Working Patterns and Real Life- 2 weeks on 2 off (or similar) and

Hi,

Been working what used to be the norm, before the new norm, 5 day standard week with weekends off although for the past year-ish had been more like a nine day fortnight which was good to get the long weekend every second week.

There are jobs which Im tempted to apply for that have a two week on two week off work pattern and this looks to have the advantage of having the feeling of more time “off” Obviously the other side is that its two weeks completely away from home which could be good or bad.

No kids yet – tho highly likely to be part of the picture so trying to factor that into the process as well. Would be tough being away and missing things but then thinking that on the two weeks back at home spending more time with them would be good. I remember not seeing my Dad too much in the evenings as a kid, by the time he got home from work.

It must be workable given the numbers of people that do work similar patters but I dont know anybody who works like that so looking for some real life experiences good/bad/indifferent.

Its not oil and gas, its off-shore wind, currently work in the on-shore wind industry.

thanks

I worked 3&3 and 2&2 for years before I took a desk job onshore. To be honest, I much preferred it to the 9-5. If another opportunity arose for me to go back to equal time, I’d snatch it.

You definitely get much more quality time at home working an equal time rotation. Obviously this is offset by missing the occasional birthday/Christmas/special occasion.

Like for like, I was financially better off too, as there are less expenses (i.e. Food and accommodation is taken care of for half the year).

First thing to remember is it’s not 14 days on, 14 days off, it’s 15 days on 13 days off given you have to travel to and from the installation (I’m assuming you’ll be crew changing).

Next thing to consider is where do you live and where are you departing from. Often you’ll find you have to travel the day before and overnight. If you’re really unlucky you’ll have to overnight both going and coming back. By that point you’re looking at only 12 days at home and 16 days away.

That’s before you factor in getting fog and not being able to travel. In that case you’re stuck at the installation for however many days the fog lasts and there’s no time off in lieu. If you’re not at the installation then you can expect to enjoy 12 hours a day sitting in a really uncomfortable departure lounge.

I gave up working in the UK after a few years and started working in Norway. 2 on 4 off is the only reasonable way to work in these types of jobs.

Also, if you’re working night shifts expect to need a few days to get your body back to the point you can actually do and enjoy things.

I served my time offshore and I’ll be honest, it’s probably ruined me for every subsequent job. Agree that it ends up more like 15-13, worse if you’re on nights, but 15-13 is a much better balance than 5-2. I value time off incredibly highly, and also value a proper demarcation between work and home. I don’t think anyone would be surprised if I ever went back to that sort of work.
So yes, absolutely do it.

We had onshore projects in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan where our management didn’t care what rotation we did, so long as one of us was there. After working 28/28 for a while, 35/35 was deemed much better as you had so much time off you could feel lost in it. Also, you could accomplish huge amounts in the time on site.

There is no greater feeling than flying back home with five weeks off, a holiday with the kids planned and zero money or work worries.

Definitely do it.

Conversely I’ve done ad-hoc and 14:14 and 28:28 and 35:35 for various jobs in various countries for 10 years and have most recently landed a desk job in the UK.

As a young fella id say do it assuming your being paid properly for it it’s taken me to amazing places , I’ve met some amazing people and importantly(given the circumstances) made good money.

But being fully away from home for a period of time does affect your relationships eventually both family and friends.

I grew to hate it and conversely to the others don’t miss it and even more so I’m so glad not to be in that environment (mostly the international travel aspect so not applicable to UK offshore wind)during the pandemic and with a young family. I have ex colleagues who were stuck for months during the travel bans for various reasons. Not that I’d have predicted this when I was doing that work.

There is no greater feeling than flying back home with five weeks off

And no worse feeling than flying off with 5 weeks away from home.

I work 8-4, that’s not 5 on 2 off, as I have evenings too, I’m not away from home for 5 days.

Not for a minute saying it’s better or worse, just something to think about. Everyone of my mates that went equal time when oil industry bottomed out tried to get onshore jobs.

