Shift patterns

[sam2304]

I've worked night shift for 10 years now in a variety of different shift patterns, 4 nights on 4 nights off being my personal favourite. Decent work life balance and fair share of weekends off. I like having days off during the week when things like the gym, cinema, restaurants etc are generally quieter.  Many friends and colleagues have said that doing Monday to Friday 9-5 is the dream and of course I can see the benefits, weekends off, always know when you'll be working so easy to plan things. 

What's the general consensus among the P&B world? 

[the snudge]

I work 2 x 24 hour shifts Saturday, next Monday. All my hours done in a short space and my week is free. Especially grand when the kids are at school and nursery. 

[Bairnardo]

Shifts all my days. Iv 2 weeks on 3 weeks off, 3 weeks on 3 weeks off, and a swingy days/nights type deal. Nights are getting worse the older I get, of that there is no doubt. I dont like the idea of Mon-Fri but I dont want to be working shifts all my days either. So pretty much hope for one or two of my speculative share punts to one day yield enough to go part time..... That or the lottery. 

 

Shifts is better, but need to remain aware of the health issues IMO

[hk blues]

In one of my last places, we had 24/7 operation and the weekend Day guys did 2x12 hours Sat/Sun and that was them for the week.  

[dave258]

After years of pub and hotel work I moved into contract catering a decade ago, which is predominantly Monday to Friday and based put of corporate buildings, education establishments etc. No way would I go back now to working weekends, evenings etc.

Would love to see the 4 day week brought in mind you, even if that meant 4 x 10H shifts rather than 5 x 8H. 

[Bert Raccoon]

Used to work shifts, any shift between an 8am - 4pm to an 11am - 7pm and two weekend days out of four and I hated it tbh. Just missed being able to make plans at the weekends and missing the football.

Recently moved roles and now I'm either going to be 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri or 8.15am - 5.30pm Mon - Fri with an additional weekday off every fortnight which suits me a lot more 

['WellDel]

Done pretty much every shift pattern conceivable over the years, from  constant days then constant backs, to standard day/back/night rotation and 4 on 4 off x 12hr shifts.

Currently work alternate weeks day/backshift, with days off being Mon//Tue, then Wed/Thu, then Fri/Sat and Sundays off. This gives you a 5 day weekend from Fri-Tue every third week which is superb. 

Working 2 Sats out of 3 interferes with me getting to the fitba as much as I used to but other than that find it pretty decent.

[Granny Danger]

Used to work in Michelin back in the day.

Rotating five and a half day early shift, five day late shift and six night night shift.  It meant you never had a full weekend off.

It was awful but back then (45 years ago) it paid about double what any other unskilled worker in the city was getting paid.

 

[effeffsee_the2nd]

been on shifts since 2006 aged 18. loved it in the late teens early 20's era as most of my mates were at college or uni or were working shitey retail jobs  so there was always plenty folk to go out on the piss with throughout the week so having to work nights at the weekend was no big deal,  can't say the same now i'm in my 30s and my partner lives with me,  would much rather get to my bed at the same time each night and have actually  a body clock 

[Jimi Shandrix]

Before I got a major illness recently (which is in no way connected), I was a support worker doing nights and I loved it. It's absolutely not for everyone though. I know others doing the same job who could not handle it. It was taking them their 4 days off to recover. You just need to do it for a bit and see if it's for you.

[Elric]

Worked shifts for 25 years and it was swings and roundabouts re time off at weekends or during the week. What it did do though was completely f**k up my sleep pattern. Towards the end I was getting not much more than 4 hours sleep per day and developing a heavy drink habit on my first night off trying to get a sleep.

[Shandon Par]

Apart from a couple of jobs as a kid I’ve only really worked for myself. Mainly office hours but generally having to be alert 24/7. Will sometimes load up on caffeine and techno and work through the night if I’ve deadlines etc. Had a student job where it was 8am-6pm labouring then 6pm-midnight doing the security. 7 days for 3 months or so. Still managed to get out a fair bit and would just get back on it during the day at work. I was in charge of site security so if I said we needed to go to the shop for a crate of San Miguel to get through the day then that’s  what needed to be done. 

[scottsdad]

Did a few night shifts in the supermarket as a teenager. More recently when working in a lab in France, we had beamtime for 72 hours and the rules said that we had to be working for all of those. So we did a shift system of 8 hours off, 8 on for the three days. 

Not much admittedly. My dad was a policeman and for almost all his 30 years he was on shifts, rotating between back shift (3-11), early shift (7-3), day shift (9-5) and night shift (11-7). Seven days on, two off. I remember his wall chart for the year ahead, and him filling it in. He knew months and months in advance what his shifts were.

[The Moonster]

2 hours ago, the snudge said:

I work 2 x 24 hour shifts Saturday, next Monday. All my hours done in a short space and my week is free. Especially grand when the kids are at school and nursery. 

 

Where you working now, snudge? You only work two days a week? Sounds rare, cut me in.

[the snudge]

1 hour ago, Jimi Shandrix said:

Before I got a major illness recently (which is in no way connected), I was a support worker doing nights and I loved it. It's absolutely not for everyone though. I know others doing the same job who could not handle it. It was taking them their 4 days off to recover. You just need to do it for a bit and see if it's for you.

That's my job the now and I absolutely love it. 

[Guest Shetlie60N]

I do split days and nights, dont actually get any more time off than the day workers, just get the time in faster with 12.5 hour shifts, hate doing nights now and can't wait to get off it, because it is'nt doing me any good.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Shetlie60N

[sugna]

3 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

Used to work in Michelin back in the day.

Rotating five and a half day early shift, five day late shift and six night night shift.  It meant you never had a full weekend off.

It was awful but back then (45 years ago) it paid about double what any other unskilled worker in the city was getting paid.

 

Sounds tiring.

[Richey Edwards]

At least once every two days. Sometimes twice or three times in one day. The most I've managed is six in one day, and my arse was red raw.

 

Oh, you said SHIFT patterns.

[Empty It]

I work 8-5 Monday to Friday optional over time at weekends and nights usually which I rarely take and I thought that is not bad until I read about the guy in here that works 2 days a week, that sounds quality.

[mugen_power]

Fave pattern ever was the continental 7x7 i think they called it.

11pm-7am Sunday-Friday one week

3pm-11pm Monday to Friday the next

7am-3pm Monday to Friday, 7am-5pm Saturday, 1pm-11pm Sunday

One week off before nightshift on the next Sunday at 11pm

You ended up "owing" the company something like 44hrs per year, but that was easily blitzed in the first week off (if you had dedication) and then anything else was OT

Also done the day/back/day/back rotation and the night/back/day without the week off...neither of them were very good other than not needing to work any weekends at all

Last 2 jobs have been an 8-5 M-T, 8-2 F and a 9-5 M-F which are great in the way you've got a set schedule and weekends off, but at the weekend everything is fucking busy

Now I work on call...most jobs are 24hr shifts until it's finished and you don't know what you're working til you get there (normally 12h shifts) but the longest I've done is 17hrs one shot.