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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.