4-on-3-off shift pattern
Four days on, three days off, the same days every week. Two squads cover all seven days, and the arithmetic leaves exactly one day where both are in.
Also known as: 4 on 3 off, 4/3 schedule, four on three off rota
- Shift length
- 10h
- Rotation cycle
- 7 days
- Teams
- 2
- Avg hours/week
- 40
- Longest stretch
- 4 days
- Longest break
- 3 days
The full 7-day rotation
One complete cycle for all 2 teams. Coverage is 7 days, daytime: deliberately not every day, which is the shape of this pattern rather than a gap in it.
| Team | Week 1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squad A | D | D | D | D | |||
| Squad B | D | D | D | D | |||
- Two rows, one week each, repeating identically: Squad A runs Monday to Thursday, Squad B runs Thursday to Sunday.
- Thursday is the designed overlap: both squads are in, and the operation runs at double strength.
- Every other day has exactly one squad on duty, so daytime coverage spans all seven days with no gaps.
Build your 4-on-3-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 4-on-3-off schedule works
The 4-on-3-off gives each person four consecutive 10-hour workdays and a fixed three-day break, every week, forever. Because the cycle is exactly seven days, the pattern never drifts: the days you work this week are the days you work every week, which makes it one of the easiest rotas to live around.
Covering a seven-day operation with it is a small arithmetic puzzle that most pages gloss over. Two squads of four days each supply eight squad-days into a seven-day week, so one day must carry both squads. That overlap day is not a flaw, it is a forced property: 4 plus 4 equals 8, and the week only has 7 slots. Run the squads Monday to Thursday and Thursday to Sunday and the double-crewed Thursday becomes the natural home for handovers, training, maintenance, and the meetings that never fit anywhere else.
Each squad averages 40 hours across its four 10-hour days, so the pattern sits at standard full-time with no averaging period. What it does not do is nights: as drawn here it is a daytime pattern, and stretching it to 24/7 means doubling the squads and inheriting the fatigue profile of consecutive 10-hour nights.
How many people you need
Staffing one position across this pattern's window (7 days, daytime) takes 2 people, one per row above, 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. The same worked arithmetic for other coverage windows and team sizes lives in the staffing math library.
| Positions per shift | Minimum headcount | With 20% shrinkage buffer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | 6 | 8 |
| 5 | 10 | 13 |
| 10 | 20 | 25 |
Pros and cons of the 4-on-3-off schedule
Works in its favor
- Fixed days every week: the easiest pattern to plan childcare, study, or a second commitment around
- Seven-day daytime coverage from just two squads, with no rotation to administer
- A built-in double-strength day that absorbs handovers, training, and deep maintenance without extra scheduling
- Three consecutive days off every single week, not every other cycle
- Exactly 40 hours per person per week, so no averaging period and no overtime baked into the design
Watch out for
- The overlap day is paid double-crewing: one seventh of the wage bill buys coverage the calendar does not strictly need
- Squad B never sees a conventional weekend, which makes the two squads unequal in a way rosters must rotate or compensate
- Ten-hour days carry the same late-shift fatigue cost as the 4-10, because they are the same days
- Daytime only: extending to nights doubles the squads and puts consecutive 10-hour nights on the roster
- In daily-overtime jurisdictions the tenth hour needs an alternative workweek arrangement, same as any 10-hour pattern
Who runs 4-on-3-off
Distribution and logistics
Seven-day warehouses use the two-squad version for daytime waves, with the overlap day absorbing cycle counts and training.
Healthcare support services
Sterile processing, portering, and facilities teams run 4-on-3-off to keep weekends staffed without rotation.
Security (daytime posts)
Sites that only need daylight cover get seven-day staffing from two fixed squads.
Grounds and maintenance
The double-crewed day maps naturally onto jobs that need two pairs of hands.
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 fair covers the rotation-fairness tradeoffs in depth.
Common variations
- Single squad (equals a 4-10)
- One squad, Monday to Thursday. Same personal rhythm, but coverage drops to four days: it becomes the four-tens schedule.
- Rotating weekend split
- Squads swap sequences every 4 to 8 weeks so the no-weekend squad is not permanent. Fairness at the cost of fixed days.
- 4-on-3-off with nights
- Four squads, two on days and two on nights, for 24/7 coverage. The fatigue profile of 10-hour nights deserves its own risk assessment.
Compare with other patterns
4-10 work schedule (four tens)
Four 10-hour days, three days off, every week. The same 40 hours compressed into fewer, longer days, at the price of one dark weekday.
10h shifts · 7-day cycle · longest stretch 4 days
View pattern →4-on-4-off schedule
The simplest continuous pattern there is: work 4, rest 4, forever. Four teams on 12-hour shifts cover 24/7 with a cadence anyone can remember.
12h shifts · 16-day cycle · longest stretch 4 days
View pattern →9/80 work schedule
Eighty hours in nine days instead of ten, buying every other Friday off. The calendar is easy; the payroll rule underneath it is not.
9h shifts · 14-day cycle · longest stretch 5 days
View pattern →Frequently asked questions
- How many people does a 4-on-3-off pattern need for seven-day coverage?
- Two squads. Each supplies four 10-hour days, eight squad-days total against seven calendar days, so all seven days are covered and exactly one day carries both squads. Per position staffed, that is two people, and the overlap day is the structural remainder of 8 minus 7.
- Is 4-on-3-off the same as a 4-10?
- The personal experience is identical: four 10-hour days, three off, fixed every week. The difference is the operation around it. A 4-10 is one cohort and four covered days; a 4-on-3-off staggers two squads to cover all seven, which is why the same search sometimes means either. The pages here treat 4-10 as the compressed office week and 4-on-3-off as the seven-day coverage rota.
- What should the overlap day be used for?
- The double-crewed day is the patternโs only slack, so spend it deliberately: shift handover, training, equipment maintenance, audits, and the standing meetings that a lean day cannot absorb. Teams that treat it as an accident staff it down and then wonder where their training hours went.
- Does 4-on-3-off work for 24/7 operations?
- Not with two squads: as drawn it covers daytime only. Full 24/7 needs four squads, two on days and two on nights, at which point you are comparing it against 4-on-4-off and the 12-hour rotations, and the consecutive 10-hour nights become the deciding factor.
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