Pitman Schedule Calendar (2-3-2 Schedule)

Ready-made examples

• Crew A, cycle day 1 on Jan 5, 2026

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

  Two days on from Monday, three off, two on over the weekend; then two off, three on, two off. January 7 is a day off and Saturday, January 10 is a day shift.

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• Police night squad, Crew D

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

  Crew D works the dates Crew A has off, on 19:00–07:00 nights — the usual setup for a patrol night squad on 12-hour shifts.

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• Rotating days and nights every two weeks

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

  Tick "Rotate day and night every two weeks" and each squad works a 14-day block of days, then one of nights, on a 28-day cycle.

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• The 2-2-3 from the same Monday

  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

  Load the 2-2-3 with the same cycle day 1 and compare the two years: the same blocks, but the three-day runs land on different days of the week.

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How to make your Pitman schedule calendar

1. Keep Pitman selected. The generator opens on the Pitman 2-3-2 with 12-hour shifts: crews A and B on days, C and D on nights.
2. Choose your squad. 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 squad's cycle day 1. With your squad picked, enter the first day of one of your own two-day blocks that is followed by three days off (with rotation ticked, one in your day-shift fortnight). The other squads are worked out from it. If you only know one date you worked, "Which crew am I?" finds the crews on duty that day.
4. Choose fixed or rotating. Leave rotation off for permanent day and night squads, or tick it if squads swap every two weeks.
5. Use the year. Look up any date, read your shifts and overtime for the year, and print, save or export the calendar.

The 14-day Pitman cycle

The Pitman is read as 2-3-2 because of its first week: two shifts, three days off, two shifts. The second week turns it around — two off, three on, two off. As letters the cycle is DDOOODDOODDDOO: 7 twelve-hour shifts in 14 days, never more than 3 in a row and never more than 3 days off in a row.

Four crews keep the operation staffed. Crew B works the dates Crew A is off; crews C and D do the same on nights. The chart shows four weeks from Monday, January 5, 2026 with all four crews, and the line under it is the same coverage check the generator runs for your settings.

Pitman and the 2-2-3: one loop, two starting points

Write either schedule as a ring of blocks and you get the same thing: 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off, and round again. The 2-2-3 starts reading the ring at one block and the Pitman at another — Pitman cycle day 1 is day 10 of the 2-2-3. That is why some workplaces call one schedule by the other's name, and why the Panama schedule is described as the same rotation again. What changes between them is which days of the week the long and short blocks land on, and that decides your weekends.

With cycle day 1 on a Monday, as in our examples, Crew A works the first weekend and has the second weekend off as two days. Move cycle day 1 to a Wednesday and the three days off land on Friday to Sunday — at which point the calendar is identical to a 2-2-3 that starts on the following Monday; a Thursday start gives Saturday-to-Monday weekends instead. If your department's Pitman "gives three-day weekends", it runs one of those two versions.

Hours and overtime on the Pitman

Every crew works 84 hours in 14 days, 42 hours a week on average. Over 2026 that is 182–183 shifts per crew; Crew A in our example works 183 shifts, 2,196 hours. Single weeks alternate between a three-shift week and a four-shift week:

With overtime after 40 hours in a Sunday-to-Saturday week, the 48-hour week carries 8 overtime hours: 200 hours for Crew A in 2026. Unlike the 2-2-3, the Pitman's weeks stay at 36 and 48 hours whether the week starts on Sunday or Monday, so the overtime figure hardly moves. Many police agencies instead use a 14-day or 28-day work period with a higher threshold; the hours panel lets you set the period, threshold and rate. Common examples: the US FLSA rule of overtime after 40 hours in a workweek, and the longer 7(k) work periods available to law enforcement; your agency's rules and your contract decide.

* 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.

Why police departments use the Pitman

Twelve-hour shifts let a department cover 24 hours with two shifts instead of three, so each squad hands over twice a day rather than three times and a squad stays together on the same dates. Four squads on the Pitman each work the same number of days, nights and weekends, which makes overtime and seniority bids simpler to agree. Blocks never run longer than three shifts, which keeps the number of consecutive long shifts low, and every officer gets regular days off in the middle of the week for court dates, training and errands. The trade-off is that there is no long break; departments that want a week off each month look at the DuPont instead.

Pros and cons of the Pitman schedule

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

The 2-2-3 and the Pitman are the same 14-day ring entered at different points, and the Panama explainer covers where that third name comes from. The DuPont keeps 42 hours a week but rotates every crew through days and nights on 28 days with a 7-day break. 4 on 4 off trades short blocks for longer ones on an 8-day cycle. The 12-hour shift schedule guide compares every option; for 8-hour rotations see the Continental shift pattern, and for 24-hour shifts the firefighter shift calendar and the Kelly schedule.

Put your Pitman shifts on your phone

The free .ics download adds every shift of the year to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, with night shifts ending the next morning. The Pro sync link keeps adding months by itself and can combine your squad with a partner's in one calendar.

Who works the Pitman

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.

• 2-2-3 schedule calendar

  2 on, 2 off, 3 on over 14 days; every other weekend off.

• 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.