Rotating shift patterns explained
A rotating pattern repeats after a fixed number of days. The cycle length and the number of shifts in it determine your average hours, but the hours in any single workweek can be far from the average. That swing, not the average, is what produces overtime on 12-hour rotations. The figures below assume 12-hour shifts and were worked out by counting the shifts in each pattern; the standard rotation definitions are widely published, but crews and sites often tweak them, so confirm against your own schedule.
| Pattern | Cycle | Shifts | Average weekly hours at 12 h | Scheduled hours in individual workweeks (12 h shifts, before breaks) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 on / 14 off | 28 days | 14 | 42 | Workweek starting with the hitch: only 0 or 84. Other start days: 0, 84 and two partial weeks such as 36/48, 24/60 or 12/72. |
| 7 on / 7 off | 14 days | 7 | 42 | Aligned: alternates 84 and 0. Otherwise two partial weeks that add to 84, such as 48 and 36. |
| 4 on / 4 off | 8 days | 4 | 42 | Always 36 or 48, whichever workweek start day you use. |
| DuPont | 28 days | 14 | 42 | Sunday start: 0, 48 or 72. Other start days range between 12 and 60. |
| Pitman (2-2-3) | 14 days | 7 | 42 | Sunday or Thursday start: 24 or 60. Other start days: 36 or 48. |
These ranges were produced by counting shifts in each week of the pattern for each of the seven possible workweek start days (the 12-hour figures are scheduled hours, so a 30-minute unpaid break lowers each shift to 11.5 paid hours). Whatever the pattern, the hours in a single week differ from the 42-hour average, and overtime depends on which weeks are heavy. Put your own start day into the pay calculator to see your actual weeks.
14 on / 14 off
Fourteen consecutive shifts followed by fourteen days off, common in remote and offshore work, mining and some industrial sites. Because the block is exactly two workweeks long when the workweek aligns with the start of the hitch, overtime is large and predictable: with 12-hour shifts, 84 hours a week is 40 regular plus 44 overtime. If the hitch starts mid-week, the first and last weeks are partial. Some employers use different rules for remote rotations, so check yours.
7 on / 7 off
Seven shifts then seven off. Each week alternates between a full 84 hours and nothing when the workweek lines up with the block. If your hitch starts on a Wednesday and the workweek starts on Sunday, you work Wednesday to Saturday in one week (48 hours) and Sunday to Tuesday in the next (36 hours). The calculator shows exactly how that splits.
4 on / 4 off
Four shifts then four days off, an 8-day cycle. Since the cycle does not fit into seven-day weeks, the pattern walks backwards through the calendar and your days off fall on a different weekday every cycle. With 12-hour shifts a workweek always contains either three or four shifts, 36 or 48 scheduled hours, so overtime appears in the four-shift weeks. An unpaid break lowers the paid hours and can move a week from over to under 40.
Day and night rotations
Many crews work a block of day shifts, their days off, then the same block on nights. In Hitchday, pick 14/14, 7/7, 4/4 or Pitman and turn on Alternate day and night blocks: the cycle doubles, so 4 on / 4 off becomes DDDD----NNNN---- (16 days) and 7/7 becomes DDDDDDD-------NNNNNNN------- (28 days). For anything else, choose Draw my rotation on the calendar and tap the days of one cycle, or type your own pattern with D, S, N and -. The number of shifts a week is the same as the day-only pattern, so the average is still 42 hours at 12 hours a shift. The individual weeks can differ from the table above, though: a night shift that starts on the last evening of a workweek is split at the workweek boundary, so some of its hours count toward the next week. Set Night shift starts to your crew's start time and check your own weeks in the pay calculator.
DuPont
A four-crew, 28-day cycle for continuous operations. The widely published sequence is: 4 night shifts, 3 days off, 3 day shifts, 1 day off, 3 night shifts, 3 days off, 4 day shifts, then 7 days off. In the calculator it is entered as NNNN---DDD-NNN---DDDD-------. Over the 28 days there are 14 shifts, which averages 42 hours a week at 12 hours. Four crews share the cycle, each offset by seven days, so every crew uses the same pattern with a different anchor date.
DuPont is the pattern where night differentials and shift-length rules matter most, because the nights are in four-day and three-day blocks that cross workweek boundaries.
Pitman (2-2-3)
A 14-day cycle: 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off, entered as DD--DDD--DD---. Every second weekend is a long weekend off. It averages 42 hours a week at 12 hours, but within a given workweek you may work 24, 36, 48 or 60 hours depending on where your workweek starts, which is why some weeks have overtime and others do not.
Custom patterns
Type any pattern using D (day), S (swing), N (night) and - (off), up to 120 days. A seven-day pattern such as DDDDD-- is a standard five-and-two week; DDNN---- is two days, two nights, four off. Each letter has its own start time in the settings.
Choosing the right anchor date
The calendar needs one fixed point: the date on which the first character of the pattern falls. For a block-based rotation, use the first day of any block you know for certain (for example "my first 14-day hitch started on March 3"). Using one real, confirmed date avoids drift: the calendar counts from that date forward and backward, so it never accumulates an error the way a hand-edited calendar can.