave won't change becasue in most caaes even if 'days' are used in general conversation HR / rosters / payroll work it in hours .

[Rick101]

Exactly. Don't bank on having the same amount of 'days' if you move from 7 to 12 hrs.

For example, my 28 days reduced to 17 when I started shift work. Doesn't sound much but if you use them efficiently as I suggested above, you should get around 8 weeks off.

[HOGEPH]

It isn't the time on, it's the time off you want.

I loved doing 4 on 4 off, now I'm on 5 on 2 off, (but shorter days), I find 2 days off isn't enough time to do stuff.

[Ms R.Saucy]

Rick101 said:

Exactly. Don't bank on having the same amount of 'days' if you move from 7 to 12 hrs.

For example, my 28 days reduced to 17 when I started shift work. Doesn't sound much but if you use them efficiently as I suggested above, you should get around 8 weeks off.

however the hours of leave were exactly the same ... and a week's leave still used <contracted hours > hours of leave ...

'days' of leave only really works in an organisation were everyone does a nominal fixed length of shift , given many organisations have mixtures of 7.5 / 9 / 10 / 12 /13 hour shifts these days ...

[shed driver]

I work 12.5 hour shifts, a total of 15 per 4 weeks. This sounds great with all the days off, but I am continually tired, don't see the kids as often as I'd like and also struggle with driving home after a night shift especially if I've not slept well the day before.

It is well documented that it can have a detrimental effect on your health. I've done shifts now for 30+ years - starting out again there is no way I would do it.

My personal opinion, YMMV.

SD.