| C-Desk Technology
The Old Vicarage Station Road Rolleston Newark Nottinghamshire UK NG23 5SE Tel: (+44) 01636 816466 Fax: (+44) 01636 816882 Freehone 0800 0187682 Email: alec@visualrota.co.uk |
C-Desk TechnologySpecialists in Shift PatternsConsultants in Changing Shift Patterns
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The essential manual on managing shiftworking |
Extract from the book Order form for the book Also available from Amazon, ISBN 9780955919800 |
We wrote a manual to guide us in the process of setting up new shift patterns. We wrote the book based on our manual, our many years of experience in helping organisations and what works in practice.
The aim of this book is to provide you with the tools and techniques to make a shift pattern run smoothly. The main objective of any shift pattern is to ensure you have the right people with the correct skills when and where you want them. The major issues which are going to prevent you forom achieving this objective are staff vacations and absences. Therefore the two key topics of this book are how to organise staff holidays and staff absences so they do not affect the operation. In this eye-opening book we show you how to effectively manage holidays, absences and create a shift pattern that actually manages itself. Key topics covered in this book include: |
 | NEW SHIFT PATTERNSWe design and implement shift patterns for every type of situation you could image. No matter how complicated the staffing requirement, we have never failed to produce the most appropriate shift pattern for our clients. We enjoy the challange of each project and we are able to use our past, and vast, experience to quickly produce the right shift pattern for each individual project. Most projects take, on average, about two days work, and annual updates usually only take a few hours. Our project base is the UK, but we undertake projects anywhere throughout the world using the Internet. |
 | TERMS OF EMPLOYMENTWhen changing your shift pattern, it is always advisable to review your current Terms of Employment and the Staff Handbook. Typical areas that need review tend to be those that affect your operational continuity. These usually include: We provide a review service that will ensure that the Terms of employment are appropriate to the shift pattern. Where there are no Terms of Employment for staff working shifts then we can set up a company specific document based on our templates. |
 | HOLIDAY SOFTWAREHoliday Planning involves a major investment in time by Senior Managers and Supervisors. A special software solution is available that will vastly reduce the time and effort involved in this activity. The Holiday Calculator is a very versatile tool keeping track of the correct calculations you need in planning the holidays for all the staff each year. It can calculate anything else you need, such as sickness rates, call outs, acting up for senior staff. The calculation results are presented, with colour coded indicators, to give warning signs of future potential problems. We help set up standard policies to avoid problems, which will affect your operating efficiency. | |
 | SHIFT PATTERN REVIEWSWe can review your current shift patterns to see if they are the best available for your operational requirements. We will provide an evaluation of the current shift pattern and recommendations on improvements. We also evaluate proposed shift patterns, whether from Managers, staff or Unions and report on their fitness to meet the operational parameters. Part of the review would be aimed at determining the migration process of moving staff onto a new shift pattern. |
 | PRESENTATIONSWe can prepare and give presentations to the Board, to Managers and to the Staff on all topics associated with changing shift patterns. These topics include: | |
 | SHIFT ALLOWANCESWhen staff move from one shift pattern to another, there is usually a need to determine the appropriate Shift Allowance. The Shift Allowance is an integral part of the Reward Structure. We will review your current Shift Allowance and the method chosen for determining it. We will take you through all the acceptable methods of determining a new Shift Allowance and make our recommendations. Other commonly accepted allowances are for On-Call duties, Call-Out duties, and Absence Cover arrangements. We will take you through these in turn to determine if they apply to your specific operational requirements. |
 | FATIGUEFatigue is a significant component in many accidents where human error is a contributing factor. 2.5% of all accidents can be attributed to ‘sleepiness’. The cost of these accidents can be financial but also can result in the loss of human life and lead to environmental pollution. The financial cost of sleep-related accidents in the USA is estimated at $43-56 billion per year. For the UK it is estimated that the financial cost of ‘sleepiness’ per year is £115-240 million. Our presentation shows the causes of Fatigue, and the consequences of Fatigue. By gaining a working knowledge of what fatigue is, how people become fatigued and how to reduce fatigue, we can work to minimise the fatigue experienced by your staff. This will lead to fewer accidents, errors and hence real savings for the company, and a better work-life balance for your staff. |
 | FLOW CHARTSWe can set up a flow chart of every step in the procedure to change your shift pattern. This can form a template for the company to be used in future changes. Changes to a shift pattern can require inputs from HR, Finance, IT, Logistics, as well as the department undergoing the change. A Timeline of the events is often included in the Flowchart. |
 | OPERATIONS RESEARCHWe can perform a statistical analysis of your work to determine the most efficient shift pattern to match: |
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GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSISFor service companies whose clients are distributed throughout the country, we can perform a Postcode Analysis to determine the number of staff to employ and where they should be located for optimal efficiency. |
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SOFTWAREWe create new and bespoke shift patterns using our proprietary software and provide you with the finished article in M/S Excel. Excel is superb at the task of running shift patterns, and we usually set up your first year's computer model to run the shifts, but if you want it for 10 years ahead, that's no problem. The Excel model can create personal calendars for the staff, track all their holidays, absences and training. The model can count their hours worked, hours owed to you or them, overtime, flexible working, and anything else you need to monitor. The model can calculate your workload staffing requirements and compare them with the scheduled number of staff and see if you have the right number, too many or too few and alert you of any problems. As a new order comes in, or your workload changes for other reasons, you can enter this change and see immediately how it will affect your planned schedule. |
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