The Pitman fixed shift schedule uses 4 teams (crews) and 2 twelve-hour shifts to provide 24/7 coverage. It consists of a 2-week cycle where each team works 2 consecutive shifts, followed by 2 days off duty, works 3 consecutive shifts, followed by 2 days off duty, works 2 consecutive shifts, followed by 3 days off duty. Two teams are assigned day shifts while the other two are assigned night shifts. On any given day, one team is on the day shift, one team is on the night shift, and two teams are off duty. Personnel are assigned to either day or night shifts for the 2-week cycle and work an average 42 hours per week.

Pitman shift schedule example:

Team 1: DDOODDD-OODDOOO
Team 2: NNOONNN-OONNOOO
Team 3: OODDOOO-NNOONNN
Team 4: OONNOOO-DDOODDD

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Where D=Day shift, N=Night shift, and O=Off duty

Pitman Shift Schedule

Notes:

The above grid shows working and non-working days for each team in one repeat cycle. Day 1 usually starts on a Monday but it can be any day of the week. At the end of the cycle, the entire sequence starts over. Color coded blocks represent assigned shifts (working days) while underlines represent non-working days.
  • The required shifts and shift lengths are shown in the Shifts column. Shift names, start times, and end times are shown as examples only. They can be changed to match the requirements of your operation.
  • The teams required by the plan are shown in the first column. The total working hours for each team over the repeat cycle are shown in the Hours column, assuming one employee per team.
  • The last row, Hours, shows the hours worked by all teams in each date range block (leg), assuming one employee per team.

Characteristics
Plan ID C4TF12-1
Name Pitman Shift Schedule
Applicability 24/7 operations
Teams Required 4
Shifts 12-hr
Repeat Cycle 14 days
Rotation Fixed plan, no rotation
Average Hours per Week 42
Staffing Fluctuation Balanced from shift to shift and day to day
Pluses
  • No employee works more than three consecutive days
  • 3-day weekend every other weekend
  • Taking 2 vacation days on one of the 2-day work week gives 7 days off
Minuses
  • Could work up to 62 hours in one week
  • Long shift length (12 hours)
  • Requires an average of 2 overtime hours per employee per week
Common Usage Very popular with police departments, law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services, EMS call centers and dispatchers in the United States
Notes

Refer to the 2-2/3-2/2-3 shift schedule for a variation of the Pitman shift schedule with rotating shifts.

 

Definitions:

  • Plan ID: A code used to uniquely identify the shift plan in Snap Schedule employee scheduling software.
  • Name: The name of the shift plan.
  • Applicability: The type of operations this shift configuration is designed for.
  • Teams Required: The number of teams (crews) required by this plan. A team may consist of one or more employees.
  • Shifts: The different shifts used in this shift pattern. For each shift, only the shift description and shift length are shown. The shift start or end time can be adjusted to fit your business operations so long as the shift length stays the same.
  • Repeat Cycle: The number of days required for each team to complete its assigned shift sequence in a schedule plan. At the end of each repeat cycle, the team starts the same shift sequence over again.
  • Rotation: For rotating shift configurations, a team rotates from one shift to another according to a specific arrangement. In a forward rotation, the team rotates from a shift that starts earlier in the day to a shift that starts later in the day, e.g. Day to Swing to Night. In a backward rotation, the reverse is true. Many studies suggest that forward rotation is better than backward rotation since our body adjusts much better to changes in work shifts from earlier to later. The rotation speed is the speed at which the shifts are rotated. In a "fast" rotation, a team rotates from one shift to another once every few days or less. In a "slow" rotation, a team works the same shift for many days or weeks before rotating to another shift.
  • Average Hours Per Week: This is the average number of hours worked by each employee per week based on the shift lengths and shift sequences for this plan.
  • Staffing Fluctuation: The fluctuation in staffing level as the plan progresses from shift to shift and day to day. A shift configration is "balanced from shift to shift" if the new shift will be staffed by the same number of employees as the old shift. A shift configuration is "balanced from day to day" if each day is staffed by the same number of employees. Note that by default, each team contains the same number of employees.
  • Pluses: Positive aspects of the shift configuration.
  • Minuses: Negative aspects of the shift configuration.
  • Common Usage: Typical users of the shift configuration.