Free shift calendar
7 on 7 off shift calendar 2026
7 on 7 off is exactly what it sounds like: seven straight 12 hour shifts, then seven days off. Hospitals run it for hospitalists and some nursing units, and it is standard for camp based oil and gas, mining, and other remote work where travel eats the edges of a rotation.
The appeal is obvious: half the year off, in whole week blocks. The catch is the work week itself, 84 hours in seven days, and the fact that the weekdays you work are fixed for the whole year.
7 on 7 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 14 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
Days
Full weekends off
26
Jan 1 crew; all crews: 22.3 on average (0 to 26)
Night shifts
0
183 day shifts
Recovery days
0
no night shifts to sleep off
Longest stretch
7
consecutive shifts
Nights
Full weekends off
26
Jan 1 crew; all crews: 18.6 on average (0 to 26)
Night shifts
183
0 day shifts
Recovery days
26
first day off after nights
Longest stretch
7
consecutive shifts
How many hours is 7 on 7 off in 2026?
Worked in full, 7 on 7 off in 2026 comes to 183 shifts of 12 hours: 2,196 hours, an average of 42.1 hours a week across the whole year. The nights variant works the same dates and the same 2,196 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 7 on 7 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 does 7 on 7 off work?
Seven 12 hour shifts in a row, then seven days completely off, on a 14 day cycle. Two crews cover one post; four cover it around the clock with a days pair and a nights pair.
How many weekends off does 7 on 7 off give you?
More than most rotations, but your start day decides it. Averaged over every phase it is 22.3 on days (0 to 26). Start your block on a Monday and it swallows one weekend whole while the other stays free: 26 a year. Start on a Sunday and the block clips both weekends of the cycle, which can drive a full year to 0. The January 1 crew in 2026 gets 26.
How many hours a year is 7 on 7 off?
2,196 hours in 2026: 183 shifts of 12 hours. The average is 42.1 a week, but it arrives as alternating 84 hour weeks and empty ones.
Is 7 on 7 off nights different?
Same dates, harder edges. Each block ends in a recovery day (26 in 2026), and any block holding a Friday night costs that weekend. Nights average 18.6 full weekends against 22.3 on days.
Does 7 on 7 off rotate through the week?
No. Fourteen days is exactly two weeks, so your on week covers the same weekdays all year. Which weekdays those are gets decided once, when your crew is phased in.