Four shifts on, then six days off, on a ten-day cycle. Enter your hourly rate to see average weekly hours, annual hours and gross pay, and how the pattern sits against the 48-hour limit.
Open the free rota maker with the ten-day cycle laid out for the next four weeks: four 12-hour shifts on and six off, with three day crews and three night crews so every day and night is covered, and the hours per person and per day totalled as you go. No account needed to build it. Sign up to print or download it and the rota comes with you.
Cycle length
10 days
Average week (12h shifts)
33h 36m
Annual hours (12h shifts)
1,752
The pattern runs on a ten-day cycle: four shifts, then six days off. Ten days is three more than a week, so each new run starts three weekdays later than the last. It comes back to its starting weekday after seven cycles, or 70 days.
In those 70 days a worker does 28 shifts. On 12-hour shifts that is 336 hours over ten weeks, an average of 33 hours 36 minutes a week and about 1,752 hours a year: below a standard full-time week, even with 12-hour days.
| Shift | Average week | A year | 48-hour limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 hours | 22h 24m | 1,168 | Under the limit |
| 10 hours | 28h | 1,460 | Under the limit |
| 12 hours | 33h 36m | 1,752 | Under, with 14h 24m to spare |
The 48-hour limit. At a 33.6-hour average the base pattern is well under the limit, with over 14 hours a week of room for overtime or extra shifts.
Daily rest.A 12-hour shift leaves exactly 12 hours before the next one. Any overrun at the end of a shift comes straight out of the 11 hours' rest a worker is entitled to.
Night workers.If the shifts are nights, a night worker's normal hours should average no more than 8 in 24, and they must be offered a free health assessment.
A week off can cost one to four shifts on this pattern, depending on where it falls, so counting leave in days is unfair.
Count it in hours. Statutory leave is 5.6 weeks, so a 33 hour 36 minute average week gives about 188 hours of paid leave a year. Take off the length of each shift as it is booked.
Ourpro rata holiday calculatordoes the same sums for part-timers and mid-year starters.
Four-on-six-off is a less common pattern. It is used where 12-hour shifts suit the work but contracted hours sit below full time, or where staff do extra shifts on top of a lighter base rota.
Covering every day and night on 12-hour shifts takes three day teams and three night teams, more than a 4-on-4-off rota needs for the same cover.
Publish the rota to your team's phones, let staff clock in against their shifts, and send approved hours to Xero, QuickBooks or a CSV. Leave can be booked in hours, so the cycle never distorts anyone's holiday. £3 per employee per month, free for 14 days.
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