Dispatchers on this commonly-encountered shift work 5 days, then take 2 days off. The work days and days-off always fall on the same day of the week. However, as our Web site visitors have told us below, there is still plenty of room for creativity with the "plain old" eight-hour shift.
Keith says his comm center works 8-1/4 hour shifts, with a 5-on/2-off, then 5-on/3-off configuration, in a 28-day rotation. The shifts are from0600 to 1415, 1400 to 2215, and 2200 to 0615. He says the shift hours provide for a 15-minute briefing. He adds that after the 28-day rotatation, dispatchers move from days to swing, swing to nights, and nights to days.
Mike Pierce at the Clermont County (Ohio) comm center says dispatchers there work 8-hour shifts, with 6-on/2-off, then on the fifth and sixth weekend dispatchers have three days-off in a row. They do not rotate shifts, but rather pick them every quarter. He says everyone is pleased with the schedule, although working six days in a row can be tedious. But, Pierce says, "the 3 day weekends in a row are really nice, especially when you add on a vacation day with it."