Can someone explain the rest days scenario to me in a bit more detail please? I come from a Mon-Fri 9-5 background so I am trying to familiarise myself a bit more. Am I right in assuming that rest days are in place to help you/your body clock adapt from one shift pattern to another? E.g. going from 06:00-14:00 to 22:00-06:00 for instance, or do these form part of what us 9-5's would refer to as "Saturdays"? lol
I think the working alone is something that I could handle, though I acknowledge it is a huge transition that should not be underestimated. I suspect the largest challenge would be the shift patterns and thus would imagine that the rest days are a key part in helping to adjust. That said, I can understand for those "seasoned" signallers that have got used to the shift patterns, these extra days must be quite lucrative.
Thoughts anyone?
Where I am it's seven nights starting Wednesday night, (includes the Sunday) rest day the next Wednesday (even though you finish at 6AM that morning), then seven lates, (doesn't include the Sunday) then rest day the next Thursday, then seven early turns (includes the Sunday) finishing on the Thursday.
This then gives you a bunch of rest days until your next cycle begins (on the Wednesday night). Every four cycles you get an extra long weekend where you don't start until the Thursday night, and you finish on the Wednesday rather than Thursday. This accounts for the 35hr working week over time.
Our Sundays are twelve hour days, whereas some places stick to eights on Sunday, some do twelve hours all weekend.
You can choose to be rest day not available if you wish.
I don't how how other eight hour shift patterns work but I'd imagine they're fairly similar. Twelve hour shift patterns look a lot more friendly IMO to the outsider, but they can be difficult depending on personal circumstances.