I currently work 4 months on, 3 months off (at sea, not in the wind farms) and am looking to change as soon as I can. I’ve found that while having months off at a time can be good, I don’t utilise my leave well enough to justify being away from home for such a long period nowadays. It cost me a long term relationship in a round about way, and has been a sticking point in starting something serious with other girls I’ve met. Although adversely, some of the guys I work with love it, and spend most of their leave in Thailand and Cambodia.. you can imagine what for..
having previously worked 5/2 9-5, I’m looking forward to getting some structure back into my life.
Everyone is different though. It’s a matter of weighing up the pro’s and cons for yourself.

work with love it, and spend most of their leave in Thailand and Cambodia

A number of people especially the longer term lads I’ve met have been of this ilk too.

And no worse feeling than flying off with 5 weeks away from home.

Or 2 weeks or 3 weeks or 4 weeks. In away ad-hoc was better as you got short notice to travel so there was no time for your mood to decline over a period of days. Wife used to say I was three different people. The just got home me , the actual me in the middle for about a week and the decline into me going away me.

Also, if you’re working night shifts expect to need a few days to get your body back to the point you can actually do and enjoy things

not the way it worked when I worked offshore….you’d have an 18 hour changeover shift in the middle of the 2 weeks so the second week you were on days, and therefore didn’t need to adjust. the 18 hour changeover shift was tough tho

I’d like to work 2 weeks on/2 weeks off, office based.

Technically not allowed to do a ‘short change’ from nights to days anymore offshore UK due to the HSE, I certainly haven’t done it in over a decade (apart from ‘operational requirements’ ie medivac or similar) and thats working with several different operators.

Have worked 2/2, 2/3 and 3/4 3/5 rotas for over 25 years now and have a love/hate relationship with it although I think it’s the oil industry as a whole that gets on my nerves now rather than the rota.

I would imagine you will be working from/ on a boat so no rotary flights which is a bonus as helicopters suck balls.

As mentioned above, demarcation between work and home is the best thing for me, no sitting trying to wind down at end of day thinking you have to do it all again tomorrow and trying to get all your leisure/diy/life stuff done in a weekend or at nights.

Thanks for all of the input and different views, definitely food for thought.

The mode of transport for the windfarms currently in operation is all by boats so none of that helicopter stuff for me, though some of the pipeline of projects will be further out so helicopter more likely.

Im told that for the jobs Im looking at its a crew change on Wednesdays and get ashore midday and then the next crew head out. So conceivable to get home or depart on the same day.

The wind industry currently seems to have avoided night shifts, so its only working days and then onto the flotel. Its not as lucrative as Oil and Gas but enough not to have to worry about buying a woodburner/coffee machine/skoda octavia/fryer for putoline/ and the other STW necessities

I know a guy who works on them just now but he is one of the guys who would be off to Thailand and not looking to follow that routine so it works for him and his desires and probably try to take advantage to get more of that cycling nonsense in during the break periods.

Twodogs – think most of us would love that too 🙂

Technically not allowed to do a ‘short change’ from nights to days anymore offshore UK due to the HSE, I certainly haven’t done it in over a decade

Were you trades or offices or drill crew?

They were still doing these last time I was offshore I’m ukcs about 18 months ago for tourpusher down and crane op down.

The trades and the office/supervisors all stayed on same shift.

What may have changed is how the short change is achieved. It’s essentially two short shifts with a sleep in the middle rather than an 18hr shift. It’s still crap and short change and crew change day are statistically when things go wrong on most installations.

It’s been a while but I used to work 35 and 35 offshore (seismic). I’d echo the “make sure you’re constructive in your time off comments”. The big thing for me was most of my friends weren’t rotating and so they were only around for activities on weekends etc. So I did a lot of solo stuff during the week which I got bored of (your milage may vary). This was pre-family. I personally couldn’t image rotating and leaving my partner for long periods of time to solo childcare even with the pay-off of being around more the other 50% but everyone is different.

I don’t miss WOW.

And no worse feeling than flying off with 5 weeks away from home.

Very true. Heathrow Terminal 3 departures still gives me the willies to this day