Pittman 12hr Schedule

[JScott128 41]

Any patrol officers on this board work a 12hr pitman schedule? My PD is thinking of switching from 8hr shifts to the pitman. If anyone works it, what are the pros and cons? Is it better for family life? Thanks for any input.

Scott

[INIT915 1,119]

Any patrol officers on this board work a 12hr pitman schedule? My PD is thinking of switching from 8hr shifts to the pitman. If anyone works it, what are the pros and cons? Is it better for family life? Thanks for any input.

Scott

We (NYSP) use it, and I would say it's incredibly popular. Better in all regards. A lot more days off, and if you use vacation time on the short weeks, you can have quite a few 7 day vacations, year round.

[JScott128 41]

We (NYSP) use it, and I would say it's incredibly popular. Better in all regards. A lot more days off, and if you use vacation time on the short weeks, you can have quite a few 7 day vacations, year round.

Do you rotate between nights and days and if so, how often is the rotation? We have some officers that are concerned about family life... I assume that the days you are working, you aren't doing much of anything else (like spending time with the family), but you have more days off to do that.

[helicopper 1,050]

INIT, can you post what the rotation is actually like? I've heard a lot about it - echoing what you said in your post - but haven't seen what you actually work if you're on it.

[JScott128 41]

Chris- the Pittman schedule is 12hr shifts broken down like this:

S M T W T F S S M T W T F S

X D D X X E E E X X D D X X

X= Day Off

D= Day Shift usually 7a-7p

E= Evening shift 7p-7a

Some depts rotate every week, some rotate between days and evenings every 2 weeks, and some do it longer. I've heard that every 2 weeks is pretty good. The benefit to the schedule is you work only 182 days a year. You are working more hours than the standard "40hr" work week. We are negotiating to get the extra hours we work split between 110hrs in time off and the rest getting paid for. The 110hrs extra you work in some depts are given back to you in extra days off, sometimes called "kelly days". Sometimes the kelly days are assigned to you, some depts you can take them off when you want to. Every other weekend you get Friday, Sat and Sun off, which for my wife and a lot of families, is a nice bonus. Our dispatchers work this schedule now, they do not like the long weekends that you work, they said you are pretty beat by Sunday. But you got to figure it all balances out. Hope this helps.

I'd really like to hear from anyone else that works it, we are still trying to decide whether to make the switch, so far, I haven't heard anything negative.

Scott

[JBE 328]

Sounds similar to my schedule. 2 days, 0700X1900 24 off, 2 nights 1900X0700 then 4 or 5 days off depending on the week.(Using a 25 group 2 platoon chart like the firefighters) I like the schedule, always have, and it opens the door to shift swaps and extending vacations, time off, etc.

[Mike L 1]

While the more days off has it's advantages, how do the 12 hour shifts affect the overtime? You officers that work the 12 hour days, have you noticed any change in the amount of overtime available?

Edited October 9, 2009 by Mike L

[JScott128 41]

The OT is definitely a concern, I have heard there is very limited OT with this schedule. The guys who work a lot of OT on my job are opposed to this switch. But we would be getting paid for some of the extra hours and it is going to equate to a 6.6% raise, so the guys that are for the 12hr shift make the arguement that its like having OT built into the schedule. The other arguement is that the 6.6% raise is pensionable, so it will work out when you retire. Anyone that works this want to chime in about the OT?

Scott

[INIT915 1,119]

INIT, can you post what the rotation is actually like? I've heard a lot about it - echoing what you said in your post - but haven't seen what you actually work if you're on it.

Mon, Tues - On

Wed, Thurs - Off

Fri, Sat, Sun - On

Mon, Tues - Off

Wed, Thurs - On

Fri, Sat, Sun - Off

It means you have 26 three-day weekends per year, as opposed to the old 5-2, 5-2, 5-2, 5-3 that we had.

And there was a decrease in OT, but more than made up for in quality of life overall.

[ny10570 745]

fdny ems is/was piloting as similar schedule. everyone I know who works it has come to love it. The OT issue is up in the air. You can trade in a few of your extra days off to work OT. You still wind up with a net gain of days off and can still get your OT. The complaint people have is that they now have to come in to work when before it was just rolling over into the next shift.