911:: Re: Rotating Overtime

[Guest guest]

At 01:53 AM 11/16/2000 -0500, Diane plead for input:

> Does anyone in the group rotate their forced overtime? We are looking for

>ways to keep from burning out our junior people (well some of us are) and I

>need ideas on how other agencies handle this.

<snip>

This is a Comm Center procedure, not a departmental policy; our other 23

Comm Centers may handle the problem differently (but they DO handle it in a

rotational basis of some sort).

The rotation starts over each month (which is a pay period).

Junior person gets tapped if no one volunteers to provide the coverage.

The next occasion of mandated overtime goes to the NEXT junior person, and

so on. It goes on up the seniority list until the most senior person has

worked his/her mandated overtime. Then it starts back with the junior

person again. Seldom do we make it all the way up before the next

month/pay period, and the cycle begins anew with the junior person.

This is ONLY for " mandated " overtime. If someone wants to volunteer to

" save " someone from a mandated overtime tag, it doesn't count for that

instance; that is, that junior person will be " tapped " for the next

mandated overtime and the volunteer is not removed from the seniority

rotation. Also, since overtime occurs around the clock on different shifts,

there is a different mix of seniority on duty...

In one of our very large Comm Centers, the volunteer OT - not SCHEDULED OT,

but sudden, unexpected need for overtime coverage - does put that person

" on the bottom " of the mandated OT list. This allows someone who may be

coming up soon to opt to take some that's convenient for them and get it

out of the way....

Our smaller Comm Center doesn't consider voluntary OT coverage to put

someone into any relatively " safe " zone at the bottom of the mandated OT

list. <grin>

Obviously, if the junior person (within the rotation) has already worked

overtime that day, s/he can't work MORE, so then the next junior person

gets tapped for it.

In any case, there are some permutations of managing such a rotational

system, but it tends to keep the most junior person from being always

mandated for OT. We seldom get up the list - in a month - to the most

senior person, but it could happen.

We're lucky in that we have a lot of OT " hounds " and they DO care about

someone who's worked a lot of overtime recently.....

As the next month's schedule is posted, a volunteer overtime signup sheet

is also provided. After a certain amount of time, it's taken down and the

overtime is assigned to fill the holes that may be in the upcoming

schedule. If there are slots for which there are no volunteers, those holes

will be filled by mandated OT selection. AHEAD OF TIME.

The dispatchers can " trade " these SCHEDULED mandated and voluntary OT

assignments with each other, just as long as the coverage is provided.

It's the unscheduled OT that requires the " junior to senior " rotation.

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

Communications Supervisor

~on the Central California coastline~

" Not presumed to be an official statement of my employing agency. "

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