Narrative:

Shift manager was informed of the [control center] being overstaffed and was told to send people home by upper management. The manager made the decision to leave because there was another shift manager that was working in dispatch that could fill in. That; somehow; became my problem when the shift manager; working dispatch at the time; was pulled to the podium to work as shift manager and the flights on their dispatch desk (mountain desk) were added to my desk; both sent and unsent flights. The flights I had sent on my dispatch desk were left on my desk; but my flights that were not due yet were sent to the irop desk. This created a few issues. I do not feel properly trained for the mountain desk having never worked it. I also had 18 flights in the air while trying to work up a full bank load of flights; making it impossible to flight follow with any level of detail. At one point; I had 32 active flights on my desk and another bank needing to be worked up. This is a major safety issue and should not be taken lightly. If this had happened during busier banks; there could have easily been closer to 40 flights in the air at a time.the [control center] was overstaffed and the company sacrificed safety of flight to save paying an additional person. I am sure someone could have been sent home without affecting dispatcher work load if better procedures were followed.this cannot happen again; mountain desk especially. If the [control center] is overstaffed; a plan needs to be in place before the shifts begin. I started my shift at 2pm. There was plenty of time to spread flights and increase each desk by 1 or 2 flights before they started; rather than increase my work load; and the work load of the irop desk by 20 plus flights.the company cannot allow a couple hundred dollars in payroll to affect the workloads so much that it becomes unsafe.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Dispatch Supervisor sent staff home and dispatchers were over worked and understaffed.

Narrative: Shift Manager was informed of the [Control Center] being overstaffed and was told to send people home by upper Management. The Manager made the decision to leave because there was another Shift Manager that was working in Dispatch that could fill in. That; somehow; became my problem when the Shift Manager; working Dispatch at the time; was pulled to the podium to work as Shift Manager and the flights on their Dispatch Desk (Mountain Desk) were added to my desk; both sent and unsent flights. The flights I had sent on my Dispatch Desk were left on my desk; but my flights that were not due yet were sent to the IROP Desk. This created a few issues. I do not feel properly trained for the Mountain Desk having never worked it. I also had 18 flights in the air while trying to work up a full bank load of flights; making it impossible to flight follow with any level of detail. At one point; I had 32 active flights on my desk and another bank needing to be worked up. This is a major safety issue and should not be taken lightly. If this had happened during busier banks; there could have easily been closer to 40 flights in the air at a time.The [Control Center] was overstaffed and the company sacrificed safety of flight to save paying an additional person. I am sure someone could have been sent home without affecting Dispatcher work load if better procedures were followed.This cannot happen again; Mountain Desk especially. If the [Control Center] is overstaffed; a plan needs to be in place before the shifts begin. I started my shift at 2pm. There was plenty of time to spread flights and increase each desk by 1 or 2 flights before they started; rather than increase my work load; and the work load of the IROP Desk by 20 plus flights.The company cannot allow a couple hundred dollars in payroll to affect the workloads so much that it becomes unsafe.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.