Managing the Work Schedule for Personnel in Large Dairy Herds

Dr. Gustavo M. Schuenemann and Dr. Jeffrey D. Workman, Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University

The biggest challenge for modern dairy owners and managers often does not directly involve the herd or the farm, it is people!  Managing and coordinating the work schedule for dairy personnel directly impacts milk production, animal health and welfare, and overall profitability. Furthermore, it can be a monumental task balancing cost savings with the most efficient number of employees to successfully complete the work. The U.S. Department of Labor considers the normal work shift to be a work period of no more than eight consecutive hours during the day, five days a week with at least an eight-hour rest. A dairy farm, by definition, requires people to work extended and unusual shifts. Advantages of a longer shift from a management perspective involve less employees with more continuity and production per worker.

There has been much research investigating the length of a work shift and the pros and cons of a 12-hour work shift versus the “normal” 8-hour shift. In practice, it really depends on the mental and/or physical demands of the specific job, and the overall attitude or desire of the worker to perform. Factors to be considered include: fatigue and job performance; safety; sleep, physical health, and psychosocial well-being; system implementation, attitudes, preferences, and morale; absenteeism and turnover; and overtime and moonlighting. When studying the U.S. manufacturing industry, previous research showed that the use of overtime hours (>40 hours per week) actually lowered average productivity output per worker.

Research regarding number of hours per shift typically focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of longer shifts, with the assumption that the individual is going to work about the same total number of hours for the week and month regardless of the length of their shift. However, there is a certain number of man-hours needed to be successful on any given operation. When farms and other businesses are essentially under staffed or right at their limit, the benefits of longer work shifts may go away. Having not enough or just enough employees not only means that personnel are working longer shifts, but they are also working many more hours in the week and month. Although there are limited studies available in the literature for the dairy industry, the total number of employees is increased by about one-third by adding a third shift to the farm. The likely increase in productivity due to improvement in morale and attitude of personnel and the subsequent improvement in animal health and welfare can potentially pay off with increased profit beyond the cost of having more employees on the payroll.

It is common to observe large within-herd variation in milking personnel performance (MPP) and turnover over time. In large dairy herds, scheduling the work shifts in the milking parlor can be a challenging task due to the number of personnel available, hours/days worked per week, and having enough relief workers to cover the day-off.  As an example, a 2,100-cow dairy farm that milks cows three times per day with a double 32-parallel parlor requires 4 milking personnel present at all times. Thus, there is a minimum of 672 man-hours required per week to keep the parlor operational. For this example, the assumption was that personnel work for 6 consecutive days and have 1 day-off. To illustrate the complexity of managing the work schedule for milkers, two distinct scheduling approaches were simulated.  Scenario I consists of an 8-hour shift which requires a total of 14 workers per week to keep the milking parlor operational (Table 1). Scenario II consists of 12-hour shift which requires a total of 9 milkers plus 1 relief worker per week to keep the milking parlor operational (Table 2). For these two scenarios, the day-off for each milker was distributed evenly within week. However, in practice, schedules may or may not be rotating in which a worker who has Thursday off this week will have Friday off next week and Saturday off the following week (milkers typically want their day-off during weekends).

1 = Milker is working for 8-hour shift.
0 = Day-off for milker.

1 = Milker is working for 12-hour shift.
0 = Day-off for milker.
Relief Milker = Worker is responsible to milk cows for only 2 consecutive days (highlighted in yellow). The worker is responsible for other tasks within herd the remaining work days.
  
In both scenarios, milkers were paid $10 per hour. Scenario I requires a total of $6,720 per week to compensate wages for all 14 milkers (Table 3). Similarly, scenario II requires a total of $6,720 per week to cover the wages of 9 milkers and 1 relief worker (Table 3). The 12-hour shift offers more schedule flexibility, but there is a real risk of losing MPP at the end of the shift as opposed to the 8-hour shift (Table 3). Often milkers prefer the 12-hour shift because the paycheck at the end of the week ($720 per worker) is significantly larger than for the 8-hour shift ($480 per week).

The estimated adjustment in MPP due to fatigue (e.g., milk loss) and turnover for the 12-hour milking shift has not yet been assessed. There is a fine balance between keeping the milker satisfied and avoiding the milking routine SOP drift due to working too many hours during the shift. It is not uncommon for dairy personnel to want all of the hours that they can get. They will often willingly work as long as they are permitted each and every day to receive the largest possible paycheck. The problem to be considered is that fatigue can result in reduced productivity, increased risk for non-compliance with SOP, and unsafe practices. Well-rested and alert employees are critical to safe and productive operations. Any schedule is most effective when the combination of shift length (e.g., 8-hour, 10-hour, or 12-hour) and number of consecutive days worked does not compromise personnel well-being, performance (e.g., compliance with SOP), and safety of the working environment. Frequent absenteeism at the parlor (e.g., “no show” workers who are always sick or the car always brakes down) require immediate attention by managers because it may be associated with the working schedule or other underlying issues. Consider discussing these issues with your employees during your next meeting and allow them to provide feedback.

In our next article, we will present and discuss different work shift scenarios accounting for performance and turnover, number of consecutive days worked per week including overlapping shifts, number of relief workers needed per week, and how the combinations of these factors impact the economics of the herd.