Pitman schedule calculator

The Pitman schedule runs four crews on 12-hour shifts: Crews A and B on days, C and D on nights, with one crew on each shift every day of the year. Choose fixed or rotating days and nights, pick a crew and see its calendar for any month. No sign-up.

Your schedule

October 2026, Crew A (days)

Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
27D
28 
29 
30D
1D
2 
3 
4 
5D
6D
7 
8 
9D
10D
11D
12 
13 
14D
15D
16 
17 
18 
19D
20D
21 
22 
23D
24D
25D
26 
27 
28D
29D
30 
31 
  • D Day shift, 6 AM to 6 PM

Shifts

15

in October

Hours

180

in October

Weekly average

42 hrs

over the 14-day cycle

Weekend shifts

4

Saturdays and Sundays

Longest break

3 days

off in a row

Estimated gross pay for October

$4,136

Regular pay, 180 hrs
$3,960
Night differential
$0
Weekend differential
$0
Overtime premium, 16 hrs
$176
Run this schedule for your team in InShift →
Weekly hours, Sunday through Saturday
WeekShiftsHoursOver 40
Sep 27 to Oct 33360
Oct 4 to Oct 104488
Oct 11 to Oct 173360
Oct 18 to Oct 244488
Oct 25 to Oct 313360

For supervisors and schedulers

Every crew on one schedule, with the hours added up

This calculator shows one crew for one month. In InShift, you build the whole rotation in the “Planner” from two shift types: a 12-hour day and a 12-hour night. The “Month” view gives every person a row, with a letter for each shift and their hours and pay underneath. Published shifts go straight to everyone’s phone.

  • Day and night shift types for each location under “Shift types”; a night shift that ends after midnight counts as one shift on the day it starts
  • Each crew as a “Department”, so the planner can group and filter people by crew
  • “Night hours” and “Over the daily norm” rules on the “Premiums” tab of “Payroll” pay the night differential and daily overtime
  • “Export to Excel” for your payroll team, and “Close period” once everyone is paid
Shift scheduling for 24/7 crews

How the Pitman schedule provides 24/7 coverage

A Pitman schedule keeps an operation running around the clock with four crews on 12-hour shifts. Every crew works the same two-week pattern (two on, two off, three on, two off, two on, three off), and the crews are paired so one always works the days its partner has off.

Crews A and B share the day shift, and Crews C and D share the night shift. Crew B works exactly the days Crew A is off, and Crew D does the same for Crew C, so every day has one crew on days and one on nights. Each crew is the size of one shift: if you need three people on every shift, that’s 12 people across four crews.

Two weeks of fixed days and nights, starting on a Monday. D = day shift, N = night shift, · = day off.
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
A, wk 1·DD··DD
A, wk 2D··DD··
B, wk 1D··DD··
B, wk 2·DD··DD
C, wk 1·NN··NN
C, wk 2N··NN··
D, wk 1N··NN··
D, wk 2·NN··NN

Fixed vs. rotating days and nights

Fixed. Crews A and B stay on days, C and D stay on nights, and the cycle is 14 days long. People who prefer nights can stay on them, nobody has to flip their sleep schedule, and the night crews settle into their own routine. The catch is fairness: whoever works nights works nights permanently, and the night differential, if you pay one, always goes to the same people.

Rotating. Each crew works two weeks of days, then two weeks of nights, which stretches the cycle to 28 days. Nights, and any night differential, are shared evenly, and everyone learns both shifts. The price is switching between days and nights every two weeks.

Crew A on the rotating version, starting on a Monday.
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
Week 1·DD··DD
Week 2D··DD··
Week 3·NN··NN
Week 4N··NN··

How many hours is a Pitman schedule

Every crew works seven 12-hour shifts every two weeks: 84 hours per two weeks, 42 a week on average, about 2,190 hours a year. Counting Sunday through Saturday with a Monday start, the day crews alternate between 48- and 36-hour weeks. The night crews come out more even: a Saturday night runs past midnight, so its last hours count toward the next week, and on 6 PM to 6 AM nights every week lands at 42 hours. If your employer pays overtime after 40 hours a week, that’s 8 hours of overtime every two weeks for a day crew and 4 for a night crew. On the rotating version, every crew gets 12 hours of overtime every four weeks. Set the overtime threshold and rate in the calculator to match your employer’s.

Pros and cons of the Pitman schedule

For employers

  • Four crews cover every hour of the year, and nobody works more than three shifts in a row.
  • The fixed version lets people pick days or nights, which makes night positions easier to fill.
  • Two shift changes a day and four crews to keep in sync.
  • When a crew is short, the fill-in comes from a crew on its days off and has to cover a full 12 hours.

For employees

  • A three-day weekend every other week, and half the days in the year off.
  • Short stretches of two or three shifts are easier to recover from than four or five in a row.
  • Your workdays change from week to week, which makes it harder to plan life outside work.
  • On the rotating version, you flip your sleep schedule every two weeks.

How to run a Pitman schedule in InShift

In InShift, you set up a 12-hour day and a 12-hour night under “Shift types” and make each crew a “Department”, so the planner groups and filters people by crew. You place each crew’s shifts yourself in the “Planner”, following the cycle above; where a week repeats one you’ve already built, “Copy week” brings it forward. The “Month” view shows all four crews, with hours and pay under every name, and the “Night hours” rule on the “Premiums” tab of “Payroll” pays the night differential. Prefer a spreadsheet? The Pitman schedule template has coverage rows showing one crew on days and one on nights. To check one person’s month, use the 2-2-3 schedule calculator; for a four-week rotation with a full week off, see the DuPont schedule.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Pitman schedule?+

A 24/7 schedule for four crews on 12-hour shifts. Each crew works two on, two off, three on, two off, two on, three off over 14 days; two crews share the days and two the nights, so one crew is on each shift every day.

How many people do you need for a Pitman schedule?+

Four crews, each the size of one shift. Three people per shift means 12 people, plus coverage for PTO and sick days.

Is the Pitman schedule the same as 2-2-3 or Panama?+

The pattern is the same. 2-2-3 and Panama usually refer to one person’s calendar; Pitman refers to the four-crew setup that uses the pattern to cover days and nights.

Do Pitman crews rotate between days and nights?+

They can go either way. On the fixed version, Crews A and B always work days and Crews C and D always work nights. On the rotating version, every crew works two weeks of days, then two weeks of nights, a 28-day cycle.

How many hours a week is a Pitman schedule?+

42 hours on average: 84 hours every two weeks. Counting Sunday through Saturday, the day crews alternate between 48-hour and 36-hour weeks; on 6 PM to 6 AM nights, the night crews work 42 hours every week.

More rotations, templates and tools

DuPont schedule→

Four crews, 12-hour days and nights over four weeks, and seven days off in a row.

2-2-3 schedule→

The Panama rotation as your own calendar: hours, overtime and pay for any month.

9/80 schedule→

Nine-hour days and every other Friday off: your calendar and weekly hours.

Shift schedule templates→

Pitman and DuPont in Excel with coverage rows, plus weekly and biweekly schedules.

Time card calculator→

Clock in, clock out and breaks per day: hours, overtime and pay for the week.

Shift scheduling software→

Shift types, rotations on a month view, night shifts and coverage by shift.

Get the whole crew on one schedule

Setting up a location, a day shift, a night shift and your first cycle takes an afternoon. From then on, everyone’s hours and night differential come straight from the schedule.

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