Shift Work /Out of hours / Night work

Agent Smith

Just wondering, Who here does shift work? I've recently Started back doing nights For a large Multinational IT company and i'm finding it Pretty good So Far. I worked about 2 Years ago For A transport company doing shift work as well, and Really hated it.

What Perks do people get for Shift work? Extra Money/holidays/bonuses?


Would You rather go back to working days? or does Night work Suit you.

lafors

Agent Smith wrote: »

What Perks do people get for Shift work? Extra Money/holidays/bonuses?

Would You rather go back to working days? or does Night work Suit you.

Money, Yes.
Holidays, No extra holidays, in fact if I want a day off I need to take 1 & 1/2 days (12 hrs).
Bonuses, count yourself lucky if you get a bonus in the present economic climate.
The shift pattern that comes with most day/night shift jobs ain't great either, I may have 3/4 days off each week but all my friends do normal work so there's nobody about on my days off, plus I never have a full weekend off unless I take a day off.

Would go back to days in a heartbeat..........if I could get a job where I wouldn't have to take a paycut from present salary.
I hate nightwork but I do accept that it has gotten my wife and I into a very good financial position. I won't be doing it for much longer, we've set out 2 more years, then back to days

Mulan

I have worked 4 shift (2 X 12 hr days)+ (2 X 12hr nights) for the last 13 years. I can honestly say that I've never got used to the nights. I have never slept well after nights really and it seems to have become a mental thing. I hope to go on 4 shift days soon and it can't come too soon. My jo is office based and it can really drag at night. Night work is not right for the body or mind. Check out the effects of night work on google, pretty scary. Shift work pays well but at what cost? I'm finished in 2.5 hrs. and worried now that I wont get eneough sleep today and as a result be wrecked tonight when i come in again. This is a weekly thing. Role on the 4 shift days.
Good day, good night or whatever it is!!

jesus_thats_gre

Do nights myself but only 1 week in 12 between 10pm and 7am. Get a pretty decent shift allowance on top of my yearly salary. The extra bit of time off comes in handy too. Get a normal performance related bonus.

Coming off of nights can suck for a day or two if I over sleep during the week of nights but I tend to come off them easily enough if I manage to sleep 8 or less hours a night. The rota I adhere to in work though makes it alot easier to come off them, i.e. when you come off nights, you do an evening shift for a week before going back to days.

sadista

I recently started a shift job, one week of evening and then two weeks of nights. 1st night week is a 12-7 shift for four days and then 2nd night week is 7-7 for 3 days. The way the roster works means I pretty much get a week off every 3 weeks bar one day which is a pretty good perk but I find I use this time to recuperate and I sleep for a lot of it.
The 12 hour shifts drag because I am literally just sitting here waiting for the phone to ring and it hardly ever does. But aside from that the money is good and i cant really complain.:)

Agent Smith

I Work for a Large IT company Out in Kildare, and The Hours Suit me Quite well, as I Live in south dublin, so it gives me the extra time to travel to and from work.

I do get a shift allowence, and Its pretty flexiable with Holidays.
Like sadista said, it can drag a bit. But it can be a great place to study.

TestTransmission

i work in I.T too but id go back to a 9-5 job in a sec,the nights dont agree with me at all.Just finishing my 5th 12 hour shift this week.....:(

sadista

jackncoke wrote: »

i work in I.T too but id go back to a 9-5 job in a sec,the nights dont agree with me at all.Just finishing my 5th 12 hour shift this week.....:(

:eek:
5th 12 hour shift?!!
is that allowed in your job? In my place its 3 days on 4 days off and thats usually the case with most shift jobs. I hope you're gettin paid some good overtime!!

sadista

Agent Smith wrote: »

I Work for a Large IT company Out in Kildare, and The Hours Suit me Quite well, as I Live in south dublin, so it gives me the extra time to travel to and from work.

I do get a shift allowence, and Its pretty flexiable with Holidays.
Like sadista said, it can drag a bit. But it can be a great place to study.

totally agree about the studying Agent Smith! Im doing a FAS online course in web design, so I just sign in and study away! always manage to get distracted by boards though!!:p

SoupyNorman

Agent Smith wrote: »

Just wondering, Who here does shift work? I've recently Started back doing nights For a large Multinational IT company and i'm finding it Pretty good So Far. I worked about 2 Years ago For A transport company doing shift work as well, and Really hated it.

What Perks do people get for Shift work? Extra Money/holidays/bonuses?


Would You rather go back to working days? or does Night work Suit you.

I left a 9-5 in IT support in Dublin City Centre for a shift based role outside the city. Its 2 months in now and I love it for the following reasons...

First off, I went up 8-10k in my annual salary (depends on Bonuses). Its making a huge impact on my discretionary income.

The time off is incredible, I get a consecutive 7day period off every month and other days off too. I work about 14 12hour shifts a month. It feels like Im off more then Im working.

Ive always been a nightowl so I wasnt worried about taking the position. Not one person I told thought it was a good move but tbh I was going stir crazy in the 9-5. I was spending my life going in and out of work on the bus and then you always have stuff planned at weekends so I was ALWAYS on the go. The pace of my life has seemed to slow abit as there are days now where I can just do nothing or have a beer at 1pm.:rolleyes:

Last week for instance I moved into a new place with the g/f, I was able to do the moving without having to take any time off work and could be at home for the cable/internet guy e.t.c.

