The 4 on 4 off shift pattern is the 24 hour operation's rota: four days or nights on, four off, usually on 12 hour shifts, rolling with no fixed weekend. It is used in security, care, manufacturing, warehousing and anywhere the doors never close, and people either love the four day blocks off or cannot get used to a week that has no shape. This page answers how does 4 on 4 off work in hours rather than in feelings, shows how a 4 on 4 off calendar rolls through the year, and uses the free rota sheet on this site as a 4 on 4 off shift pattern calculator for what the pattern costs to run.
How 4 on 4 off works, in hours
The cycle is eight days: four on, four off. Over eight days a person works four 12 hour shifts, which is 48 hours, so the average across the cycle is 42 hours a week. That sits under the 48 hour weekly average GOV.UK sets over 17 weeks, but only just, and a single extra shift in the cycle pushes a person over. With two teams on days and two on nights, four teams cover 24 hours every day; the 11 hours of rest between working days is satisfied by the pattern itself as long as nobody swaps from a night into a day.
Reading a 4 on 4 off calendar
Because the cycle is eight days and the week is seven, the pattern moves one day earlier each week, so a person's days off drift through the calendar and come round to a full weekend every few cycles. That drift is why people search for a 4 on 4 off calendar: the pattern cannot be remembered, it has to be looked up. A rota calendar published a full cycle ahead, with the four teams labelled, is the minimum; publishing several cycles ahead is what the pattern's four day blocks off are for.
What 4 on 4 off costs to run, on the free sheet
Enter it into the work rota template as two 12 hour shifts a day across seven days with the people each shift needs. One person on each shift is 14 shifts and 168 rota hours a week; four people cover it at 42 hours each. Three people a shift is 42 shifts and 504 hours, and twelve people cover it at 42 each. At the worked example's £12.71 an hour, 504 hours is £6,405.84 a week. The sheet returns the hours per person, the cost and the headroom under 48 hours from your own figures, so a proposed change to the pattern is costed before it is announced.
Questions people ask about 4 on 4 off shift pattern
How many hours a week is 4 on 4 off?
On 12 hour shifts, 48 hours in the eight day cycle, which averages 42 hours a week. On 10 hour shifts it averages 35. The average over the 17 weeks GOV.UK uses is what the 48 hour limit is measured against.
How many staff does 4 on 4 off need?
Four teams to cover 24 hours a day: two on days and two on nights, each team alternating four on and four off. For each person you need on a shift, you need four people in total.
Can someone opt out of the 48 hour limit on 4 on 4 off?
GOV.UK says a worker can choose to opt out of the 48 hour week. Whether you should build a pattern that depends on it is a different question; the rest rules still apply and the pattern gets harder to cover when someone leaves.