The Evolution of Adaptability - Shift Work and Staffing Rotations in the Changing Operational Environment

The National Weather Service is undergoing transformation change with regards to its historical staffing and operations model. At the local office level, this is presenting a new wave of opportunity for rotational shift workers, who have been historically tied to fixed shifts around the clock. This inflexibility had significantly hindered their ability to perform outreach and professional development, and limited their ability to meet with partners in emergency management, media, public safety, and education, during the work week when they are most available. Fixed rotational shift work, including fixed evening and overnight shifts, also has had a negative impact on personal and family life. With advancements in meteorological software and datasets, the re-negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement in 2021, and the encouragement of national leadership to think outside the box with flexibilities to best meet the needs of the mission and the weather enterprise, local offices are now encouraged to develop strategic staffing based on the needs of their area. This can come in several time scales – from the immediate needs (needs of the day), to near term in a fixed schedule (2 weeks out), to long term planning (6 months – year).

This presentation will review how the staffing model has evolved over several iterations since 2015 at NWS Topeka, and how these changes in scheduling have improved partner and mission support by staffing where it is needed the most, and based on the needs of the day. The process required frequent meetings of the Local Office Team (LOT) between management and the bargaining unit, to negotiate the adjustments along the way - several of which required being uncomfortable with change, and testing new ideas on a trial basis. But by leaning into this change, and pushing against the boundaries of ‘what we always did’, the availability of the staff has been expanded to better perform the mission, and has had widespread positive impacts - from improved decision support services (DSS) to our core partners, expanded partner outreach, situational mutual aid between NWS offices, additional time and resources for scientific collaboration and research, availability for educational outreach and conference participation, and has also resulted in the betterment of physical and mental health as well as improved work life balance.