I suppose it depends on the place you are working too, Im on an IT support desk but the number of requests would be low-none on nights and weekends (the main purpose of the 24/7 aspect is to monitor servers health). If you were going into a call centre'esque environment with a team-leader or manager ragging on you all night then I dunno know If I would stick it out.


As it stands for me its a pretty decent setup!

sadista

How is everyones appetite/eating pattern?have they completely changed since you started doing nights? Was just thinkin about it now as 5pm in the evenin is usually breakfast time for me!! Im eating my weetabix as I type!

Agent Smith

i had some cereal in the house before i left, and my god.daughter couldn't understand why i was eatin cornflakes at 6pm in the evening.

sadista

Agent Smith wrote: »

i had some cereal in the house before i left, and my god.daughter couldn't understand why i was eatin cornflakes at 6pm in the evening.

lol, thats cute! Wel im off tonight so going to try drag myself out of bed to cook some real food. I find I havnt been eating as much since I started working there,the canteen doesnt exactly supply the nicest food!I might eventually shift a few lbs

Mulan

Ya my kids don't get the going to work at night thing at all. They get upset sometimes. I'm on the final run tonight. I got 4 hrs sleep today. Thats really not good enough. I'll be wrecked tonight.
I know one or 2 guys who take a sleeping tab after their first night and they swear by it. I don't think its a good idea, but for them it was the same for a long while and now they find the nights OK.

Eating habits tend to go out the window on shift. The pounds start holding on to you.!!

team sports are also hard to be part of.

For me I think it the mini depressive sort of state I get into at about 4am is the worst and the sleepless (well small amount) day following it, Week in week out.

I've 11 hrs to go now .God Speed.

Thanks

sadista

good luck!! I get like that too at around 4 or 5ish but theres no one around so I can usually grab an hours sleep at that stage,usually makes time go a bit faster!nothin like sneakin a cushion in with you and pushing 2 swivel chairs together lol!

Eurorunner

Worked nights 2 years ago - for 18 months and never again! Its seriously unhealthy. Exactly the same complaints as many of you have mentioned - ie. not getting enough sleep - especially on days off.
Working 3x12hr. now - which is good. Painful of course during working days - but great freedom in having the rest of the week off to get stuff done.

jaffa20

I'm going for an interview soon that is night shift based. It's a 4 day week from 12pm-10am and that gives me 3 days off which is cool. The salary is great so i would love to get it. I don't think i'd mind sleeping during the day. I'd work out a routine of going to bed around 4 to get up at 11. Seems reasonable enough. The only thing is on the days off, i would probably feel a bit confused and wouldn't know what time to go to bed at

sadista

jaffa20 wrote: »

I'm going for an interview soon that is night shift based. It's a 4 day week from 12pm-10am and that gives me 3 days off which is cool. The salary is great so i would love to get it. I don't think i'd mind sleeping during the day. I'd work out a routine of going to bed around 4 to get up at 11. Seems reasonable enough. The only thing is on the days off, i would probably feel a bit confused and wouldn't know what time to go to bed at

Good luck in your interview hope you get the job! The hours sound pretty good, fairly standard for a night job, but be warned, the last 3 or 4 hours of your shift will seem like an eternity!! some nights it feels like time is standing still!
Be sure to try and sort out a good sleep pattern from the get go or it will catch up on you!What I usually do when I have a few days off together I would come home at 7 am after my shift and sleep for a few hours but get up early after maybe four hours, then carry on with my day and get an early(ish) night say 11 or 12. Then the following day I wake around 9 or 10 and go about my day as usual but then try to stay up later that night, and then later than that again the next night and then try to sleep late into the afternoon the day that I am back in work.
I find sleeping this way helps because you ease yourself back into the night pattern over a couple of days while still having enough daytime to do whatever you have to on your days off. Hope this helps!

dcukhunter

I work 4 x14hr Mon-Thur shifts have no probs seeping or anything else. Work most Fri and Sat with another company sometimes the Sun. If I have the full weekend off I just stay up all day Fri and go to bed half early and it gets you back into the days again. For me anyway as long as I get between 3-6 hrs sleep I am fine don't really sleep anymore than 6hrs stright anyway. Have been at it now for 6yrs + and fine it much better than days.

the_syco

Did a few different jobs. When working in An Post, I did a 6 day week. Worked out at around 41 hours, somehow. Was something crazy like 11pm to 6am, off Saturday night / Sunday morning. Was crazy, but it was a good crowd, and I liked working it. Could well do it again. Was the only job I never needed Redbull. Was only seasonal work, so when I got a full time job, I grabbed the full time job with both hands. A large pay cut, but at least come January I still had the job. Had I stayed with An Post, my job would have finished in January. Saying that, the next job was in the cinema, so less weekends free, but again, great crew, so great craic most of the time.

The thing was, when in An Post, I'd go out drinking, stay up till 8am, and go to sleep as per usual.

Jaffa20: the best routine is to stick to the routine. Go out drinking, stay up all night gaming online, or watching TV (gaming online is good, TV sucks after 4am or 5am). Depending on how far it takes to get home, sleeping from 11am to 6pm or 7pm would be enough sleep, and also as most people come home at around 6pm or 7pm, and goto the pub after 8pm at the weekends, you may get into the habit of always sleeping at that time of the day.