12-hour shift schedules, explained with real patterns

Two crews cannot cover 24 hours with 8-hour shifts, but four crews on 12-hour shifts can, with everyone averaging 42 hours a week and getting every other weekend off. That arithmetic is why 12-hour patterns run half the world's plants, hospitals and control rooms. Here are the three you will actually meet.

Pitman, also sold as the Panama or 2-2-3

The Pitman plan repeats every 14 days: work 2, off 2, work 3, off 2, work 2, off 3. Two crews take days, two take nights, and the famous feature is the built-in 3-day weekend every second week. Because you never work more than three 12-hour days in a row, fatigue stays manageable. The 2-2-3 rhythm is the same idea described by its first week.

DuPont

The DuPont schedule runs on a 4-week cycle: 4 nights, 3 off, 3 days, 1 off, 3 nights, 3 off, 4 days, then the prize, 7 consecutive days off. Crews love the built-in week of freedom and hate the stretch of 4 nights that pays for it. It suits plants that want crews switching between days and nights rather than fixed.

Fixed 12s

Plenty of hospitals simply run fixed 12-hour days (07:00 to 19:00) and fixed nights (19:00 to 07:00), three shifts a week each. Simple, predictable, and each crew keeps one body clock. The weekly hours land at 36, which is why it is common where staffing rules count patient-facing hours.

Are 12-hour shifts worth it?

The honest trade: fewer commutes, blocks of full days off and simpler handovers, against long feet-hurting days, harder childcare on work days and rougher recovery when a run of shifts lands badly. Most people who switch from 8s to 12s do not want to switch back, but the pattern only works when the off days are protected.

If your workplace runs any of these, put the pattern into ShiftAl once and the app rolls it forward forever, with pay and alarms attached. Planning a team instead? Our free shift planner drafts a fair month in one click.