3rd Shift Hours: Challenges and Benefits of Working Overnight

Many workplaces from various industries have implemented a 3rd shift hours schedule, ensuring continuous operations and the smooth running of your business. For someone who’s been working first and second shifts all their life, working at nighttime may sound quite bizarre, but let’s face it—who else but night shift workers plays a vital role in making the daytime employees’ lives trouble-free?

Well, vampires also apply in the “working after the sunset” category, but they’re usually loaded enough to skip work to enjoy a nice hunt…

Read the article to find out:

What are the principles of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shift schedules?
Why is a third shift called the “graveyard shift”?
What are the most popular third shift jobs?
Are third shift employees paid more? If yes, then why?

Track third shift hours

Avoid miscalculations and pay fairly for working overnight

What’s considered 1st, 2ndm and 3rd shift hours?

In shift work schedules, employees work at different times throughout the day to ensure the company operates round-the-clock. The number of hours worked usually stays the same (for full-time workers), but every shift starts at a different hour:

First shift hours (morning shift, day shift) – employees get to work in the morning and end their shifts in the afternoon, usually within traditional business hours (8/9 AM to 4/5 PM). Ideal for early birds,
Second shift hours – second shift (or swing shift) employees work off-peak hours; they start in the mid to late afternoon and finish their duties around midnight (usually between 3 PM and 11 PM). Great opportunity if you struggle with being productive in the morning, but you’re not exactly a fan of working overnight,
Third shift employees’ work schedules start around midnight and end in the early morning (11/12 PM to 7/8 AM). Often called “graveyard shift” due to the late night hours associated with death and cemeteries, but also because of empty streets that evoke the feeling of being in a graveyard. Perfect for night owls and people who have other commitments in the daytime,

The first and second shifts are the most common shifts; fewer people decide to work only the night shift. Some professions require a rotating shift schedule, which means staffing outside regular business hours.

All shift hours usually overlap. For example, when second-shift employees end their work at noon, the third-shift hours start at 11 PM. This way, businesses avoid gaps between shifts, and employees have a chance to handle their responsibilities smoothly.

What are the typical night shift positions?

When we think about working night shifts, we usually picture critical service workers like healthcare professionals, police officers, or firefighters performing their duties from late evening until early morning.

However, third-shift workers are demanded also by many other industries, such as:

Logistics and transportation services: Mostly truck drivers and public transportation officers, but also refers to administrators who supervise the services and handle problematic issues,
Manufacturing – Working the third shift hours ensures continuous production and business operations,
Security: Many objects require regular safety checks at night; security guards monitor and patrol the premises to identify suspicious behavior and prevent potential emergencies,
Hospitality: Third shift workers take late-night reservations, perform guest check-ins and outs, and answer calls to provide the guests with amenities if needed,
Customer service: Companies that operate in different time zones hire additional customer service workforce to provide support at nighttime,
Warehousing: Warehouses are typically open 24/7, so they need third shifts to ensure the continuity of shipping services, but also for nighttime warehouse cleaning and maintenance,
Bakery: Third-shift employees make sure the bakery is ready for opening in the morning; they usually mix and cook the dough to prepare the final products for sale.

Adopting 3rd shift hours allows companies to operate in an around-the-clock system, which is crucial for industries with high demand and 24/7 critical services.

Why work overnight hours?

Working the third shift comes with several advantages employers offer to compensate for employee’s disrupted sleep schedule. But introducing night work hours is also highly beneficial for employers

Higher pay – the reason behind extra profits is relatively trivial – fewer people decide to take third shift hours than first and second shift, so employers used to entice the potential candidates with higher pay to cover the night staffing,
Fewer distractions – third shifts aren’t dubbed “graveyard shifts” for nothing; night work hours are usually much calmer. Once you manage to fix your sleep schedule and adjust to being more active at nighttime, you’ll be able to enjoy better focus in a distraction-free work environment,
Less competition – frankly speaking, there aren’t many people who volunteer to take the late night working hours, so chances are high you’ll be given a position rather quickly after applying for a job,
Better commuting – thanks to the lighter traffic, you’ll get to work in no time and with zero chances of fighting for a free space,
Full shift coverage – hiring nighttime workers ensures the continuity of operation and better customer service.

