Nature & Nurture

Influencing operator retention.

Working Environment

• Nature – Influences which are generally beyond the influence of individual managers and operations staff

• Nurture – Areas that management, and in some cases even individual operators can control.

Where do operators come from?

• At JLab operators primarily come from 2 groups.

– University, primarily from physics departments

– Military, primarily the Naval Nuclear Power Program

• Additionally

– Other DOE facilities

– Commercial/technical organizations

JLAB Staffing

• JLab Original Staffing

– PhD – Crew Chiefs

– Operator – Technicians

– Commissioning

– Worked rotating shift

• Present Staffing

– Crew Chief & 2 Operators

– Duties include: Accelerator operations, System Safety Operator, Assigned Radiation Monitors.

– Fixed Rotation

Shift Work

• Nature or Nurture?

• 24/7 running a aspect of accelerator operations. So Nature.

• Turning shift work from Nature to Nuture

– Pattern initially used at JLab: Three shifts

• Days – 08:00-16:00

• Swings – 16:00-2400

• Owls – 0000-0800

– Works work a different shift each week with a varying number of day off in between shifts.

Long rotation shifts

• Six shift teams

• Operators assigned to specific day, swing, owl shift for entire accelerator run (Shutdown to shutdown).

• Work seven days on shift first week, three days outside control room next week. (Activities which occur during off week will be covered later.)

Effect on Operator Retention

• Initial dip @ end of commissioning period.

• Subsequent period retention ~2-3 years.

• Retention continues to increase as operator turnover has decreased.

Effect on Operator Retention

• In the period of 1996 -1998 operations lost 9 individuals. This represented fully one-third of the operations staff.

• In the 1998-2000 period typical retention was ~ 3 years.

• More than half of the operations staff left operations in this 1996-2000 period.

Effect on Operator Retention

• In 2000 Operations group moved from rotating shifts to long rotation shift schedule.

• Retention numbers have continued to increase.

• Majority of individuals leaving operations have moved to other positions at JLab vs. leaving lab.

Filling Fixed Shifts

• Owl Shift (0000-0800) not as difficult to fill as might be expected.

• Operators consistently able to get first choice of shift.

• Money factors contributes to achieving balanced rotation.

– Operators receive percent bonus for working Swing(1600-2400) and Owl (0000-0800) shifts.

– Crew Chiefs must work a certain number of back shifts a year to retain shift differential.

• Number of times staff has been asked to work third choice can be counted on one hand for period since 2000.

Off shift time

• With six shifts rotation supports a schedule of 7 days in the Machine Control Center on shift and 3 days working outside the MCC in each two week period.

• Operations meetings held on Wednesday. All off shift personnel must work Wednesday.

• Other days in off shift week may be flexed.

Where do Operators Go?

• To other positions in the Lab. Operations is a conduit to recruit and evaluate individuals for placement in other positions in the facility.

• Nowhere. They stay in Operations. Core of operation experts.

• Dual Track.

• What happens if they don't leave?

– Senior Crew Chief.

– Tasking.

Tasking.

• Hire individuals who possess a range of skills useful outside operations.

• Exposes operator's perspective to other groups.

• Exposes operators to other areas at a deeper level.

• Allows completion of tasks which would otherwise be under resourced.

• Allows better utilization of operation's staff during downs.

• Pathway out of operations for those who wish it.

Formal Training/Formal Procedures

• Important nurturing influence.

• Pushed by high turnover during 1990s

• Formal procedures is the linch-pin upon which a formal training program is built.

• Formal procedures provides a better work environment by requiring a lower level of theoretical knowledge to perform tasks. This reduces stress and results in better machine reproducibility

• Formal training prepares operators for operation and for advancement.

Educational benefit

• Another specific advantage to the long rotation schedule is the opportunity that it gives to individual who wish to pursue continuing education.

• Standard rotating shift work made taking advantage of Lab tuition assistance and job relate training program almost impossible for operations staff.

• Long rotation shift makes it quite easy for operators to engage in continuing education.

Conclusion

• All of these benefits have in some way flowed from the willingness of the JLab Operations Management to look beyond the standard shift rotation cycle. They are also based on a premise that it is productive to utilize operators outside the operations “ghetto”. The laboratory has benefited by hiring individuals with a higher threshold of experience and education and utilizing these individual's non-operational skills in other tasking.