Free shift calendar
5 on 2 off shift calendar 2026
5 on 2 off is the ordinary working week: Monday to Friday on, Saturday and Sunday off. Brazil calls it the escala 5x2, and there the contract is usually 44 hours, which is 8 hours 48 minutes a day. The dates are the same either way. The hours on this page use the 8 hour day, so a 44 hour contract works these exact days and adds about 200 hours to the year.
This page lays out all of 2026: every working day, every day off, and every weekend, which on this pattern means all of them. There is a year grid, the annual hours, and a calendar file you can import in one tap.
Suits anyone who wants every weekend off and a schedule that never moves. It gives up the long blocks of free days the 12 hour rotations are built around.
Quick facts
- Cycle length
- 7 days
- Shifts per cycle
- 5 on, 2 off
- Shift length
- 8 hours
- Hours a week
- 40 on average
- Full weekends off in 2026
- 52
5 on 2 off, Mon to Fri, 2026
The grid shows a crew whose cycle starts January 1, 2026; other crews run the same rotation offset by a few days. The 7 day cycle divides evenly into weeks, so the rotation never drifts: whatever weekdays a crew works in January, it works in December. Crews on other phases can see very different weekends. To line the pattern up with your real start date, use the interactive shift pattern visualizer.
The 2026 numbers
Full weekends off
52
Jan 1 crew; all crews: 52
Night shifts
0
261 day shifts
Recovery days
0
no night shifts to sleep off
Longest stretch
5
consecutive shifts
How many hours is 5 on 2 off in 2026?
Worked in full, 5 on 2 off in 2026 comes to 261 shifts of 8 hours: 2,088 hours, an average of 40 hours a week across the whole year. These figures assume every scheduled shift is worked: no overtime, no swaps, no sick days, no leave.
Put 5 on 2 off 2026 in your calendar
One file, every shift of the year, ready for Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook. Shifts import with a default time of 7am to 3pm. Edit the times after import if your site runs different hours.
That file is the textbook rotation. Your real roster has swaps, overtime and cover shifts that no pattern predicts, so photograph it with Lumical and every shift lands in Apple Calendar. We make Lumical, so read this with that in mind.
Get Lumical on the App StorePaste this into your page. The credit line sits outside the frame on purpose, so it stays a real link.
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 does the 5 on 2 off schedule work?
Five days on, two days off, locked to the calendar week: Monday to Friday worked, Saturday and Sunday free. The cycle is seven days, so it never drifts. In 2026 that is 261 working days and 104 days off.
Is 5 on 2 off 40 hours or 44?
Both exist. Eight hour days come to 40 hours a week and 2,088 hours in 2026, which is what this page counts. A Brazilian 44 hour contract puts 8 hours 48 minutes into the same five days: about 2,297 hours a year. The calendar dates do not change.
How many weekends off does 5 on 2 off give?
All of them: 52 out of 52 in 2026. No shift touches a Saturday or a Sunday, so every weekend is free from Friday evening to Monday morning. That is the thing every rotating shift pattern trades away.
What is the difference between 5x2 and 6x1?
One day. 6x1 works Saturday and rests a single day, usually Sunday; 5x2 rests both weekend days. Over a year that is about 52 more days off, one per Saturday, and 52 fewer shifts. The 6x1 calendar on this site draws the same year for comparison.
Can the two days off fall somewhere other than the weekend?
Yes, and in shops and hospitals they usually do. The pattern stays five on and two off; only the position changes, so someone resting Tuesday and Wednesday works the same number of days as this grid. To line up your own two days, use the visualizer linked under the grid.
How many days will you work on 5 on 2 off in 2026?
261 shifts, which comes to 2,088 hours at 8 hours each. That leaves 104 days off. The count moves by a shift or two depending on where your crew sits in the cycle on January 1.
How do I get this calendar into Apple Calendar?
Download the .ics file on this page and open it on your iPhone or Mac. Apple Calendar offers to add the whole year in one go. That covers the textbook rotation. A real roster has swaps, overtime and cover shifts, and for that we make Lumical: photograph the roster and every shift lands in Apple Calendar. We make it, so read that with the obvious bias in mind.