Should Swing Shift Employees Work Harder?
@RichardMeister (5328)
Otis Orchards, Washington
August 26, 2016 12:22pm CST
I worked swing shift at most of the jobs I have had. Every job I worked on swing shift paid more than dayshift. At my last job I heard some dayshift employees say the reason swing shifters were paid more was because they worked harder and got more done. They also said that swing shift should work harder because they made more money.
This has nothing to do with extra pay for swing shift. The extra pay is for being willing to work swing shift. Most employees don’t want to work in the evening. They want to be home with their families. The extra pay for swing shift workers is an incentive for people to work a swing shift. If an employee doesn’t want to work swing shift then they have to settle for less pay. If the situation was turned around and everyone wanted to work swing shift instead of dayshift, then there would more than likely be higher pay for working dayshift.
Every place I worked swing shift, most of the time, swing shift did get more done than day shift. But employees on swing shift didn’t work harder than dayshift. The only thing we could figure out is there were no big bosses there to interrupt the employees, keeping them from working. On every dayshift job I worked at least one big boss would wander around and stop the work to inject their opinion on certain things. Or stop someone to do an “off the cuff” job. Those things rarely happened on swing shift.
In my case, I have never liked crawling out of bed before the rooster crows to get to work on time. So swing shift was a good match for me.
3 people like this
4 responses
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
26 Aug 16
You are exactly correct about higher wage for swing shift over day and graveyard getting more than swing. You never ever owe the employer any more work than necessary. Rare is the employer rewarding hard work.
2 people like this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
27 Aug 16
Yes, I worked graveyard shift, too, for 3 years at one company. I hated it because when I get home and go to bed there was always someone in the neighborhood that had to do something loud and noisy. On swing shift most people didn't start making noise until I had gotten up.
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
29 Aug 16
I would have to agree with all your points here. There are certain sacrifices to working swing shift . . . I would think they should be paid more simply for being there at what most people would call their sleeping time. Hubby has his eye on a particular company but for now all they offer is that swing shift . . . he knows with that timing, he would never see his family - it's hard as it is with the regular day shift!
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@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
30 Aug 16
@RichardMeister Oh, I'll have to tell him about that - thanks! If they do not say so, at least he could ask if that were a possibility down the road. At the same time, I don't know if he could adjust to a swing shift schedule . . . the working part yes, but the sleeping adjustment might prove to be difficult.
He has a 45 minute commute. He leaves here about 7, just when the kids are barely getting up . . . and then he comes home around 7:30/8 when it's nearly time for the kids to go to bed. I guess I'm saying the schedule barely coordinates during the week so he would spend time with the kids . . . that's why weekends are so precious for us!!
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@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
29 Aug 16
When I was hired on my last job I was told at that time they were only hiring for swing shift but later on I could apply for dayshift (which I could have done about 3 months after I was hired). The company your husband is interested in may be the same way. He may only have to work swing shift for a short while. When I worked swing shift I was up in the morning no later than 10 a.m. but then I did not go to bed until around 2:30 to 3:00 in the morning. It may be worth him looking into if he can eventually go to dayshift full-time.
When I worked swing shift I worked from 2:30 to 11:00. I don't know what hours your husband would have to work but if it's considered part of dayshift then I'm guess he would be going to work much earlier that 2:30–more like at 12:00 and working to 8:00 or 8:30 (if that's what you meant by "it's hard as it is with the regular day shift!").
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@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
30 Aug 16
@much2say If he goes to swing shift then he should get home sometime around midnight. I found it pretty easy to get sleep when I could go to bed while it was still dark and most everyone in the neighborhood was sleeping. But I you are getting swing shift mixed up with graveyard shift (working from around 11 p.m. to around 7 a.m.) then I could see him having very much trouble getting to sleep. I worked a graveyard shift for 3 years and totally hated it because of that.
1 person likes this

@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
27 Aug 16
Yes. The last job I had they switched me to dayshift and when we worked overtime I had to be there a 4 a.m. Although since they switched me instead of me asking to be switched I still got swing shift pay.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
28 Aug 16
@RubyHawk Yes, the pay was a bonus but I still didn't like getting up at that hour in the morning.
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@RubyHawk (99367)
• Atlanta, Georgia
28 Aug 16
@RichardMeister Now that was a bonus for sure. Good for you.
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