The benefits of third shifts, especially the higher pay, sound appealing, right? However, a better hourly rate is not the only reason employees work night shifts; they also take night hours to cover the tuition or hospital bills. The thing is, working the third shift while having so much on the plate during the daytime often leaves no space for personal time and proper rest.

And that leaves us with the following question:

Are there any drawbacks to working the third shift?

All shift hours have unique challenges. However, let’s face it—employees working 3rd shift hours more often experience problems maintaining a healthy work-life balance due to the disrupted sleep schedule.

The most common problems third-shift employees experience are:

Increased health risk: Disruptions of a regular sleep schedule and working extended hours usually lead to serious health decrease and severe fatigue, which cause disorders like cardiovascular problems, diabetes or obesity,
Lower concentration: Low energy levels affect one’s ability to focus and may jeopardize workplace safety,
Decreased family time: Disrupted work-life balance can reduce children’s familiarity with parents who perform nighttime work schedule,
Poor social life: Working overnight and catching sleep in the daytime leaves almost no time for personal activities and socializing outside work,
Low self-care: Working overnight and extra hours may lead to malnutrition due to not-so-healthy eating habits and forgetting to drink plenty; it may also cause gradual hygiene indifference.

Despite these challenges, working graveyard shift hours can be a perfect opportunity if you’re single and without any other commitments. A night shift job guarantees you higher pay in a relatively short time and chances for steady income in the long run. This way, you can save a nice amount of money while looking for a position with the first shift hours.

How to track third shift hours?

With TimeCamp! Online time tracking successfully replaces outdated methods like paper lists or punching cards and raises your company’s payroll accuracy. TimeCamp fits every industry and all types of work schedules by offering multiple ways of logging work hours, top-notch synchronization, and connecting employees on whatever shift or wherever they work.

Track shift hours with:

Automatic time tracking: A desktop app tracks time in the background and fills timesheets with work hours and (optionally) with user activity. Perfect for tracking the time of office workers and remote employees, whether they work 3 shift hours or other shifts,
Timesheets: For daily hours reporting, a calendar-like mode or a weekly view that fills the work hours for the entire week at once. Ideal option for users who perform repetitive tasks and don’t want to waste time filling spreadsheets manually,
Time Kiosk: Quickly clock in and out with a shared device and PIN code unique for each employee. Works best for manufacturing, construction, hospitality, etc.,
Mobile apps: Log work hours wherever you are, even when offline – TimeCamp syncs once you get back online. Field workers, e.g. in sales or consulting, can use them while traveling or attending meetings with clients.

Besides robust shift hours tracking, TimeCamp offers a real-deal toolkit that keeps your business running smoothly:

Time Reporting: Generate rich-data time and people reports based on time and activity tracked by your employees,
Time Billing: Assign various income/cost rates to specific projects or users and simply track time on your tasks and generate reports with margin counted automatically (billable time and labor cost reports are also available),
Expenses: Monitor spending related to projects for reporting purposes or to justify the additional cost to your clients,
Invoicing: Invoice your clients for hours tracked for their projects within a specific time range,
Budgeting: Set a project budget based on estimated time or fee to monitor your team’s performance and properly analyze the task’s profitability on an ongoing basis,
Attendance Management: track your employees’ shift hours and manage their days off for error-free payroll records,
Geofencing: Track the location of field workers. The geofencing feature starts a new timer once the employee enters their job site.

Besides, TimeCamp integrates directly with 30+ tools, including payroll software, to compensate employees fairly, whether they work a first shift or start their job later in the day.

Check all integrations →

How much does TimeCamp cost?

TimeCamp offers a generous free trier for unlimited users (including Kiosk!) and easily affordable paid plans for times of various needs and sizes:

Free

0.00

billed annually

Free plan includes all the essentials (accurate time tracking, unlimited projects, a time clock kiosk, desktop, and mobile apps, idle time detection, and many more).

Starter

2.99

billed annually

Starter plan includes unlimited tasks, excel reports export, attendance, time-off, overtime tracking.

Premium

4.99

billed annually

Premium plan includes one integration, billable time, budget and estimates, apps and websites tracking, project archiving, and more.

Ultimate

7.99

billed annually

Ultimate plan includes unlimited integrations, billable rates, labor costs, invoicing, timesheet approvals, custom user roles, and more.

Enterprise

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Enterprise Plan, designed for companies with 50+ employees, includes priority support with SLA, self-hosted and private cloud instances, custom integrations, and more.