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Any one have input on 10 hr shifts as oppose to 8 hr shifts? We have trains 22 hours a day. So i think the extra day off and the more coverage makes for better working conditions. What is your experience?
I worked out 10 hour shifts for my station
- Thread starter WestCoastAgent
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I work 10 hour days. I would rather do a slightly longer day and get more time off, at the moment our shift is 7 days on, then 7 days off. With 28 days holiday that works out at 156 days a year at work. Suits me fine.
Your employer make take a different view!
T
Tony
Guest
I work 10 hour days, five days a week. Roughly 6:30am to 4:30pm.
It must work. My company has downsized from a peak of 10,000 employees to 400, and I'm part of the 400.
It must work. My company has downsized from a peak of 10,000 employees to 400, and I'm part of the 400.
I work four tens (I choose nights because a) I'm not a morning person and b ) it works out better for my school schedule, which I will be done with in a few short weeks, with luck!), and I vastly prefer it over five eights. The extra two hours per day is immaterial, and the bonus of the third day off is well worth those two hours I don't even notice.
WestCoastAgent, welcome to Amtrak Unlimited! Sounds like you work for Amtrak...and it also sounds like you may be directing this question towards other Amtrak employees. Well, we love having "insider" Amtrak employees come and join our discussion (you all always post the most interesting perspectives)! However, this forum is not owned or operated by or affiliated in any way by Amtrak, and the target audience isn't Amtrak employees but rather people who love to ride trains!
Just wanted to make sure your expectations were clear. We hope you stay and contribute your valuable perspective and get to know our fun little community (some of whom may be in your very back yard!)...and share in the joy of riding trains!
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The plant I work at went to 12 hour days in 1994. It sounds terrible, but it's not bad. We work 14 days out of 28, and never more than 3 in a row, and most of the time just 2 in a row. Most of us love it! We alternate between days and nights.
GregL
Ryan
Court Jester
My Dad's office did the same thing (works in the power industry as well) - they work 3 and 4 days stretches instead of 2's and 3's, but get a solid 7 days off every fifth week.
They've been on them for about 4 years now and everyone loves them.
For the time that most folks spend commuting (about 2.25 hours a day in my case), every day I don't have to work is a blessing.
wayman
Engineer
My father worked a two week cycle: one week of nines, then a week of three nines and an eight on Thursday with a three-day weekend. He like it.
At my last "desk job", my first boss was fine with leaving me to "cover most of the hours the rest of us are here, and get everything done that needs to get done, and make sure your total hours are about right, and let us know when you're going to take time off", which was really quite nice--I wound up working ten, eleven hours a lot of days and "banking time" which I would use for occasional days off. Unfortunately, my other boss was less fine with this, and they sort of fought over which schedule I should follow.
Given that my coming in for seven or eight hours a day frequently did not coincide at all with the actual work-load--some days I would do practically nothing, while other days I would still have to work ten or eleven hours to deal with something, and generally the long days and the empty days were predictable enough that I could schedule around them--obviously one of these schedules was a better use of my time. (And since I was being paid hourly and not allowed to claim more than 35 hours a week, no matter how many I actually worked, obviously one of these schedules was somewhat illegal....)
So I say, if you can get a four tens schedule that fits your workload, that's actually clearly regulated and that's not subject to fuzzy "two bosses arguing over how you put in your hours", that's fantastic!
Hmm. This post has almost nothing to do with Amtrak. So I'll add that on my flex days off, I sometimes rode the Keystone
And one time I took a long flex-weekend and took the Crescent down to my parents, back when you could easily book mid-bucket next-day Crescent tickets PHL-LYH.
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caravanman
Engineer
I guess it is all down to personal preferences, family commitments, etc. I am self-employed, and although never actually 100% off duty, as the buck stops with me, it is great to be able to arrange my hours to suit myself.. It's astonishing how much "work" can be done while gazing out the window of an Amtrak train!
My employees have recently had a small cut in their daily hours, due to recession cost cutting, but they quite like the shorter working day.
When you say you have trains 22 hours a day, is that hard and fast? Would you need someone on duty for those extra 2 hours per 24 in case of late running or emergencies?
Ed B)
My employees have recently had a small cut in their daily hours, due to recession cost cutting, but they quite like the shorter working day.
When you say you have trains 22 hours a day, is that hard and fast? Would you need someone on duty for those extra 2 hours per 24 in case of late running or emergencies?
Ed B)
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I work 24 hr shifts and am off for 48 hrs. 24 on 48 off, 24 on 48 off..... and on and on. work 10 days a month with 3 weeks paid vacation and 1 Personal Leave Day plus sick time. Best job in the world. For those wondering what I do, I am a firefighter.
GoldenSpike
Lead Service Attendant
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The extra two hours on a 10 hr. shift in law enforcement went by very fast when busy, especially if you are into your chosen line of work. The resulting double coverage/overlap worked especially well for the nature of our busy times: Friday swing shift, Saturday graveyard, and Monday day shift for the mop-up and follow-up operations of the weekend's chaos.
The extra day off is pefect. On the 8 hour shift with two days off, the first one was wasted just 'coming down' from the past week. By then it was almost time to mentally gear up again or another work week.
I had to leave on a career-ending injury in the line-of duty disability retirement at the ripe age of 45. The upside: it added more time to pursue one of my other interests in life: travel.....by rail, and train watching in hot spots like Rochelle, IL where a UP/BNSF diamond crossing spews out 100+ trains a day.
I could go as far as 9 hour scheduled days, but not any more. I'd appreciate the extra days off, but I already get nearly 6 weeks PTO a year and my wife only has 2 to 2 1/2. I get a lot of days to play by myself.
I'm also an athlete and working any more than 9 and I cannot make either my morning or evening workouts - that'd be a real bummer for me right there. If we did 4 tens, I'd only be able to workout one day a week, and that'd be my weekend.
I'm also an athlete and working any more than 9 and I cannot make either my morning or evening workouts - that'd be a real bummer for me right there. If we did 4 tens, I'd only be able to workout one day a week, and that'd be my weekend.
the_traveler
Engineer
More time to travel by train!
And many other things as well. I'm thinking about an all train trip to the Grand Canyon to backpack in the fall.More time to travel by train!
I'd also like to take the Coast Starlight to the Bay Area to take in some sporting events.
And, if Amtrak got it together, I'd go to Phoenix for some spring trainin. (no pun intended)
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