2-2-3 Schedule Calendar

Ready-made examples

• Crew A on days, from Jan 5, 2026

  1. D
  2. D
  3. O
  4. O
  5. D
  6. D
  7. D
  8. O
  9. O
  10. D
  11. D
  12. O
  13. O
  14. O

  Two days on from Monday, two off, a Friday-to-Sunday three-day block, then the mirror week: Jan 7 is off and Jan 9 is back on days.

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• Crew C on fixed nights

  1. N
  2. N
  3. O
  4. O
  5. N
  6. N
  7. N
  8. O
  9. O
  10. N
  11. N
  12. O
  13. O
  14. O

  Crew C works the same dates as Crew A but on nights, 19:00 to 07:00, so the pair covers all 24 hours on those days.

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• Rotating days and nights (28 days)

  1. D
  2. D
  3. O
  4. O
  5. D
  6. D
  7. D
  8. O
  9. O
  10. D
  11. D
  12. O
  13. O
  14. O
  15. N
  16. N
  17. O
  18. O
  19. N
  20. N
  21. N
  22. O
  23. O
  24. N
  25. N
  26. O
  27. O
  28. O

  Tick "Rotate day and night every two weeks": each crew works two weeks of days, then two weeks of nights, on a 28-day cycle.

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• 2-2-3 on 8-hour shifts

  1. D
  2. D
  3. O
  4. O
  5. D
  6. D
  7. D
  8. O
  9. O
  10. D
  11. D
  12. O
  13. O
  14. O

  The same 14-day cycle with 8-hour shifts gives 28 hours a week instead of 42; compare the yearly hours with the 12-hour version.

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How to make your 2-2-3 schedule calendar

1. Keep 2-2-3 selected. The generator opens on the 2-2-3 with 12-hour shifts: crews A and B on days, crews C and D on nights.
2. Choose your crew. Pick A or B for days, C or D for nights. A and C share the same dates, as do B and D.
3. Enter your crew's cycle day 1. With your crew picked, enter the first day of one of your own two-on blocks that is followed by two off and then the three-day block (with rotation ticked, one in your day-shift fortnight). The other crews are worked out from it. If your 3-day block falls on Friday to Sunday, cycle day 1 is a Monday.
4. Decide on rotation. Tick "Rotate day and night every two weeks" if your crew swaps between days and nights; the cycle becomes 28 days.
5. Use the calendar. Look up any date, see which weekends you have off, read your yearly hours and print or export the year.

How the 14-day 2-2-3 cycle works

The 2-2-3 is named after its first three blocks. Starting on a Monday, a crew works Monday and Tuesday, is off Wednesday and Thursday, and works Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The second week is the mirror image: off Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday and Thursday, off Friday to Sunday. Written as letters it is DDOODDDOODDOOO — 7 shifts in 14 days, never more than 3 in a row and never more than 3 days off in a row.

Four crews cover the clock. Crew B works exactly the days Crew A has off, and crews C and D do the same on nights, so every date has one day crew and one night crew. The diagram shows the first four weeks from Monday, January 5, 2026.

Every other weekend off — if the cycle lines up

Because the three-day block alternates between working and off, the weekend you have off is always a long one. With cycle day 1 on a Monday, Crew A works Friday to Sunday in the first week and is off Friday to Sunday in the second; Crew B has the opposite weeks, so between them every weekend is covered and every crew gets alternate three-day weekends. In 2026 every crew gets 26 full Saturday-and-Sunday weekends off, and the hours panel counts them for your own start date.

Paired crews make planning easier at home. Crew A and Crew C work the same dates, one on days and one on nights, and Crew B and Crew D share the other dates. Two people on A and B never have a weekend off together; two people on A and C have every one of theirs together. The compare tool in the generator counts the days off you share with any other crew.

The every-other-weekend promise depends on which weekday cycle day 1 falls on. Start on a Monday or Tuesday and each weekend off is three days long; start on a Thursday or Saturday and it is an ordinary two-day weekend. Start on a Wednesday, Friday or Sunday and every Saturday and Sunday splits between work and rest, so no crew gets a full weekend off all year. If you are setting up a new rota rather than following one, check this before you post it:

Hours and overtime on a 2-2-3

Each crew works 84 hours every two weeks. Over the year that is 182–183 shifts — 183 shifts and 2,196 hours for Crew A in 2026. Single weeks alternate, and the size of the swing depends on where your employer starts the week:

With Sunday-to-Saturday weeks and overtime after 40 hours, the 48-hour week carries 8 overtime hours and the 36-hour week none, so Crew A earns 208 overtime hours in 2026. If the week runs Monday to Sunday the weeks become 60 and 24 hours and the same shifts carry 20 overtime hours every two weeks. Some employers count over a 14-day period instead; with an 80-hour threshold that leaves 4 overtime hours per two weeks. Common examples: the US FLSA rule of overtime after 40 hours in a workweek; your employer's rules and your contract decide. The hours panel lets you set the period, threshold and multiplier and shows the result for your crew.

* Crew A in 2026 with overtime after 40 hours in each Sunday-to-Saturday week. Your employer's rule decides; set your own period and threshold in the hours panel above.

Pros and cons of the 2-2-3 schedule

2-2-3 compared with Panama, Pitman and DuPont

The Panama schedule is, in most workplaces, simply another name for the 2-2-3; the explainer covers where the names differ. The Pitman schedule uses exactly the same 14-day loop of blocks — 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3 — but its cycle day 1 sits at a different point in the loop, so it reads 2-3-2 and its weekends fall differently. The DuPont keeps the same 42-hour average but trades the short blocks for a 7-day break every four weeks, and 4 on 4 off uses blocks of four on an 8-day cycle. The 12-hour shift schedule guide puts all of them side by side; the 8-hour Continental and the firefighter Kelly schedule have their own pages.

Add your 2-2-3 shifts to your phone

Download the .ics file to import every shift of the year into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, with the real start and end times — a 19:00 night ends at 07:00 the next morning. The Pro sync link does the same without re-importing and can show both crews of a couple in one calendar.

Who works a 2-2-3

Frequently asked questions

More shift pattern calendars

• Shift calendar generator

  Every preset and your own custom cycle in one generator.

• DuPont schedule calendar

  28-day 12-hour rotation for four crews, with a 7-day break.

• Pitman (2-3-2) schedule calendar

  2 on, 3 off, 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off: a 14-day loop common in policing.

• 4 on 4 off shift pattern calendar

  An 8-day cycle whose days drift through the week.

• Firefighter shift calendar

  24/48, 48/96, Kelly and 24/72 for platoons A, B and C.

Guides

• Panama schedule

  How the Panama name relates to the 2-2-3 and Pitman.

• Continental shift pattern

  8-hour earlies, lates and nights over 28 days.

• Kelly schedule

  The 9-day Kelly cycle and what a Kelly day means.

• 12-hour shift schedule guide

  Every rotating 12-hour pattern compared side by side.