CM Club - Advice needed from people who work with shift patterns......

[looneytune]

I saw an advert for someone wanting care. I've emailed asking for more info as I didn't know how the shifts work (I've done another thread about 10pm collection). Here's her reply:

5 week rota basis, which means i work a different shift each week. if i was working a full week of early shifts for example the school run would be mo-fri then, i always know what shifts i'm working the friday before. but i could for example be working 2 early shifts and the rest late, where i'd only need 2 schoolruns that week. so it varys a bit.as i have only started this job a few weeks ago i don't exactly know the pattern of shifts yet, but as soon as i finish my training i will know more. as for the evenings, that would only come in use when my husband is away, he is in the army and sometimes he has to go on exercise for a week at a time, we moved here in april and he has only been away twice so far. i would always try my best to work my shifts round that, cause i appreciate that those are not very social timings, especially when it is during the week. when my husband is away and i can't manage to swap my shifts then the hours would be 5.45pm til approx. 10pm, but so far i have always finished around 9pm/9.30pm, but that always depends on how long it takes me to do a call. and again it depends on what shift pattern i have for that week, so it could be one night that week or a few more and maybe include the weekend. but like i say, i would always try my best to swap my shifts, so it would mainly be when i am on an early shift. and i would always know my shifts for the week the friday latest, saturday beforehand. i hope this has help you to understand it a bit more, if you have any more questions please email me back. i really appreciate you trying to help. thank you.

What are your thoughts? Do any of you do similar work? I'm just worried about the fact I wouldn't be paid for when I'm not used and that would be less money than a full time school run could be.

Any advice would be great

Phew! I'm exhausted just reading it!!

TP - does that mean I'm not the only one who finds it confusing?!

Response about holidays....

sorry i totally forgot to ask about that. i would need cover in holidays.but my husband gets leave over the summer and christmas period, and i get leave aswell.obviously not as long as the childrens summer holiday, but it wouldn't be the whole of that period

What do you think?

I more or less gave up trying to understand it halfway through!

I have children whose parents have shift patterns, but they are all during daytime hours. I wouldn't want someone to be here all evening (and am not registered for overnight care), but that's only because I already work a long day and don't have small children of my own any more. I value my personal time (so that I can do my Ofsted paperwork ).

How old is the child? If you wanted to, you could always give it a trial run and see how it goes. (I already know that I wouldn't do I myself!)

Child is 5. I feel the same tbh and have decided that I'll only do that part if they stay overnight. If they can find someone to do that bit and they want me to do the early starts + school run, I may be interested in that but it's this thing about not always being needed that gets me.

I would ask for an example of her shifts using someone elses rota IYSWIM for comparable hours. Basically what she is saying is she could do a week of earlies, a week of lates or a mixture of both. so I would calculate for 15 earlies and 15 lates for the first month for advance payment. Calculate the differences at the end of the month when you can see her actual pattern.
so 15 x daily early hours x rate. plus 15 x late shift hours x rate. Add this up and hey presto you have a 30 day monthly cost to start with. Holidays would have to be calculted once you know actual hours.
If after the first month she has done 20 earlies and 10 lates just calculate the difference in hours and reimburse/ knock of following month? or add to next bill if she owes you. Obviously explain all this to her first or you could have pay disputes and write it all in the coontract.

I would set a standing charge of paying all holidays if you work over the school holidays except christmas. Explain that this is to retain the space.

Oh god, my head is spinning . Think I'll have a look at this once I've had lunch, I just find it really hard getting my head around things like this!

Thanks though, very helpful!

It looks very messy to me.
Also seems to lack some information... for example there is mention of a school run, but not a school collection time for that, or associated finishing time - unless I've missed that somewhere.

For evenings, as they may end up being rather ad-hoc, wouldn't she be better off with a babysitter - 5.45pm-10pm certainly looks more like babysitting hours to me, than childminding hours - plus added advantage for the parent is that their child is at home, thus with luck will have done any homework, been given dinner, had a bath/shower, and be tucked up in bed asleep, by the time the parent gets home. Surely that is better than dragging a half-asleep child from a childminders back home sometime after 10pm.

Thanks for your help, I decided to let this go in the end as someone else has replied and so looks like they will be ok. I really could do with the extra time in bed in the morning, only emailed as felt bad for them.

I think you have made the correct decision for you and your family.

you need to ask her for example weeks ie so on an early week you would want mon-fri, what tie would you want to drop off, what time would i need to collect chid and until when?..same go's for any other shifts she may have..you need examples to get your head round

oops late as always

That's ok Pinkchick, I now know what to find out should I ever see anything like this and want to take it. Having said that, I'm feeling such relief now that I'll probably stick to normal work, far more easy