I’ve been doing overnight for 6 years now and not sure I can do it anymore.

r/

My department works 8 hour shifts. If you work a normal schedule it’s a rotating two week 8a-4p, then two week 4p-12a. If you work overnight it’s steady 12a-8a.

At first I was voluntold to work it, then after growing close with my colleagues I decided to stay on for another year. Then another. And so on. After a while, my train of thought was that I’d be less exhausted and better manage my time since I don’t rotate. But I’m tired all the time and debating about going somewhere else.

I honestly wish we would just switch to 10-hour or 12-hour shifts, but that isn’t an option. Any advice?

Comments

  1. reyrey1492 Avatar

    I’d leave for another department. That schedule would kill me faster than anything. 

  2. moose1425612 Avatar

    That’s maybe the worst schedule I can think of. I’d see how much influence you can conjure up about switching to 10 hour shifts. If not, I’d start looking at other departments.

  3. Ill_Success_2253 Avatar

    I don’t understand why agencies still use rotating shifts

  4. achonng Avatar
  5. RogueJSK Avatar

    Overnights will destroy you if you aren’t specifically wired to be a night owl. (Most folks aren’t, but some are.)

    Rotating shifts will destroy you no matter how you’re wired, especially with such a short rotation. Your body will be constantly trying to adjust to a new schedule, but will never have enough time to do so before you rotate again.

    So you have no good options here.

    Time to start looking elsewhere for a better schedule.

  6. OutrageousShoulder11 Avatar

    Grab as much training&certs as they will send you for. Wait till after you finish said training. Apply other places. Dont say shit to your department, they will find out damn near instantly. Once they find out stay squeaky clean if your current agency is butthurt. Do everything BtB and put plenty of applications out there.

  7. WKuze13 Avatar

    I did Mids for 3 years. Steady 4 on 3
    Off. Once I hit like 37 I couldn’t do it anymore and came off. Not a single guy on my dept on Mids is older than 30 and that’s the squad LT

  8. AdmiralAdama99 Avatar

    Quick question. What’s the allure of 10 or 12 hour shifts vs 8 hour shifts? The extra day off each week?

  9. TransportationNo9566 Avatar

    I worked a special duty military assignment in DC for 3 years from 98-01. We worked 3 on 3 off 12s from 6-6 but would rotate from night shift to day shift every month. After about a year I just volunteered to stay on nights because I wasn’t sleeping more than an hour at a time. I went to the Dr and he said it was a horrible situation and recommended I try to stay on one shift and hopefully my sleep would get back to normal. 25 years later and I take prescribed Ambien and Clonazepam to sleep almost every night which is a problem in itself. I was abusing alcohol heavily each night just to fall asleep. I remember seeing a shrink and she asked how much I drink every night and my answer was “whatever it takes”,

    I’d definitely try to get something more stable.

  10. No-Cardiologist-9252 Avatar

    I feel you. The department I retired from worked a schedule of 7 on 3 off for 2 cycles then 7 on 2 off with a weekend off one per calendar month. In that if you didn’t work overnights you could bounce between days and evenings and at times getting off at midnight and back 0800. We also had the shit schedule of covering days off, which I had for 3 years. That was 2 days, 3 evenings and 2 midnights. So the first day of your days off was wasted sleeping. I was to the point that anytime I laid down I slept. I did finally get to a straight day shift.

  11. Critical-Test-4446 Avatar

    My department used to have a monthly schedule where we would rotate backwards (mids, days, then afternoons). Pretty much everyone hated it. One of the sergeants came up with a new schedule that was way better. He presented it to the district commander and after some discussion it was implemented and worked well. Not gonna happen if no one says anything.
    As an aside, when I was an Army MP, our schedule was 3 day shifts, 3 afternoon shifts, 3 midnight shifts, 3 days off, and start over again. It was insane.

  12. Critical-Test-4446 Avatar

    Working mids and then having a 10:30am court date really blows. Get off at 7am so not enough time to get some sleep but too long to stay awake. Always hated that.

  13. LegioX1983 Avatar

    7/2 and 7/5. My god I hated that schedule

  14. SirBillyWallace Avatar

    In lieu of going to another dept, why don’t you submit a bid to when the rotating shift before you leave?

  15. PirateKilt Avatar

    Have you re-wired your circadian rhythm to have your “awake” time be 10pm- 2pm, and sleep time being 2pm-10pm every day of the week, even on days off? (or something similar)

    Consistency is of key importance… if you often flip to a daytime awake thing on days off, you just keep screwing yourself. Worked both 8 hour and 12 hour mids for years, and often saw troops doing that to themselves to “have family time” or some other reason… always sucked for them.

  16. Whatever92592 Avatar

    My department rotates every 4 months. 12.5 hour shifts. 0600-1830 or 1800- 0630.

    We were understaffed my entire career, 22 years. Many of those 12.5 shifts came with mostly voluntary 6 earlies or 6 lates.

    There is no seniority; everyone rotates.

  17. 0IOl0I Avatar

    Rotating shifts were a no go for me. When we moved to a new state and I was looking at agencies, I found some really good ones that rotated every 2 weeks. What’s the point? Go find another agency

  18. Gregorygregory888888 Avatar

    When I started back in the later 70’s we rotated this shift every week. To say it was exhausting would be an understatement. Some weeks you worked 7 in a row then 2-3 off. It’s been years but something like this. Then we went to a 4-10 but still rotated then we went to perm shifts which most favored. I was in K9 by then so night work was the norm for me. Usually 7P-0500 so at least I was home to see the kids before school as well as my wife. Did this for 24 years with the dogs. Could I do what you are doing? Not a chance would I go through that again. Someone needs to get hold of studies that others have done and approached senior staff about making some changes. Good luck.

  19. Electrical_Switch_34 Avatar

    Don’t feel bad in the least. I was on night shift for a long time and I never did get used to it. I actually told my department I was going to quit if they didn’t switch me shifts and they did.

    Yeah, I get it, you have to have a night shift but I did it for about 8 years.