Free shift calendar
4 on 4 off shift calendar 2026
The 4 on 4 off shift pattern is the simplest continuous rotation there is: four 12 hour shifts, four days off, repeat. The cycle is 8 days long, so it never settles onto fixed weekdays. Security firms, manufacturing plants, warehouses, control rooms, and many UK police and fire services run it because coverage is constant and the load is even across crews.
This page lays out the whole of 2026 for a crew whose first block starts January 1: every shift, every off block, and every weekend that survives intact. There is a days grid, stats for both the days and nights variants, and a calendar file you can import in one tap.
4 on 4 off, days, 2026
The grid shows a crew whose cycle starts January 1, 2026; other crews run the same rotation offset by a few days. The 8 day cycle does not divide evenly into weeks, so the rotation drifts through the weekdays. Other crews get a similar year, just shifted. To line the pattern up with your real start date, use the interactive shift pattern visualizer.
The 2026 numbers
Days
Full weekends off
18
Jan 1 crew; all crews: 19.5 on average (18 to 21)
Night shifts
0
184 day shifts
Recovery days
0
no night shifts to sleep off
Longest stretch
4
consecutive shifts
Nights
Full weekends off
12
Jan 1 crew; all crews: 13 on average (12 to 14)
Night shifts
184
0 day shifts
Recovery days
46
first day off after nights
Longest stretch
4
consecutive shifts
How many hours is 4 on 4 off in 2026?
Worked in full, 4 on 4 off in 2026 comes to 184 shifts of 12 hours: 2,208 hours, an average of 42.3 hours a week across the whole year. The nights variant works the same dates and the same 2,208 hours; the difference is that every one of them runs overnight. These figures assume every scheduled shift is worked: no overtime, no swaps, no sick days, no leave.
Put 4 on 4 off 2026 in your calendar
One file, every shift of the year, ready for Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook. Shifts import with default times: day shifts 7am to 7pm, night shifts 7pm into the next morning (7am). Edit the times after import if your site runs different hours.
A perfect rotation fits in a calendar file. A real roster does not.
Swaps, overtime, and holiday cover break the pattern. Reading a real roster is what the Lumical app does: photograph it and every shift lands in your calendar, overnights included. We make it, so weigh the recommendation accordingly.
Common questions
How many weekends off does 4 on 4 off give you?
On days, between 18 and 21 full weekends a year, 19.5 on average across crews. In 2026 a crew starting January 1 gets 18. Nights average 13, because a Friday night shift runs into Saturday morning and spoils that weekend.
Does 4 on 4 off rotate through the week?
Yes. The cycle is 8 days against a 7 day week, so each block starts one weekday later than the last. Over a year every crew sees a similar mix, which is why the weekend count sits in a narrow 18 to 21 band instead of swinging from 0 to 26 the way Pitman or DuPont do.
How many hours a year is 4 on 4 off?
2,208 hours in 2026: 184 shifts of 12 hours, which averages 42.3 hours a week. That assumes every scheduled shift is worked, with no overtime and no swaps.
What is a recovery day on 4 on 4 off nights?
The first of the four days off. Your last night shift ends that morning, so you sleep through most of it. In 2026 the nights variant has 46 of them, which cuts 181 days off on paper down to 135 usable ones.
How many night shifts does 4 on 4 off nights have in 2026?
184, never more than 4 in a row. The days variant has none.