7-on-7-off schedule
A full week on, a full week off. Two fixed day teams and two fixed night teams alternate 7-day blocks of 12-hour shifts.
Also known as: 7 on 7 off, seven and seven schedule, offshore rotation schedule
- Shift length
- 12h
- Rotation cycle
- 14 days
- Teams
- 4
- Avg hours/week
- 42
- Longest stretch
- 7 days
- Longest break
- 7 days
The full 14-day rotation
One complete cycle for all 4 teams. Coverage is 24/7: every day has exactly one team on each shift.
| Team | Week 1 | Week 2 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team A (days) | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | |||||||
| Team B (days) | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | |||||||
| Team C (nights) | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | |||||||
| Team D (nights) | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | |||||||
- Each row is one team across the 14-day cycle: a full week of the same shift, then a full week off.
- Teams A and B mirror each other on days; Teams C and D mirror each other on nights. When one is on, its mirror is off.
- Unlike 2-2-3 or 4-on-4-off, there is no mid-block variation: each 7-day stretch is uniform, one shift type, no days off until the block ends.
Build your 7-on-7-off calendar
Pick the date your rotation starts (day 1 of the grid above) and a team to see the next six weeks as real dates. Download the result for your calendar app or as a spreadsheet.
Calendar exports cover 26 weeks from the start date. Shift times use this page's defaults and can differ from your operation's clock times.
How the 7-on-7-off schedule works
The 7-on-7-off schedule staffs 24/7 operations with four teams on 12-hour shifts: two teams handle days, alternating weeks, and two handle nights, alternating weeks. Every team works a full 7-day block, then gets a full 7-day block off, before returning to the same shift.
This is the schedule behind offshore oil platforms, remote mining camps, and FIFO (fly-in fly-out) work, where the commute itself is expensive enough that short breaks are not worth traveling for. A week-long block on-site, followed by a week completely free, matches how the logistics of remote work actually function.
It averages 42 hours a week, identical to 2-2-3 and Pitman, but delivers it in the longest possible uninterrupted chunks: one long push, one long recovery, no alternating pattern to track day to day.
How many people you need
Every position staffed 24/7 on this pattern needs 4 employees, one per team, before you cover holidays, sick leave, and training. A planning buffer of around 25 percent on top is a realistic starting point; the exact number depends on your absence rates, which you can work out with our shrinkage calculator.
| Positions per shift | Minimum headcount | With 20% shrinkage buffer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 3 | 12 | 15 |
| 5 | 20 | 25 |
| 10 | 40 | 50 |
Pros and cons of the 7-on-7-off schedule
Works in its favor
- A full week entirely off every other week is the longest regular break of any pattern that still averages 42 hours
- Only one shift transition every 7 days, the lowest handover frequency of any pattern here
- Ideal for remote or fly-in work where the commute cost makes short breaks pointless
- Fixed day and night teams preserve one consistent sleep rhythm within each team
- Extremely easy to plan around: exactly two states, on-week or off-week
Watch out for
- Seven consecutive 12-hour shifts is a long single stretch, and fatigue compounds noticeably by days 5 to 7
- A full week away from home every other week is hard on families not used to remote-work rhythms
- Night teams stay on nights permanently, carrying the full long-term burden of night work
- No partial weeks mean a single sick day mid-block still requires a full-block replacement plan
- 42-hour average weeks build roughly 2 hours of weekly overtime where the cap is 40
Who runs 7-on-7-off
Offshore oil and gas
Platforms run 7-on-7-off almost universally, since crew changes require a helicopter or boat trip not worth doing more often.
Remote mining (FIFO/DIDO)
Fly-in fly-out mining camps standardized on full-week blocks to match flight schedules and camp logistics.
Wildfire and disaster response
Deployed crews often work full-week rotations that mirror this pattern by necessity rather than design.
Remote healthcare and research stations
Isolated clinics and research bases use week-on week-off rotations for the same travel-cost reasons as offshore crews.
Whichever industry you plan for, the hard part is rarely the pattern itself but keeping it fair as people join, leave, and swap. That is worth reading up on before you commit a team to one; our guide on making shift schedules faircovers the rotation-fairness tradeoffs in depth.
Common variations
- 14-on-14-off
- Doubles the block length for even more remote sites, common in international offshore and some Arctic operations, at the cost of longer fatigue exposure.
- 7-on-7-off with travel days
- Adds a dedicated non-working travel day at each end of the block to separate commuting time from the rest period.
- Uneven 7-on-4-off
- Shortens the off-block to reduce total idle payroll time for onshore operations where travel cost is not the limiting factor.
Compare with other patterns
Pitman schedule
The fixed-shift take on the 2-2-3 cadence: two permanent day teams and two permanent night teams, 12-hour shifts, and every other weekend off.
12h shifts · 14-day cycle · longest stretch 3 days
View pattern →2-2-3 schedule (Panama)
Four teams on 12-hour shifts work 2 days, get 2 off, work 3, in a 14-day cadence that gives every team a full weekend off every other week.
12h shifts · 28-day cycle · longest stretch 3 days
View pattern →DuPont schedule
A 4-week rotation of 12-hour days and nights whose signature feature is a full 7-day break every cycle, paid for with one 72-hour work week.
12h shifts · 28-day cycle · longest stretch 4 days
View pattern →Frequently asked questions
- How many hours a week is 7-on-7-off?
- It averages 42 hours a week, the same as 2-2-3 and Pitman, delivered as 84 hours during the on-week and zero during the off-week.
- Why do offshore and mining operations use 7-on-7-off?
- Because getting crew to and from the site is expensive and slow (helicopter, boat, or long-haul flight), so full-week blocks minimize how often that commute has to happen.
- How many teams does 7-on-7-off need?
- Four: two alternating on days and two alternating on nights, the same headcount as other four-team 12-hour patterns, just staffed in longer blocks.
- Is 7-on-7-off hard on family life?
- It concentrates the disruption instead of spreading it: one full week fully away, then one full week fully present, rather than a constantly shifting weekly schedule.
- What is the difference between 7-on-7-off and Pitman?
- Both use fixed day and night teams and average 42 hours a week. Pitman breaks the cycle into short 2 and 3-day blocks; 7-on-7-off uses one uniform 7-day block with no internal variation.
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