Time spent on work is equivalent to profit, and to generate the most out of it, the answer is obvious, optimising the work schedule is the key to improving the company’s efficiency and thus maximising profits but with various available work schedules, one might wonder which is the most suitable and yield the best results. We hate to break it to you, but there is no “holy grail schedule”, as it all comes down to the industry and nature of the business, here are some of the most comprehensive fixed work schedules that you could work around.
9 to 5 Work Schedule (Weekend Off)
To start things off with the obvious but widely used, the standard work schedule for office workers and non-shiftwork operations starts at 9 am and finishes at 5 pm.
Set-up guide:
1. 8 hours per day, 5 days a week
2. Repeat Cycle of 7 days
3. Average 40 hours per week
4. Weekends off
Schedule for staff working 10 hours for 4 days a week. The idea is to offer an alternative to an 8-5 or a 9-6 schedule for companies or government agencies that are offering longer service hours for example 7 am to 7 pm to clients with the opportunity to achieve work-life balance for employees.
Set-up guide:
1. Cyclical 7 days (Weekly) – Fixed Plan, No Rotation
2. 10 hours daily for 4 days
3. Average 40 hours per week
4. Staff is full from Tuesdays to Thursdays, 50% staff on Mondays and Fridays with Weekends as rest days
5. Need two teams to cover the week with a 3-day weekend every week
Schedule that uses 3 teams and 8-hour shifts (day, swing and night shift) to cover 24/7 operations. This is to offer an organisation that has limited staff but needs to provide 24/7 coverage.Set-up guide:
1. Repeat cycle of 7 days
2. 8 hours per shift
3. Average 56 hours a week
4. 3 teams are required to cover 24/7
Schedule 4 teams and two 12-hr shifts to provide 24/7 coverage. Very popular with police departments, law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services, EMS call centres and dispatchers to achieve 24/7 and provide better work-life balance at the same time.Set-up guide:
1. 14-day cycle where each team works 2 consecutive shifts, followed by 2 days off duty, works 3 consecutive shifts, followed by 2 days off duty, work 2 consecutive shifts, followed by 3 days off duty
2. Two teams are assigned day shifts while the other two are assigned night shifts.
3. On any given day, one team is on the day shift, one team is on the night shift, and two teams are off duty
4. Personnel are assigned to either day or night shifts for the 2-week cycle and work an average of 42 hours per week
The 9-day cycle where teams work 24 hours per shift. This schedule uses three teams and three shifts to provide 24/7 coverage popular with fire departments and emergency services agencies.Set-up guide:
1. Cyclical 9 days
2. Work 24-hour shift > 24 hours off duty > work 24-hour shift > 24 hours off duty > work a final 24-hour shift > 4 consecutive days off duty
3. Average hours per week is 56
4. This plan requires living quarters for the employees to work and sleep during each 24-hr shift
The options are endless and could be even altered accordingly to cater for the needs of the company. To save yourself from all the hassle of set-up a work schedule, you could choose to adopt a Time & Attendance System for your company and leave the work schedule to the experts. Not only does a Time & Attendance System offer greater time management for employees, but it could also present more clocking options and features like:
Real-Time Data
Clock-In/Out with Smartphones
Employee GPS Clocking
Distance Calculator
Data Consolidation From Different Locations
Notifications for Tardiness & Absenteeism
Overnight Shift Scheduling
OT Application & Approval