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  1. #1

    24/7 shift work plan

    In your opinion, what would be the best 24/7 shift work plan for web hosting tech support?

    Thank you in advance.

  2. #2
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    6-2 2-10 10-6, Some techs prefer two 12's and two 8's with 3 days off too.
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  3. #3
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    I have my staff on 3 on then 3 off, 12 hour shifts - started out with just 2 guys at first, with whenever they wanted off (within holiday remainders) - day man had weekends covered and night man pretty much wanted any shift he could get.

    Now with a team of 4 things don't seem too bad and we still have the cover on standby, and they're earning a good wage, seemingly happy! I will admit though that these aren't really "tech support", and tickets are just a small part of what they do, as they manage busy colo in a DC and must control all keys and access.

  4. #4
    We have three eight-hour shifts.

  5. #5
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    8 hours shift is more feasible.

  6. #6
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    We have two 12 hour shifts 7-7, working 4 days on and then 4 days off.

    We also have a "day shift" which is Monday to Friday 8am-5pm which gives us extra coverage during the busy periods.
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  7. #7
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    Any which way you do the shifts, remember the night shifts have been shown to be hard on the body / mind / person and so a change up on them is needed. Just don't change it up to often either or make shifts shorter as apparently rotating to often can also have problems. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/...l.pmed.1001141

    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/nightshift/
    http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/workschedules/
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21870422
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/262864.php
    http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/2...-for-a-reason/

    And then you have the standard health problems of sitting on a chair for 8, 12, 16 hours a day.
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
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    We are not a web host or even related to hosting, but we are all about support , so probably our experience may be helpful.

    When we started offering 24/7 support, every team member could set up own schedule, to some extent, by specifying:
    - preferable hours (6-10 hours per day, 5 days per week)
    - acceptable hours (he/she could cover if really necessary)
    - totally unacceptable hours

    This was compared to our desired support coverage based on past experience, i.e. how many people we will need to be working simultaneously during certain hours.

    Of course, there were still some hours that were marked as unacceptable by all team members (on weekends, in particular). We decided that these hours can be covered by all or several team members by turns.

    So, we ended up with a very flexible schedule that suited everyone.
    Last edited by Irene Rogers; 01-10-2014 at 04:41 AM.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Irene Rogers View Post
    Of course, there were still some hours that were marked as unacceptable by all team members (on weekends, in particular). We decided that these hours can be covered by all or several team members by turns.
    Interesting. You could also follow the Uber pricing model (you should read up on it--it has to do with surging prices when there are not enough cars on the road). Then you would pay the techs more by an acceptable factor when you need the support more. Of course, Uber has screwed up their model and does their surging into oblivion, but if you do it right it could work out best for your company and for your ambitious techs

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by nowanda View Post
    In your opinion, what would be the best 24/7 shift work plan for web hosting tech support?

    Thank you in advance.
    Depends on the number of techs you can have the shift split over 12 hours for 2 techs Mon-Fri then simply have 2 others part time on the weekends or you could have a full rota of techs working 8 hours each with the option of over time should high demand come through the door. It's advisible to have some techs on zero hour contracts should your techs start doing a no show or at least put plans into place to over come illness and periods of non-availability, etc

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    Our primary shift is a 12 hour shift - some 6-6, some 7-7. In addition to this we have some 8-hour shifts as well as 10-hour shifts.

    It all works out pretty well for us and everyone is happy with their shifts. Our people tend to like working longer shifts but fewer days per week.
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  12. #12
    I think this relates to the size of company and size of client base. Like in any healthy economical relation the demand dictates the supply. In my experience smaller companies tend to start with 12 hour shifts (2 on - 2 off) and as the demand grows and more employees are hired, the optimal becomes 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week. That's just the base - then comes the additional factors, like density of requests during a certain time of day/night. It is quite easy to determine periods, which are "busy" for your business and allocate more people to assist (sometimes part-timers). And then of course come certain country-specific laws about labor and its acceptable margins...

    So I certainly believe there isn't a specific method that can work for all companies, as them combination of those factors is rarely the same for any of them
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