Scheduling; some numbers

[Mike]

Brinkman did a study (apparently) and found that 3 and 1's resulted in more production, despite getting 1.5 fewer days than 4 and 1's per 30 day cycle, results in higher production.

5 and 1's (6 day shifts), 25 days worked in every 30 days. (5 cycles)
4 and 1's (5 day shifts), 24 days worked in every 30 days. (6 cycles)
3 and 1's (4 day shifts), 21 days worked in every 28 days (7 cycles) (low)
3 and 1's (4 day shifts), 24 days worked in every 32 days (8 cycles). (high)
3 and 1's (4 day shifts), 22.5 days worked in every 30 days (7.5 cycles) (average).
5 and 2's (7 day shifts), 20 days worked in every 28 days (4 cycles) (low)
5 and 2's (7 day shifts), 25 days worked in every 35 days (5 cycles) (high)
5 and 2's (7 day shifts), 21.4 days worked in every 30 days (4.3 cycles) (average) (5/7 * 30)

There are also variant schedules; the one that comes to mind is 3/1, 3/1, 4/2, which works out to 5/2.

Also note that you can bump up the day count in a shorter time frame quicker.

For example, say you have 15 planting days instead of 30.

5 and 1's (6 day shifts): 15 days worked in 18 days (3 cycles); 3 days off.
4 and 1's (5 day shifts); 15 days worked in 19 days (4 cycles); 4 days off. The last shift is 3 days long.
Here you gain the extra day against 4 and 1's within only 18 days; rather than 30. Perhaps that makes a difference.

Each of these schedules is a trade off; production time in a month versus more rest. And since treeplanting is hyper variable, it's impossible to study which of these in reality results in highest production. However, if it looks like the season is going to run short, then a company could space the season out by using 3 and 1's; unless that resulted in such a production gain that it actually ended shorted, as the rumoured Brinkman study suggests. But too many variables --- even something as small as planter mood --- can make a difference, so any real information is hard to find.


Anyways; this is getting posted for a couple reasons;

1) I'm really tired of hearing people try to tell me that "5 and 1's add up fast! That's an extra day each shift! A whole extra shift each month!"
2) I'm curious about people's opinions; is the rest worth it? Are the extra days worth it? Which results in more trees? How do you begin to gather evidence to hazard a guess?

[jdtesluk]

Loved the 3-1-3-1-4-2. It gave every second weekend off, but still lots of weekdays for banking and other stuff requiring business hours. The 2-days off on a regular basis really gave opportunities to catch up on rest. I did find that my production was best in my later years when I was doing these shifts. The one catch is that it works best with longer contracts, and is seldom adopted on shorter jobs of a month or less.

[L'Amour]

Northern transitioned from 4-and-1 to 3-and-1 in... what? Late '08? There were a few grumbles at first, but I think everyone prefers them these days.

[Sebastian]

The planting schedule won't make a huge difference to planters in terms of money, although it might shorten or lengthen their season a little bit. This is especially true if you only work for one company, and everyone plants the same schedule.

Whether you're planting 5 and 2's or 3 and 1's, your company still only has x number of trees, and you're only competing against the rest of the planters in the company for a larger share of x. As a result, shortening or lengthening your season by a few days will have no impact on your earnings.

However, shift composition can have a big impact on a company's bottom line and will also help planters that change companies mid-season. If you're a company owner, finishing the season earlier will reduce overhead (rental fees, day-rated staff, etc). If you're a planter that changes companies for the summer season, the sooner your contract is over, the sooner you get to go to another company and compete for their x number of trees.

[Mike]

True, except your own tiredness is a factor in this equation in relation to the rest of the planters in the camp. If you're someone who has no trouble going hard for constant 6 day shifts, you're better off in a camp full of people who find them tiresome and have weaker days 5 and 6. If you're someone who is better off with a short shift, you're better able to "compete" for the limited trees at a company that has that than at a company with straight 6 day shifts and people who enjoy them (not that there are many of those left, as far as I can tell).

Also shorten/lengthen matters in terms of camp costs/day off costs.

[ekim]

I had a winter falling trees where I worked 16 days, 1 day off, 8 days on, 1 off, then 6 and 1's the rest of the winter, tree planting I prefer 5 and 2's, have done the 4 and 1's but one day off didn't seem to give me any rest but also I'm one of the very few tree planters with a family so it is nice to have one day to rest and one day to play with the kids. A guy that worked with my boss back when he still planted remembers working something like 38 days straight before they asked him for a day off. If I was still in my early 20's with no kids I would work the season straight through just to get it over with.

[Scooter]

We worked 6&1's at Folklore until about seven or eight years ago. Now, 5&1's is the norm.

However, last summer I did all 4&1's with the exception of a single five-day shift, which killed people. This year, we did 4&1's for most of the spring, except for a single five-day. Because of prior scheduling, we've done 5&1's for July with one six-day. The long shifts unquestionably reduce production at the end of the shift. By the middle of the shift, people were saying, "Ugh, I've got to work a long shift, I'm not going to kill myself for the next few days." Daily production dropped significantly yesterday (today is day 6 of that one six-day shift of the summer) and I feel that part of it was attributable to people not wanting to push themselves in a longer shift, ie. basic exhaustion, and partly because it was one of our first hot days of the summer, and the camp is used to working in the rain.

Overall, I strongly prefer 4&1's.
Maybe I'll put a couple of polls up so we can get some more "scientific" data.

[The_Bearslayer]

No decent company I've ever seen worked 5/6 and 1s except in emergencies, but a few good planters seem to buy into it for some reason -- often the athlete types who aren't vulnerable to exhaustion or psychological fatigue. This is especially common in Alberta where the old idea of planters not having feelings or the ability to prefer one set of conditions over another still persists in a lot of places.