Lo,
Ive looked at a job with 6 on 3 off (nights), this isnt a shift pattern ive heard of before or done and cant make my mind up over it. Just wondered what others thought of it.
kev909_2000:
Lo,Ive looked at a job with 6 on 3 off (nights), this isnt a shift pattern ive heard of before or done and cant make my mind up over it. Just wondered what others thought of it.
any clue as to how much coins there willing to pay for the shift ? if its the same bollox as 400 quid take home then i think a polite 2 fingers up would be a sensible approach to such a shift
Be prepared to be working more weekends than having weekends off. Twice as many.
That’s not a shift pattern, its forced labour, regardless of what they are paying!
Have to agree with weeto. That’s just crap. Should be normal 5/2 or 4/4 or 4/3 but not 6/3.
just wondering what the job is and the hours they are expecting you to work…
ie are you doing say 48 hrs over 6 shifts or similar, similar was mentioned at a place i worked at for the night trunker, he did 2 runs but when he got to another depot to unload they had a security ■■■■■■ which waited on site for him to unload ect, 2 runs took rougly 11 hours, they mentioned putting 2 guys on it with a load each, no need for security as there were 2 guys on site when unloading ect, and both guys would be easily done in 8 hours per shift where they got paid o/t after 8…
though it never happened in the end…
why would 6/3 be worse than 5/2 ?
Over a 9 week/63 day period =
6/3 = 42 on + 21 off
5/2 = 45 on + 18 off
Or is the assumption that a 5/2 is always 2 off at the weekend ?
ROG:
why would 6/3 be worse than 5/2 ?
Probably because you’re working 6 days on the bounce every week.
Hey Guys,
Its 2000-0600 shifts no longer than 10 hrs, if shorter still paid 10. £13p/h
ROG:
why would 6/3 be worse than 5/2 ?Over a 9 week/63 day period =
6/3 = 42 on + 21 off
5/2 = 45 on + 18 offOr is the assumption that a 5/2 is always 2 off at the weekend ?
Assuming the 2 off is at the weekend as suggested, to get those extra 3 days off you have to work 2 out of every 3 weekends. Doesn’t seem worth it.
with the 7 day a week operating culture we now have are weekends off really a necessity 
I have seen many posts on here where the driver has a regular 1 or 2 days off midweek - every week - as that fits in with this culture
In the old days there was very little open all weekend but now …
Perhaps we should have the medical profession only working mon to fri … EEEEK !!
Working weekends does NOT fit around my raving schedule 
ROG:
why would 6/3 be worse than 5/2 ?Over a 9 week/63 day period =
6/3 = 42 on + 21 off
5/2 = 45 on + 18 offOr is the assumption that a 5/2 is always 2 off at the weekend ?
4 on 4 off would be better if you have to work over the weekend.
Not to derail this thread, but to add to the discussion, but there’s a place near me advertising for drivers on a 5 on 1 off (Saturday) then 5 on 3 off (Fri, Sat, Sun) shift pattern. ad infinitum. £12p/h with extra 75p p/h for nights.
I’m just curious what others think of it.
ezydriver:
Not to derail this thread, but to add to the discussion, but there’s a place near me advertising for drivers on a 5 on 1 off (Saturday) then 5 on 3 off (Fri, Sat, Sun) shift pattern. ad infinitum. £12p/h with extra 75p p/h for nights.I’m just curious what others think of it.
Gets my vote 
On days anyway.
6 shifts will cost you more to commute to than 4 or 5.
It MIGHT be worth doing therefore, - if you can get a “2 out of three” poll among the following criteria:
(1) The pay is top dollar
(2) It’s a tramping job at some distance from where you live
(3) You are a driver with no family and friends where you live.
Kinda “Wherever I lay my digicard - that’s my home” kinda thing… 
I’m guessing that because firms are such tightwads these days, - they will go out of their way to employ divorced “johnny-no-mates” drivers that live in the middle of nowhere… 
Me? - I’m the opposite. I like to do a smaller number of longer shifts each week that includes a sunday/bank holiday every week as well - if I can get it.
If I’m paying for 3 commutes instead of 6 then my transport overhead is halved at a stroke, which then takes away any pressure to do “actual nights out” or “tramping” jobs. (4pm-7am is fine though at weekends, 6pm-6am preferred during the week…)
I don’t get much done on the sundays I have off, and my family invariably have a busy schedule without me on sundays & mondays as well - hence, when given the choice, I’d work a 15 hour on sunday, 12 hour on monday, and 10 hour on tuesday every week. A pace I can do standing on my head, represents a working week of hours comparable to office workers, and still pays a decent enough of a wage to trump all those crappy full time posts out there where you can’t expect to take home more than £470pw for the nastiest hours imaginable. 
I’m a family man, and like to be home every day. 
Winseer:
6 shifts will cost you more to commute to than 4 or 5.
3 off will cost less to commute than 2 off
ROG:
Winseer:
6 shifts will cost you more to commute to than 4 or 5.3 off will cost less to commute than 2 off
Over the course of 90 days, the 6 on 3 off pattern would have you commuting 60 times. A 5 on 2 off would have you commuting 64 times (assuming you get a bank holiday off during this spell)
and the 3-on-4-off pattern has me commuting 52 times (since I actually would be working the bank holiday most likely…)
Given that all three patterns pay around the industry standard wage of £470 - I’m still quids in the most in terms of how much I have to cough up to actually go to work, the average round trip being around the 25 mile mark each shift. It works for me, but I appreciate that for others a different pattern would be “better” for them.
If we all liked the same thing - the industry would have to gravitate towards that being the “norm” wouldn’t it?
“Norm” in my book means “more competition for the jobs” and “less pay when allocated one”. It’s a different mindset from full time I would imagine, where the emphasis is on getting the job done as quickly as possible, because you might not get paid any extra for “taking your time” as you would on agency.
Obviously, full timers with access to unlimited overtime and paid a base 8-10 hours per shift with overtime after that - are getting the best of all possible worlds here.
But where’s that at these days? 