My new rota has me working 4 days in a row over xmas: 24th-27th December

200888

Hi, I work for a charity that needs staff to be in every day (i am not going to go into any further detail as to who i work for, so please don't ask) and yesterday we got our christmas rota.

We dont work a typical monday-friday 'office' week and get usual bank holidays off, as I said they need staff every day so we usually work bank holidays and weekends as a usual working day.

The only problem is that we have just got a new rota and I am down to work chritmas eve, christmas day, boxing day and the 27th from 8am-5pm. Now, on the old rota I was working christmas eve and christmas day, but had boxing day off.

To put this into perspective, there are 70 of us on the rota, with 4 'watches' watch 1 and 3 are very similar, as well as watch 2 and 4, so it means that half of us are working these 4 days but the other half have these days off.

I have no probelm with working on xmas day, boxing day etc.. but to work those 4 days in a row then we are off for 1 day then back on for another 3 days 28th-30th December and get new years eve and new years day off. I think it should be spread more evenly so that each of us either work christmas OR boxing day for example, rather than some working all and others nothing.

I can't find any advice on being asked to work these days in a row online, and I havent spoken to my managers yet as I wanted to gather some facts first. What does everyone else think of this situation?

Remember, im not against working over the xmas period - i just think those 4 days in a row is a bit much and it doesnt take into account that we have a life outside work.

whitewing

You biggest problem will be the half of the staff that have already been told that they do not have to work on those days.

My hubby's job has a rota and they are not allowed to book off as holiday time over the Xmas/New period. They are, however, allowed to shift swap if they can find others who will do it. So that can work out all right as some of the younger colleagues are tempted by the double and triple time.

Do you get extra time on those days or is it your normal rates?

getmore4less

There is nothing you can do other than negotiate.

It would make sense to get some kind of guidelines/policy in place so peope know where they stand in advance, allthough 2 months is plenty of time.

Allowing swaps and do this year get next year off are two potentialy reasonable flexable options.

Asking if any don't mind working(we dont do Xmas) so more can take the off time is another option but this can be done through swaps, but might favour certain people.


One advantage of 24/7 cover where you work traditional holidays is you get more flexable holidays which will suit some people.

Savvy_Sue

You say this is a 'new' rota: do you know why it's been changed? And are you the only person working these 4 days, or are several people being asked to do it?

The only way forward is by negotiation, but IF you feel that you've been worse treated than your colleagues, you could consider a grievance. Although if this is your first Christmas, remember they can get rid of you for practically any reason as you have less than a year's service.

paddyrg

I'm afraid that's how life goes sometimes - I will be spending the whole of the Christmas period in an almost empty, freezing cold sports arena setting up a show that opens on 26th Dec. People have to work duff hours sometimes.

The plus side is you do get some weekdays off when other people are 9-5ing and grumbling about the commute. I also imagine you get different shifts, so your life is more interesting and you have more variety available to you than many others.

And likely next year, the shift patterns are reversed so you're in the 'Christmas off' group

xbrenx

You could check with the others on your watch and see what the general feeling is. If there's even just a few of you that feel it's too much you could approach the relevant person as a group.

I think it would be fairer to work either Christmas Day or Boxing Day and then either New Years Eve or New Years Day.

I wouldn't think of it as this year or next year because there's no guarantee who will still be there next year.

Hope you manage to get something sorted

98jdougl

At our place we let people have either christmas or new year off, they get a sign up sheet to say which they would prefer, and if somebody doesn't put in the request they work whichever we need staff for, even after that there tends to be some shift swapping going on.

Last place I worked we all agreed that those who had young children at home should be the priority for having Christmas day off, speak to the people you work with and see if there is a solution that would suit the majority and then propose it to management.

dark_lady

98jdougl wrote: »

At our place we let people have either christmas or new year off, they get a sign up sheet to say which they would prefer, and if somebody doesn't put in the request they work whichever we need staff for, even after that there tends to be some shift swapping going on.

Last place I worked we all agreed that those who had young children at home should be the priority for having Christmas day off, speak to the people you work with and see if there is a solution that would suit the majority and then propose it to management.

If its the same every year thats not very fair on those who dont have children.

pineapple

I used to work for a local council. We got extra pay plus holiday for working on a bank holiday and staff were falling out with each other to grab the shifts.
That said you were either working New Year or Christmas but never all of it.
What has been the practice in previous years? If on the old rota, others had to work the same days, then you just drew the short straw with the new rota and other than trying to get a couple of swaps, will just have to grin and bear it. But afterwards, maybe there needs to be some staff discussion about alternative systems.
If however, this is a change to the rota system and/or it is too short notice to change plans, then it would be fair to raise the issue now.

an9i77

Are you allowed to swap shifts, even if money changes hands? My step mum used to work somewhere that required 24/7 staffing, she was rota'd over xmas/new year but swapped her shift although I think she paid the person taking the shift a hundred quid or something. Offially they weren't supposed to swap for money, but management turned a blind eye saying it was a private arranagment. Obv whether or not you can do this depends on whether you can find a 'seller' for the more sociable hours and how much you'd be prepared to pay, but some people may favour extra cash over working the unsociable hours, particularly with how expensive xmas can be.

98jdougl

dark_lady wrote: »

If its the same every year thats not very fair on those who dont have children.

I don't know if they still do that - it was something that we agreed as the lowly staff and then proposed. We all agreed that since Christmas was more important to children they were the ones who would be taken into consideration the most.