Shift Wars – A Death Sentence for Retention & Culture

Shift Wars – A Death Sentence for Retention & Culture

Let’s be real—shift rivalry has always been “a thing” in EMS. Day shift vs. night shift. A shift vs. C shift. Weekends vs. weekdays. It usually starts as light teasing or inside jokes. But somewhere along the line, the banter becomes bitterness.

And when it does? It can destroy a service from the inside out.

I’ve seen it happen. Morale tanks. Trust erodes. Communication breaks down. Suddenly it’s not about teamwork anymore—it’s about us vs. them. And in a profession where lives literally depend on handoffs, communication, and trust, that mindset isn’t just toxic—it’s dangerous.

Where Shift Wars Start

Shift friction usually doesn’t come out of nowhere. It grows from things like:

• Not taking the call at shift change for a tired crew that’s ready to rest
• Passive-aggressive comments
• Uneven cleaning or restocking
• Leadership favoring one shift or failing to hold all shifts equally accountable
• Lack of communication or transparency between crews

It builds up. It festers. And eventually, it becomes a culture.

The Real Cost of Shift Wars

1. Patient Care Suffers
   • That snarky handoff? The resentment-fueled short report? It can lead to critical info getting missed. The person who suffers most isn’t your coworker—it’s your patient.
2. Retention Takes a Hit
   • Good providers don’t stay where they feel pitted against their own team. Toxic shift culture burns people out fast—and makes them look for better elsewhere.
3. Growth Gets Stunted
   • When you stop seeing other shifts as allies, you stop learning from them. You stop building each other up. The entire service stagnates.

Leadership: This Is Your Problem to Solve

This isn’t something that gets fixed with a pizza party or a passive email. If you’re in a leadership role and you see this happening—you have to act. Because letting shift wars grow unchecked is a leadership failure.

Here’s what strong leadership looks like:

• Fair and consistent accountability across all shifts
• Transparent communication about expectations, policies, and problems
• Facilitated conversations—not finger-pointing—between crews
• Public recognition for teamwork across shifts, not just within them
• Creating a culture where handoffs are treated like mission-critical moments, not punch-out rituals

What Providers Can Do, Too

Leadership can set the tone—but culture lives in the crews.

• Give a damn about the crew coming in after you. Clean the truck. Stock the cabinets. Do the right thing.
• Don’t weaponize report. Your job is to set the next crew up for success, not sabotage. sarcasm. With intention.
• If there’s a problem, talk about it—professionally. Not in the group chat. Not with
• Recognize that “they’re lazy” or “they don’t care” is rarely true. People are burnt out. People are tired. Be curious, not cruel.

Final Thought: We’re All the Same Team

When the tones drop, the trauma doesn’t care what shift you’re on.

We all put on the same uniform, drive the same trucks, and show up for the same mission. Let’s stop dividing ourselves over scheduling and start building something better. Because the second we see each other as the problem—we lose sight of what we’re actually here to do.