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.
Also known as: Pitman shift pattern, fixed 2-2-3, every other weekend off schedule
- Shift length
- 12h
- Rotation cycle
- 14 days
- Teams
- 4
- Avg hours/week
- 42
- Longest stretch
- 3 days
- Longest break
- 3 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 and B split the day shift between them, C and D split nights.
- A and B mirror each other exactly: when A is on, B is off. The same goes for C and D on nights.
- The 3-shift blocks fall on the weekend, so each team alternates between working a full weekend and having one entirely off.
Build your Pitman 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 Pitman schedule works
The Pitman schedule staffs 24/7 coverage with four teams on 12-hour shifts, using the familiar cadence of 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off across a 14-day cycle. What defines Pitman is that the teams do not rotate: Teams A and B always work days, Teams C and D always work nights.
Fixed assignments are the reason many operations choose Pitman over a rotating Panama setup. Employees keep one sleep rhythm instead of flipping between days and nights, which matters enormously for alertness and long-term health on night work. The cost is that night teams stay on nights until someone transfers.
Like every 2-2-3 cadence, Pitman averages 42 hours a week and hands each team a full Friday-to-Sunday weekend off every other week when the cycle is anchored on a Monday.
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 Pitman schedule
Works in its favor
- Fixed shifts preserve one consistent sleep rhythm, the single biggest health lever in 24/7 scheduling
- Every other weekend off, guaranteed, without ever working more than 3 days in a row
- Simple to administer: two mirrored day teams and two mirrored night teams
- Employees can be hired directly into days or nights based on preference, often with a night differential
- Short 14-day cycle makes swaps and trade requests easy to reason about
Watch out for
- Night teams work nights permanently, which limits internal mobility and can feel like a two-class system
- 12-hour nights are the hardest shifts in workforce scheduling, and here they always land on the same people
- 42-hour average weeks build roughly 2 hours of weekly overtime into the labor budget
- Day and night crews rarely overlap, so communication between them needs deliberate handover routines
- Half of all weekends are working weekends for every team
Who runs Pitman
Corrections and security
Detention facilities and security contractors like Pitman because posts get identical coverage every hour of every day.
Healthcare
Hospitals staff night-heavy units with dedicated night nurses who prefer never rotating to days.
Call centers and NOC teams
24/7 support desks and network operations centers use fixed teams so night staff build deep incident-handling experience.
Energy and utilities
Plant control rooms value the stable handover pairs that mirrored day and night teams create.
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
- Rotating Pitman (Panama)
- Identical cadence but teams swap days and nights every 2 weeks or on a slower interval. See the 2-2-3 Panama page for the rotating grid.
- Pitman with a swing pool
- A small flex pool floats between day and night teams to absorb vacations and sick leave instead of paying overtime.
- 10-hour hybrid
- Some operations shorten nights to 10 hours with a 4-hour day overlap for handover-heavy work, at the cost of a more complex grid.
Compare with other patterns
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 →Continental schedule
A fast-rotating 8-hour pattern: four teams move through mornings, afternoons and nights in short 2-3 day blocks across a 4-week cycle.
8h shifts · 28-day cycle · longest stretch 7 days
View pattern →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.
12h shifts · 14-day cycle · longest stretch 7 days
View pattern →Frequently asked questions
- What is the Pitman schedule?
- A 24/7 shift pattern with four teams on 12-hour shifts and a 14-day cycle of 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. Two teams permanently work days and two permanently work nights, and it averages 42 hours a week.
- Is Pitman the same as 2-2-3?
- Pitman uses the 2-2-3 cadence, so the days on and off are identical. The difference is shift assignment: Pitman keeps fixed day and night teams, while the rotating version of 2-2-3 is usually called the Panama schedule.
- How many weekends off do you get on a Pitman schedule?
- Every other weekend, and they are 3-day weekends. When the cycle starts on a Monday, each team works Friday through Sunday one week and is off Friday through Sunday the next.
- Is a fixed or rotating 12-hour schedule healthier?
- Sleep research generally favors fixed shifts because the body keeps one rhythm. The catch is that permanent night workers carry the full burden of night work, so many employers pair Pitman with night differentials and voluntary assignment.
- How many people do you need to run a Pitman schedule?
- Four employees per position staffed around the clock, one on each team. A control room with 3 seats needs 12 people minimum, and closer to 15 once you cover vacation, sick leave, and training.
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