18 Tips for converting from 5- to 7-day operation

People skills and soft sciences have much to offer in making the transition a smooth one
Steve Mardon, Shiftwork Alert, Cambridge, MA February 01, 1997

18 tips for converting from 5- to 7-day operation

People skills and soft sciences have much to offer in making the transition a smooth one Steve Mardon, ShiftWork Alert, Cambridge, MA

f your plant runs three shifts five days a week plus weekend overtime, chances are you've

given some thought to expanding to a 7-day continuous operation. While such conversions require careful planning, the benefits including better asset utilization, reduced production costs, and increased profits almost always make the effort worthwhile. Any company with a large capital investment in plant and equipment stands to gain from going to a 7-day operation Benefits of expanding Seven-day operations are not right for every plant. There are three good reasons for making the change. The first is to better utilize assets. Converting to 7-day operation allows a company to make better use of its capital investment in plant and equipment which no longer sit idle two days a week. Overall manufacturing costs decrease by spreading fixed costs over a higher production volume. Additional savings may result from eliminating the inefficiency of shutting down equipment at the end of the week and starting it up on Monday. The second is to meet increased production demands. Typically, companies considering a 7-day operation keep up with rising production demands by staying open on Saturdays and perhaps some Sundays for months or even years. Going to a continuous operation allows a company to meet production goals and get out of the crisis mode of irregularly scheduled weekend hours. It is also much less expensive than the major capital outlay required to build a new plant or add on to the existing facility. The third is to improve customer service. A continuous operation may allow a company to provide better service to customers who are already open seven days a week. Turnaround time drops when customer orders can be manufactured and filled on Saturday and Sunday. There are also wrong reasons for making the change. There are two most common wrong reasons . A wrong reason to convert is to reduce labor costs. Although going to seven days may reduce the amount of overtime, these savings will probably be offset by the costs of providing full benefits to the additional employees required to staff a continuous schedule. Another wrong reason to convert is to meet a temporary increase in production demand. It usually is not worth the effort it takes to change to a continuous schedule if you revert to a 5-day operation six months later. In addition, backtracking is likely to alienate your workforce.

To ensure that you're making a change for the right reasons, make a thorough analysis to determine the operational and financial impact of the change. Ask hard questions like "What are the gains and potential costs, financially, operationally, and for the people in the organization?" You won't get off on the right foot without developing the full business justification. The critical success factor What is the single most important thing you can do to ensure a successful transition to a 7-day operation? Managers at companies that have been through a conversion will tell you the answer is this: Involve your workers in every phase of the conversion process. This is much more than a goodwill gesture. You need a majority of employees to support the

move and the new schedule or your expansion to seven days will not succeed. Initial reaction to word of an impending change is likely to be negative. People accustomed to working five days a week will resent working regularly scheduled weekends and some may feel the move is an effort to exploit them. Others may incorrectly assume you're trying to cut costs by eliminating overtime and reducing their overall pay (see Tip #12). Involving workers is the only way to overcome these feelings. Early on, it is absolutely essential to communicate the business justification for the decision. Once the process is under way, employees should participate in regular meetings at which they are briefed on developments and have the opportunity to voice their concerns. Make every effort to address the issues they raise and to involve them in decisions that affect them. Managers that have converted recently say that it is a traumatic change. Each employee deals with the change differently. The more time spent in small groups going over what's happening, the better off you'll be in the long run. The following tips provide effective strategies for involving employees in the conversion process and help avoid common mistakes. Tip #1: Set specific, realistic goals. As part of the business justification, set post-conversion goals. Without concrete goals, you may end up thinking you've failed when you haven't. These goals also can be the basis for everyone feeling good when you've succeeded. Tip #2: Share financial information with employees. Start earning your employees' backing by sharing detailed financial information about why the company needs to expand to seven days. The more numbers you can give them the better. Employees accept good reasons for converting. It's a partnership and you have to show them why it makes sense to go to seven days. With data, it's not just management's opinions. Tip #3: Seek out information. People should go into the change process with an open mind not limited by misperceptions. If possible, visit other plants that have made the transition. Find out your options, where the trouble spots are, and what managers would do differently if they had the chance do it over again. Tip #4: Establish boundaries. Early on, decide what aspects of your conversion are imperative. Issues to decide include whether all or part of your operation should convert to seven days, whether you will stay open on holidays, and whether you need to limit yourself to certain types of schedules--fixed versus rotating or 8-hour versus 12-hour. The schedule you select is less important than how you select and implement it. Tip #5: Let employees pick the new schedule. Within your established boundaries, employees should ultimately vote for the new schedule. Most failed conversions are a result of management unilaterally selecting a schedule and "forcing" it on the workforce. As above, which schedule you select is less important than how you select and implement it. Tip #6: Form an employee task force. The role of the task force is to evaluate scheduling alternatives, communicate information to and from the rest of the workforce, and assist the employees throughout the schedule selection process. Tip #7: Make sure the task force is diverse. A task force of 10 to 15 people is most effective. It should include a cross-section of your work force: senior and new employees; males and females; parents and single people; members of different ethnic groups, people from each shift, and so forth. Start by asking for volunteers. If there is a glaring omission, actively solicit participants. Tip #8: Include dissenters. Task force members should have varied opinions coming into the conversion process. Get people who are opposed to the conversion involved to win over their support that will help them overcome the objections of others. Tip #9: Involve payroll early. Although it's important to involve each aspect of your operation in the conversion process, perhaps none is more important than accounting. Months in advance, make sure the payroll system can accommodate the new schedule and that the paycheck distribution continues smoothly when the conversion goes forward. Tip #10: Allow enough time for training. The single biggest challenge in converting is making sure the workforce is adequately trained. In addition to training new hires to fill four crews, employees taking on new responsibilities as a result of the conversion need training. Some experts on conversions recommend allowing up to six months for training before a conversion. Tip #11: Take a people-friendly approach. Anything you can do to show you understand the impact a conversion has on employees' lives--and that you're interested in working with employees to resolve problems--benefits your company in the long term. For example, you might have a child care specialist available on each shift during the transition. Tip #12: Be sensitive to the issue of overtime. Expanding to seven days does not eliminate overtime--it changes it. Instead of overtime occurring primarily on Saturday and Sunday, it now occurs on any day to cover for staffing shortages, vacations, other absences, training projects, and the like. Be sensitive to the fact that some of your most dedicated employees may have grown accustomed to working a certain amount of overtime annually--to support your needs--and may have adjusted their spending habits accordingly. Although you cannot guarantee that they will still earn as much money as before, you may be able to address this issue by making sure there are still regular overtime opportunities or adjusting pay rates if the financial situation allows.

