Kind-of-Lost Kind-of-Lost · OR Tools · Staff Scheduler · Shift Rotations · Support

Shift Rotation Schedules

DuPont

28-day cycle with a signature 7-day break every 4 weeks, at the cost of a 4-night block.

Panama (2-2-3)

14-day 2-2-3 cycle, never more than three shifts in a row, every other weekend fully off.

Pitman (EOWEO)

The same 2-2-3 cycle as Panama, pinned to the calendar week so every other Saturday+Sunday is off together.

4-on-4-off

The simplest pattern to remember, but it drifts through the week — 56 days (fixed) before shifts land on the same weekday again.

All four rotations below solve the same problem: covering a job 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with four crews on 12-hour shifts. Split any way you like, four crews of 12s covering 24/7 average exactly 42 hours a week — 168 hours of coverage every week (24 hours × 7 days) divided across 4 crews. Every pattern on this page hits that same 42-hour average; what changes between them is how the days on, days off, and night blocks fall on the calendar.

Pick a rotation to see its full calendar, generate it for any start date and crew names, and download the result to Excel.

Get an email when we ship updates to this tool. Low volume, unsubscribe anytime.