Four days, four nights, four off: how to live with it
Four day shifts, four night shifts and four days off. It's the classic full rotation: a twelve-day cycle that splits day and night work evenly.
- Days worked a year
- 245
- Days off a year
- 120
- Full weekends off
- 13
- Longest break
- 4 days
- Sundays worked
- 35
Worked out over a full year on this pattern, counting from 1 January. The figures shift a little depending where in the cycle you start.
How it works
The cycle is twelve days, so it doesn't line up with the week and drifts: as with the 4x4, your day off moves. The difference is that here the hours rotate too, and the delicate point is going from the last day shift into the first night.
The good part
It shares night work fairly across the whole crew, instead of some people always being on nights. The four days off at the end of the cycle give you room to put your sleep back before returning.
The hard part
The swing from days to nights is the hardest part of the pattern, and it's what nobody explains when you start. So is coming back: after four nights, your first day off goes on sleeping. Counting it as real rest is kidding yourself.
Load it and tell me a day you remember: I'll work out your whole calendar, forwards and backwards.
Load the days-nights-off patternFrequently asked questions
How do I switch from day shift to night shift?
What works for most people isn't trying to sleep twelve displaced hours at once: on the changeover day, take a short sleep in the afternoon before clocking on, and adjust the next day. Forcing the whole change in one go usually goes worse.
Does my night shift count as the day it starts or the day it ends?
The day it starts. If you clock on at 20:00 on Monday and finish at 08:00 on Tuesday, it's Monday's shift. The tool treats it that way, and at three in the morning it will tell you you're still on Monday's shift.
Am I entitled to a night premium?
It isn't automatic or universal: it depends on your contract or agreement. That's why the night premium in the pay calculator defaults to zero and you set the percentage that applies to you.
General information. Every company and agreement applies these patterns its own way. Always check against your contract, your approved shift system and current legislation.