Home › Compare schedules
Compare shift schedules
Most rotations land on the same number of hours. What separates them is how the time off arrives, how many shifts you work in a row, and whether your weekends survive. These pages put them side by side.
Which schedule is best?
Start here
There is no best rotation, only the one that protects what matters to you. Pick by weekends, sleep, long breaks or hours.
24/48 vs 48/96
Side by side
Identical hours, identical platoons, completely different rhythm. The only question is whether you want your time off in two-day pieces or four-day blocks.
Kelly vs California Swing
Side by side
Same nine days, same three platoons, same fifty-six hour average. The difference is whether your time off arrives in one block or two.
24/48 vs 24/72
Side by side
One extra platoon is the whole difference — and it changes the average week by fourteen hours.
Pitman vs 4 on 4 off
Side by side
Both are twelve-hour rotations at forty-two hours a week. One keeps your weekends and your sleep pattern; the other gives you four days off at a time.
3 on 3 off vs 4 on 4 off
Side by side
The same forty-two hours, cut into different sized pieces. Three and three, or four and four.
7 on 7 off vs 4 on 4 off
Side by side
Both average forty-two hours. One delivers it as eighty-four hours and then nothing; the other spreads it evenly across every week.
4/10 vs 5-2 5-3
Side by side
The two patterns most departments choose between when they are not going to twelves. One buys you a third day off every week; the other keeps a familiar working week.
Continental vs Southern Swing
Side by side
Same length, same hours, same three tours. The only difference is how fast you move between them — and that difference is the entire sleep argument.
9/80 vs 4/10
Side by side
Both fit forty hours into fewer days. One gives you a day off every other week; the other gives you one every week.
Fixed vs rotating shifts
Side by side
The oldest question in shift work, and the one with the clearest evidence on one side and the strongest practical arguments on the other.
4 on 2 off vs 5 on 3 off
Side by side
Both are eight-hour rotations that never line up with the week. The difference is the size of the pieces — and about two hours a week in your check.
6 on 3 off vs 6 on 2 off
Side by side
Identical working blocks. One day of difference in the break. That single day changes the average week by roughly five hours.
5 on 3 off vs 5-2 5-3
Side by side
These two look almost identical on paper and feel different in practice. Both work blocks of five. Only one gives you three days off at the end of every block.
Panama vs Pitman
Side by side
These two get used interchangeably, and they are not the same thing. The on-off rhythm is identical. What separates them is whether your tour changes.
4 on 4 off vs Panama
Side by side
Both are twelve-hour rotations averaging forty-two hours a week. They differ in how the time off arrives — in one big block, or spread evenly with your weekends protected.
DuPont vs Panama
Side by side
Both are four-team twelve-hour rotations averaging forty-two hours. One front-loads the strain and pays it back with a full week off. The other spreads it evenly.
12-hour vs 8-hour shifts
Side by side
The oldest argument in policing, and it is not really about hours. Both add up to a full-time job. What changes is how many days of your life the job takes.
Save whichever one you work
Set the cycle once and stop working it out by hand.
Scan to install — or hold it up for the officer next to you.
