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9/80 schedule
Eighty hours across nine days instead of ten, with every other Friday off — the standard compressed schedule across federal and local government.
- Shift length
- 9 hours
- Cycle
- 14 days
- Average week
- 40 hours
- Days off
- Every other Friday
What the 9/80 schedule is
Eight nine-hour days, one eight-hour day, and one day off — eighty hours over a two-week period instead of the usual ten eight-hour days.
In practice that means working nine hours Monday to Thursday both weeks, a full Friday in the first week, and taking the second Friday off. It is also written 5-4/9: five days one week, four the next, mostly nines.
It is the most common compressed schedule in government work, which is why so many federal and municipal employees have alternating Fridays free.
How the cycle runs
One fourteen-day cycle. The Friday in the second week is the regular day off:
Day shiftDay off
Why the workweek splits on a Friday
This is the part that confuses people. To keep each workweek at exactly forty hours, the pay week is usually set to begin partway through the working Friday — commonly at the midpoint of that shift.
That split is what stops the eighty hours falling as forty-four and thirty-six, which would trigger overtime in the first week. Your agency sets where the line falls, and it matters for how your hours are counted.
What it does to your week
The reward is twenty-six extra days off a year without dropping to part time. Appointments, court, school runs and off-duty work all land on a predictable free Friday.
The cost is nine-hour days. An hour is not much on paper and is noticeable at the end of a long week, and any overtime lands on top of a day that was already longer than standard.
Who works it
Compressed schedules concentrate in government and office-based roles rather than patrol:
- Federal agencies and investigators
- Municipal and county government staff
- Civilian police staff and analysts
- Crime labs and forensics
- Engineering and public works
- Administrative and support units
The trade-off
What works
- Every other Friday off, twenty-six a year
- A full forty-hour week without ten workdays
- Predictable, weekday-shaped schedule
- Long weekends every other week
What hurts
- Nine-hour days add up by Thursday
- The split workweek is easy to misread
- Little use for round-the-clock posts
- Overtime sits on top of an already longer day
Put it on your calendar
Nine hours a day and a day off every other Friday — simple until someone asks which Friday.
Save the fortnight once and the answer is on the calendar rather than in your head.
Common questions
What does 9/80 mean?
Eighty hours worked over nine days in a two-week period, instead of ten. The tenth day is your regular day off, usually every other Friday.
Why does the workweek start in the middle of Friday?
So each week counts as exactly forty hours. Without the split, one week would run to forty-four and the other to thirty-six. Your agency decides exactly where the line falls.
Is 9/80 the same as 5-4/9?
Yes. 5-4/9 describes the same arrangement from the other direction — five days one week, four the next, mostly nine hours long.
Put the 9/80 schedule on your calendar
Save the 9/80 schedule once, tell BlueShifts the day your cycle starts, and the rest of the year draws itself. Then the off-duty work you pick up around it goes in beside the shifts.
Scan to install — or hold it up for the officer next to you.
