Raise the Hammer

By Ryan (registered) - website Posted August 15, 2012 at 13:53:01 in reply to Comment 79819 Hey, I just realized something: I work 40 hours a week. That works out to around 160 hours a month - out of a total of 720 hours in a month. In other words, I'm only working 22% of the time. The other 78% of the time, I can do whatever I want. What a sweet gig. Too bad more people can't get in on that 160 hours/month action

This issue pops up all the time and in other forums and discussions. I work a 12 hours shift at my industrial place of work. For every 12 hour day you work you get a day off so I work only half the year. We can do this because the place runs 24/7. If we could work a 24 hour shift we would get 2 days off and only go to work 1/3 of the days but still work our required job hours. I mention this as I have friends that work a conventional week and complain about how much time I have off.

Fire is working a 24 hour day and I believe this is still in the trial stage and may change. Some fire departments work a 10 & 14 hours system which is the same as a 12 hours system for work hours (Every day worked equals 1 day off). Police, Paramedics, Dofasco and a few other industries work a 12 hour day. There are some that work a 10 hour day for 4 days on and 3 days off. They switch starting days every few weeks and end up with a 2 day or 4 day weekend.

The time off is calculated the same for everyone! It is based on the number of hours a week you work. Most 12 and I believe 24 hour systems work on a 4 week rotation and not a chaotic month schedule. There is slightly more than 13 – 28 day months in a year (13.03571429).

So I have worked out some numbers based on a 4 week schedule. 7 days a week times 4 weeks is 28 days times 24 hours gives you 672 possible hours in 4 weeks. In that time period the average person goes into work 20 days and has 8 days off.

24 hr days x 7 work days = 168 hrs worked for 4 wks or a 42 hr/wk = to 21 – 8 hr days. 21 days off or 504 hrs off

12 hr days x 14 work days = 168 hrs worked for 4 wks or a 42 hr/wk = to 21 – 8 hr days. 14 days off or 504 hrs off

8 hr days x 20 work days = 160 hrs worked for 4 wks or a 40 hr/wk = to 20 – 8 hr days. 8 days off or 512 hrs off

7.5 hr days x 20 work days = 150 hrs worked for 4 wks or a 37.5 hr/wk = to 18.75 – 8 hr days. 8 days off or 522 hrs off

7hr days x 20 work days = 140 hrs worked for 4 wks or a 35 hr/wk = to 17.5 – 8 hr days. 8 days off or 532 hrs off

10 hr days x 20 work days = 160 hrs worked for 4 wks or a 40 hr/wk = to 20 – 8 hr days. 12 days off or 512 hrs off

So you can see that the person working 12 or 24 hour shift system has less hours off than any other type of system. What the system does is cram the work time into a consecutive hour’s system to give them more days off without adding more staffing. For hours off a person working a 7 hour day has the most hours off.

I hope this clears it up a bit. I have posted this in a few other forums and discussions. This is only job envy. I have friends who would like my hours but not the job. Some do not like the idea of working shifts and that is the only way you can work any 12, 14 or 24 system. I know that there are exceptions out there but this is what most people work. If you work a 60 hour week and get paid for only a 40 hour week, you need to get another job.

Comment edited by NoSugarAdded on 2012-08-15 16:55:05