It’s June, so the time has come for our yearly bid for the following year’s work schedule. As many of you already know, my job has a set rotation of six days on, three off, six on, three off, six on, six off. In other words, each month has three blocks of six work days, two three-day breaks, and one six-day break.

This system has its pros and cons. The big pro is the six-day break we get every month, which I can use for travel, relaxing and working at home, or picking up overtime. The big con is that my days off constantly change and don’t necessarily come on the holidays that most workers get. Here’s my November 2010 schedule as an example.

When we bid for our schedules, we’re giving our preference for the start time and the specific “line” of work. For example, line 123 might have its first February shift on the 3rd and include Thanksgiving and Christmas during its days off. Lines that have Christmas off are generally the most desirable. Line 124 might start its 30-day rotation on Feb 6, but it has work shifts on Thanksgiving and Christmas. If the line you get makes you work on a day you’d rather have off, such as Christmas, you can try to bid a vacation day. However, unless you’re in the top half of the seniority list, you probably won’t be able to get it with a vacation day.

I’m currently number 104 of 146. I think I started at 114, so I’ve moved up a bit through promotions, retirement, and other departures. The 11:00pm start time still seems to work the best for me and my family, so that’s what I plan to bid. I doubt I’ll have any problem getting it. It looks like there’s a small chance I’ll get Christmas off, depending on what the more senior 11pm guys bid.