I built a tool for managing shift occupancy.
One of the most challenging operational types I have dealt with in terms of occupancy is sites with multiple, overlapping shifts. There is a misconception that shift working often means less hybrid and remote working. I have found, in most instances, this assertion to be wrong. Shift workers often have an easier time working remotely, and their managers are more capable of tracking their performance because their tasks are more structured and consistent.
I have worked with sites with shifts across the US, Latin America, South America, India, the Philippines, Asia, and Europe. There was one consistent conversation across all of these sites:
How much space is really needed if I hire X more employees on Y shift?
The challenge is that every shift within a site may operate differently from the others, just as two sites will operate differently. This exacerbates the challenge where managers with different requirements for their teams have with occupancy. When those shifts overlap each other, it creates increased inefficiencies with occupancy when the overlaps are not planned and predictable.
Below is a not-unusual example of how 4 overlapping shifts can impact expected site occupancy. These shifts all have different employee counts, different occupancy averages, and different start/end times. During most windows, there is enough capacity to support additional growth, other than the 8 and 9 pm windows, where we have one shift ending and another beginning, which creates unusual pressure.