5 on 3 off schedule

What the 5 on 3 off schedule is

Five eight-hour shifts, then three days off. Eight days from start to repeat on a fixed tour, sixteen if you change tour halfway through.

The working block looks like an ordinary week, which is a large part of the appeal. What is different is the third day off at the end and the fact that the block starts one day later each time.

Agencies usually run it inside a much longer template — thirteen to fifteen weeks is common — so squads move through days, swings and nights across a quarter rather than a fortnight.

How the cycle runs

The sixteen-day version, five days then five nights:

Print this rotation (PDF) One page — the cycle above, and a blank grid for your own dates.

Three days off, every time

This is the pattern's real argument. Three consecutive days off after every block is enough to sleep, recover and still have a day that belongs to you — which two days off never quite manages.

It is also long enough to be useful for off-duty work. A block of three can hold two details and still leave a day clear.

Hours and overtime

Five eight-hour shifts every eight days averages thirty-five hours a week, well under a standard forty.

That shortfall is deliberate. Agencies running it usually expect the balance to be made up with overtime, training days or court, which makes keeping your own record of the hours worth doing.

Who works it

Mostly eight-hour agencies that want longer breaks than a 4/2 gives:

• Municipal police departments
• Sheriff's offices
• Dispatch centres
• Corrections
• State and campus agencies
• Security operations

Departments that publish this rotation

Every one of these is taken from the employer's own document — a recruitment page, a class specification or a collective agreement — not from a survey or a job board. The link goes to what that agency pays.

• Ankeny Police Department, IA — Ankeny's sergeants and police officers in the Operations Division work a rotating schedule of nine-hour shifts, five days on and three days off.
• Illinois Department of Natural Resources — Conservation Police, IL — CPOs are assigned to a nine-hour, 5 on 3 off rotating work schedule - week 1 Thursday to Saturday off, week 2 Friday to Sunday off, week 3….
• Milford Police Department, CT — Milford PD advertises “a competitive pay structure and a 5/3 schedule that supports work-life balance” — five days on, three days off.

The trade-off

Put it on your calendar

Five on, three off gives you the shortest average week of the common patterns, and days off that never land twice in the same place.

Save it once and the calendar keeps track of where they land.

Common questions

How many hours a week is 5 on 3 off?

Thirty-five on average — five eight-hour shifts every eight days.

Why do agencies use such long rotations with it?

Because eight days does not divide into seven. A thirteen to fifteen week template is what it takes for the pattern to come back round to the same weekdays.

Is 5 on 3 off better than 5-2 5-3?

It gives three days off after every block instead of every other one, but fewer hours on the roster. Which is better depends on whether you want the time or the pay.