Rotational Work - Pros and Cons. Who Should Avoid It and Why?

Let's talk about the pros and cons of rotational work and I want to say that what may be a pro for one person may be a con for another, right!? So I would highlight the following main advantages of rotational work:

🟢 If we talk about an equal rotation schedule like 28/28 or 30/30 then it's a balanced mix of work and rest.

🟢 The next advantage is your B2B it's really great then there is someone you can hand over your work too a dream of an office worker. sometimes at the end of your shift you get very tight a lot of work piles up and you see that there are only a few days left until the end of the shift so you hand it over and go home. However after a month the same thing happens to you and your back to back also leaves a lot of work for you but you are already fresh and rested and so you can dive back.

🟢 Another advantage is having six month of vacation in a year but again if we are talking about equal rotations. For people without the burden of marriage and family this is probably an ideal option. If you also have a good salary then during your days off you can travel and do whatever you want. I remember the first hitch I started working and I wasn't married yet me and my friend went to the Czech Republic for some fun so we plan to go to the Ibiza on our next break but we never did it because we both got married 😂.

🟢 Rotational work also provides additional opportunities for development. I know many examples of people who run your business during their days off and attend courses and training to improve themselves in the new fields and I always do the same.

🟢 Also during the rotation program you have spare time in the evening and sometimes lunchtime which you can also devote to self-improvement. I also know your employees who work in offices and they spend 3–4 hours a day just commuting and a 1–1.5 to work and the same back so as a result their daily work related time is more than 12 hours and then people switch to rotational work they were very happy and said it's the perfect work schedule.

🟢 Another advantage of rotational work is that your family doesn't have to move anywhere. If you like your City, everything is settled for you and your children have friends, sports clubs etc.

🟢 But there is another advantage: rotational work helps employees and their families to live anywhere in the world. That's how my family moved to Cyprus and Spain because we always wanted to live in the warm place by the Sea. And if you work rotations in a good International companies it gives your family amazing opportunities to live in different countries.

🟢 Many people say a high salary as one of the pros of rotational work compared to a 5-day office job. Of course if you consider what is job rotation across all professions and the labor market that's probably true and mainly it is because of the 12-hour workday or working in remote locations, extra pay for hazardous conditions and maybe other allowances.

Now the main drawbacks of rotational work:

🔴 So the first downside is uneven rotations. Unfortunately this is very common worldwide for example if you work 90 days with 30 days rest or work 60 days with 15 days rest.

🔴 The second downside is long rotations especially for those who work at Sea. The schedule can be 3 month on and 3 month off or even 4 to 4 months. Resting for 3 or 4 month is nice but working it's like crossing out a part of your life, your children will have grown up in 4 month. Honestly the longest I've been on rotation was 6 weeks and I can't imagine how people work for months. During the pandemic many rotational work employees worldwide got stuck in different countries because air travel was cancelled and I know people who spend a year on rotation waiting for the country to reopen. And there are many employees who work 11 months and stay home just for one month and many don't even go home and just work constantly because the salaries are not high and they can't buy tickets home, so they send the money they earn home to their families every month. So slavery hasn't been abolished now you are just payed some money.

🔴 The next downside is the separation from your family so even if you work month on month off you still don't see your family for one month and that's actually a lot. I can confidently say that if everything is good in your family no one would want to go on rotation.

🔴 Then there is a 12-hour work day but in fact it could be 14 or 15 hours or even more. I remember time then there were some complex works with equipment shutdowns and for 2 weeks we had to work every day from 6 in the morning until 10–11 at night so then you feel like squeezed lemon.

🔴 For those who work in the extreme Northern conditions many people know that there is a lower oxygen content in the air which affects your health during long term work.

🔴 Another downside is the huge number of hazardous working conditions. Most industrial injuries and death occur in production not in the office, right!? So believe me guys I know what I'm talking about. I had friends who lost their lives or became disabled due to different work rated accidents on production sites so I also suffered myself from hydrogen sulfide poisoning and it was terrible.

🔴 Also not having regular sex affects your health. Let me tell you a story: once I went for the massage and the person massaging me said that he had learned a special kind of foot massage and could tell me if there are any health problems in my body. I said okay let's try, so after he massaged my feet he said he felt there was a problem with my sexual activity like it was intermittent sex. I said yeah I work rotations. He also said it's bad for my body. Luckily I'm okay now and everything is good 😂.