Tip #13: Expect some turnover. Even if you make every effort to include employees in the conversion process and take a people-friendly approach, some employees will not buy into the change. Older employees who have had weekends off for 25 or 30 years may choose to retire rather than adapt to a new schedule. Younger employees with active social lives and weaker ties to your company may decide to look for another job. Your human resources department should plan for the possibility of turnover. Tip #14: Time your conversion wisely. Don't convert in June, July, August, or between midOctober and mid-January. Doing so risks alienating employees by disrupting summer vacation or holiday plans. Tip #15: Allow employees 30 days for preparation. Even though employees will know months in advance about the impending conversion, be sure to give them at least 30 days between the time they learn what shift they will be on and the implementation date. This helps ensure they can plan their work and family lives. Tip #16: Be firm and fair. With a 7-day operation, you usually will have more employees coming to you with scheduling conflicts--especially early on. Be careful not to make unfair exceptions for employees who say they can't work a specific day of the week because of social, family, or religious obligations. A better policy is to allow equally-skilled workers to exchange shifts. Tip #17: After conversion, be patient. Even with a smooth conversion, it usually takes four to six months for things to settle down. Initially, some employees may have difficulty with the new schedule and productivity may suffer from new combinations of employees working together and other changes. However, after six months you should be able to iron out production problems. There will be fewer complaints from employees after they have had time to become comfortable with the changes in their home life. Tip #18: Do a one-year evaluation. A year after conversion, work with your employees to see whether you are meeting the goals established before the change was made and if the new schedule is working as planned.

18 tips for converting to 7-day operation

Set specific, realistic goals Share financial information with employees Seek out information Establish boundaries Let employees pick the new schedule Form an employee task force Make sure the task force is diverse Include dissenters Involve payroll early Allow enough time for training Take a people-friendly approach Be sensitive to the issue of overtime Expect some turnover Time your conversion wisely Allow employees 30 days for preparation Be firm and fair After conversion, be patient Do a one-year evaluation

Details by the dozen Expanding a facility from 5- to 7-day operation is among the most demanding and exciting challenges you are likely to face as a manager of a shiftwork operation. There is a tremendous number of details to attend to and having all of your people involved is the best way to accomplish a change of this magnitude. When done properly, the hard work will pay off, your people will support the change, and your company will realize tangible benefits.

5-day plant, 7-day maintenance

Companies adequately meeting production demands on a 5-day schedule may wish to consider an innovative variant of a 5-to-7 conversion--switching the maintenance department to a 7-day schedule while keeping everyone else working Monday through Friday. One St. Cloud, Minn. plant went this route four years ago and the results have been outstanding. The old 5-day system led to three major problems :

Doing major equipment repairs during the week meant stopping an entire assembly line, leading to production losses. With a voluntary overtime system, some maintenance workers always declined to work on weekends. Others always accepted. There were people who would work 50 days straight. The plant could not get the right skill balance on weekends. The company has three types of maintenance workers--electricians, tooling staff and mechanics. The company never got the right split.

The maintenance department--consisting of about 60 of the plant's 1,700 employees--converted to a 12-hour schedule that provides workers every other weekend off. Although there was some resistance, most maintenance employees now support the 7-day schedule. The three problems identified above have been addressed: reduced downtime smoothed production, fewer people amass huge amounts of overtime, and skill imbalance is no longer a problem.