Dispatch Dispatcher
Time Pressure; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Equipment / Tooling; Staffing; Human Factors; Company Policy
Workload.  Planned daily in 8 hours.   Our workload sheet reflects a time that is generally 45 minutes before the calculation time of the release.  This is the case domestically.  I worked desk XX in the office and the following list is the times my worksheet reflected that I was within 45 minutes of the flight plan being calculated.  XA59; XB00; XB00; XB00; XB00; XB05; XB40; XC00; XC00; XC10; XC11; XC20; XC25; XC25; XC40; XD05; XD42; XD45; XE05; XE10; XE10; XE28; XE55; XF05; XF06; XF10; XF10; XF20; XF45; XF50; XF00; XG10; XG30; XG30; XG45; XG55; XH18; XH39; HI00; HI00; HI45.This safety report is concerning workload.  The job of a dispatcher is not data entry.  Looking at that list of times does not give a single opportunity to breath for a moment.  I was also given 2 [maintenance check flights] flights which can eat up considerable time conferencing the crews and keeping up on the ETD;s.  There was severe turbulence reports across the plains states as well as moderate reports across the entire country.  We receive hundreds of messages in a given 8 hour shift to sift thru.  There were atc reroutes.  SFO had heavy rain and winds with a flow program.   SNA had rain in the forecast which causes a landing weight issue if wet.  LAX had a chance of thunderstorms and rain that was moving into the area.  There were sigmets constantly being updated.   DFW had storms possible in the forecast.  [My Air Carriers] dispatchers work more than 1 fleet type which means more things to keep up with as they are all different with each having their own unique characteristics.  Looking at the list of times above there is not one moment to look away and gather ones thoughts on a good day.  There are very rare perfect days.  If you happen to have one; the list of release times above are still too much and that is without mentioning the city pairs that are being worked.  Phone calls; radio calls keep you busy.  I didn't even mention that instead of the 42 releases assigned to the desk that day I probably did them all 2 to 3 times as changes in the chop and weather forecasts was constantly changing.  There are many other things that come up that one has to address. I listed just a few of them on that given day.  The dispatch floor needs more desks in the domestic and international divisions.  Instead of opening these desks and covering them however they need to; the management team does not seem to want to address the workload issue until the dispatchers [of my Air Carrier] are integrated in with the [merger company] dispatchers.
Air Carrier Dispatcher mentioned workload exceeds available resources to safely dispatch and monitor flights.