Workforce Shift Patterns

Workforce Factors Group
Intellicate Ltd

Not all people are able to work all of the time. Willing workers are generally more productive than unwilling ones. Even willing workers are less productive if they are poorly matched to business demands. We have adopted a multi-disciplinary approach in a framework of four key areas:

Our team includes specialists in the fields of Mathematics, Computer Science, Business Management, Cognitive Psychology and Occupational Health. We understand the issues that affect both business profitability and staff welfare.

Staff Supply Demand Match (SSDM)
Over 80% of shift patterns examined by the Workforce Factors Group failed to match the operational requirements of the business. The top five causes identified during review were:

1. Poor understanding of business demand and staff supply.
2. Belief that existing shift arrangements could not be improved on.
3. Culture which regards business and staff needs as always being in conflict.
4. Poor understanding of the peaks and troughs of business demand.
5. Lack of senior management sponsorship and ownership of resource management issues.

Staff Welfare
Over 70% of shift patterns examined failed to comply with basic working hour's legislation. Of these, 35% increased fatigue and risk. The commonest infringements identified were:

1. Excessive work hours.
2. Insufficient rest periods or breaks.
3. Unfair distribution of unsocial working hours.
4. Unreasonable number of shift changes at short notice.

In addition 45% of staff referred to an occupational health service stated that shift patterns were adversely affecting their health and well-being.

Manageability
In over 90% of cases in which executive management had attempted to introduce change, significant resistance was encountered when one or more of the following circumstances prevailed:

1. Proposal of a simple option between either an 8 hour or
   12 hour shift pattern.
2. The impact of shift patterns was ill-defined or unknown
   and unable to be demonstrated.
3. The shift pattern was too complicated to maintain in practice.
4. Advancing mathematically impossible shift patterns discredited
   the process.

External Factors
Over 50% of shift patterns reviewed failed to deliver key areas of the corporate or mission statements visible to customers. The most common inconsistency between practice and goals were:

1. Failing to address customer continuity issues.
2. Little or no risk assessment of staff working longer shifts.
3. Inconsistent or no effective phased return to work (PRtW) policies.
4. Ineffective resource allocation based on true and accurate understanding of demand.
5. Weak or non-existent assessment criteria when dealing with flexible working requests.

Interested in learning more about how Workforce Shift Patterns can get your team working better together? We look forward to the opportunity to discuss how we can put our expertise to work for your company. Contact us to discuss your requirements or call (617) 379 2709 (US) - (20) 8906 6793 (UK).