5 On 5 Off Shift Pattern (5 In 5 Out)

What is the 5 on 5 off shift pattern?

5 on 5 off, also written 5/5 or 5 in 5 out, is a shift pattern in which you work five consecutive shifts and then have five days off. With fixed teams, two teams cover the days and two cover the nights, each on a 10-day cycle of five shifts and five days off. In the rotating version each team works five day shifts, five days off, five night shifts and five days off on a 20-day cycle, with four teams starting five days apart.

In both versions, with 12-hour shifts, each person works half the days of the year, never more than five shifts in a row, and every break is five days long.

The rotating cycle, in order

What “5 on 5 off” can mean

The three versions have different cycle lengths, so they put days off on different dates.

The 20-day cycle on a calendar

This example shows one team on the rotating version, starting its day shifts on a Monday:

Twenty days is one day short of three weeks, so each new cycle starts one weekday earlier than the last: Monday, then Sunday, then Saturday. After seven cycles, 140 days or exactly 20 weeks, the rota is back on the same weekdays.

How four teams cover 24/7

Each team starts the same 20-day cycle five days after the one before. On any date one team is on days, one is on nights, one is off after its day shifts and one is off after its night shifts.

Swipe the table sideways to see every day of the cycle.

D = day shift, N = night shift, · = off. The bottom two rows check every date: ✓ means exactly one team is on that shift.

Four teams each working 10 shifts in 20 days supply exactly the 40 shifts the cycle needs, so the rotation has no spare team. Unless teams carry more people than each shift needs, any absence that needs covering means overtime, relief staff or a fifth team.

The fixed 10-day version

Two day teams alternate five-day blocks, and two night teams do the same. Each team’s cycle is ten days: five shifts, five off.

Swipe the table sideways to see every day of the cycle.

D = day shift, N = night shift, · = off. The bottom two rows check every date: ✓ means exactly one team is on that shift.

Day teams never work nights, and night teams work only nights. Ten days is one week and three days, so each cycle starts three weekdays later than the last: Monday, then Thursday, then Sunday. The rota returns to the same weekdays after seven cycles, 70 days.

The 14-day 5-5-2-2 pair

A related 14-day schedule pairs two sequences: one group works five on, five off, two on, two off (5-5-2-2) and another works five on, two off, two on, five off (5-2-2-5), which covers the days in between. The same pair of sequences is repeated on night shifts.

Swipe the table sideways to see every day of the cycle.

D = day shift, N = night shift, · = off. The bottom two rows check every date: ✓ means exactly one team is on that shift.

The cycle is exactly two weeks, so days off fall on the same weekdays every fortnight. With day 1 on a Monday, team A works Monday to Friday in week 1 and Thursday and Friday in week 2, so it has every weekend free. Team B works every weekend. Both night teams work at least one Friday, Saturday or Sunday night every week, so neither has a fully free weekend with a Monday start.

Hours, nights and days off

On the fixed and rotating versions each team works 5 shifts in every 10 days: 60 hours in each five-shift block with 12-hour shifts, and none in the five days off. Averaged over the cycle that is 42 hours a week, but because 10 and 20 days are not whole numbers of weeks, some calendar weeks have more shifts than others. The 5-5-2-2 pair works 7 shifts in every 14 days, the same average. Over a year that averages about 183 shifts and about 183 days with no shift starting. On the rotating version roughly 91 of the shifts are nights.

On the rotating version, between the last day shift and the first night shift there are six nights not at work. Between the last night shift and the next day shift there are five. After each night block, the first day off starts with you finishing the fifth night shift that morning.

Weekends off on 5 on 5 off

About 18 fully free weekends a year on average on the rotating version. The number in any particular year ranges from 17 to 19, depending on where the cycle falls.

A weekend counts as free only if you are not at work at any point on the Saturday or Sunday, so a night shift starting on Friday evening rules it out. Because the 10- and 20-day cycles move across the week, the start weekday does not change these averages. On the 14-day 5-5-2-2 pair it does: see above.

5 on 5 off compared with similar rotas

All five rotas use four teams and work half the days of the year. They differ in the length of the runs of work and of the breaks, and in the number of free weekends.

5 on 5 off FAQ

Explore other shift patterns

The staff scheduling calculator works out the teams and staff for any number of days on and days off.