Finding the right shift pattern

If you want to know what the best shift pattern is for you, then you need to understand how a shift pattern is designed. Then what are the advantages and disadvantages of each and how they will affect you over the year.

So to makes things simple for you, C-Desk Technology has set up a website to help you understand the different shift patterns.

Shift Patterns

So it covers the main types of shift patterns. Including, double shift, 24/5 and 24/7. There are also a variety of shift patterns set out over a full year for you to buy in the shop.

Should you need more help creating the perfect shift pattern for you, C-Desk Technology also offers a training course and consultancy packages.

So you don't need to struggle with designing a shift pattern any more. Just select the one that's right for you from as little as £1

Shop for Shift Patterns

As a business, C-Desk Technology is always trying to find new ways to make operating an efficient shift operation easier. To this end, we have set up a new internet shop to allow you to purchase shift patterns from £1.

All of our shift patterns have been created in our own shift pattern generator. They not only demonstrate what the shift pattern would look like over a year, but they also have limited functionality. Using Excel, the shift pattern displays, how many people are on duty and counts up the number of shifts and hours each person on the shift pattern is scheduled to work.

The shift pattern can be used for teams or individuals. The shift patterns can also be exported to VisualrotaX so that you can manage larger groups effectively, with full functionality.

Our website www.shiftpatterns.com also tells you about the advantages to different shift schedules.

Happy Shopping

Do your staffing levels match your workload?

If you don’t know what staffing levels you are trying to match, then you will always be incorrectly staffed. Shifts and Hours tables are the corner stone of shift scheduling. We start off the process of creating a shift schedule with an Hours Table’. It’s simple, along the top are the 24 hours for the day and down the side are the seven days off the week.

This figure is an example of the ‘Hours Table’. In this example the operation requires three people on during core hours Monday-Saturday 8am-4pm. During the rest of the week they require two people at all times. At the end of the table is a count of the total number of hours for each day and the week. In this example these staffing levels would require 384 hours per week.

Such a simple tool, yet from it you can work out the hours you require per week, and hence the number of people you need to employ to operate efficiently.

Then you can compare your required staffing levels with your current staffing levels. Do they match?

We have developed an Excel spreadsheet that allows us to create the shifts and plots them against the desired staffing profile for each day. So with the example where three are required on during core hours and two at all other times, let’s see what shifts would support this profile best. The graph below shows how we match the required staffing numbers to the number supplied by the shifts. Each day would have a different staffing requirement we would have to match. The one below would work for Monday to Saturday in this example. The required number would be entered from the ‘Hours Table’. The Shift Number would be based on the shifts used. This way we can check if the shifts met the requirement. In this example we have matched the requirement.

If you would like to find out more about creating an ‘Hours Table’ then follow this link.

If you would like some help creating a shift schedule then please contact us directly. You can download your own copy of the ‘Hours Forms’ from http://www.visualrota.co.uk/staffingprofile.xlsx This Excel file is for one hour increments, however we also do them in half hour and quarter hour increments too depending upon your workload requirement. Academic organisations often have two sets of Hours Tables, one for Term and one for Vacation Weeks.

What do I need to manage a shift operation?

Well where do you start with a question like that? Obviously the workload.

Workload

• What is your workload?
• What equipment do you need?
• What staffing levels do you need?
• What skills do you need?

You need to understand your workload and what skills, equipment, and staffing levels you need to cover it.

Manpower

Once you understand your workload you can start to look at your employees.

• What skills do you need?
• How many people should you employ?
• What should their terms and conditions be?

 Shift Operations

Once you are employing the correct number of staff with the correct skills, you can think about your operation.

How are you going to cover for annual leave?

How are you going to cover for absence?

How long should a shift be?

What shift pattern should you employ?

Day to Day Management

Once you have your shift operation staffed with a good shift pattern and procedures for every contingency, the day to day management is very easy. However you do need software and procedures in place.

For the software you can use VisualrotaX

It's designed specifically for shift operation. It give you information about how many hours each person has worked, records sickness, absence and training.

For the procedures you need to know:

• What happens when a holiday request is made?
• What happens when a sickness occurs?
• What happens if the workload changes?

Once you have your procedures and software in place, your operation practically runs itself. If you would like to know more about running a shift operation then visit our website or contact us directly.