Shift patterns

2-2-3 schedule

Also called the Panama schedule or the 2-3-2 schedule

A 2-2-3 schedule, also called the Panama schedule, covers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with four crews working 12 hour shifts. Each crew works 2 days, has 2 off, works 3, has 2 off, works 2, then has 3 off. That is 14 days, 7 shifts and 84 hours, so 42 hours a week on average, and every other weekend off.

One cycle

• Week 1: on Monday and Tuesday, off Wednesday and Thursday, on Friday to Sunday
• Week 2: off Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday and Thursday, off Friday to Sunday
• Crew B works the days crew A has off. Crews C and D do the same on nights.
• On this calendar the crews swap days and nights every two weeks, so the whole cycle is 28 days.

Crews

4

Shift length

12 hours

Cycle

14 days (28 with the day and night swap)

Hours a week

42 on average, 84 every two weeks

Longest stretch

3 shifts in a row

Weekends

Every other one off, Friday to Sunday

Make it your team's

1. Rename the crews to your people, in the list on the left (the menu button at the top left on a phone). Or open a shift and add more people to a crew.
2. Change a shift's hours or first day: every shift of that series moves with it.
3. Click Share and send the link, or print a month per page. It saves in your browser as soon as you change something, no sign up.

Questions

Is the Panama schedule the same as the 2-2-3 schedule?

Yes. Panama, 2-2-3, 2-3-2 and often Pitman are names for the same 14 day pattern of 12 hour shifts with four crews. Some teams also swap crews between days and nights, some never do.

How many people do I need?

Four crews for each seat you need filled around the clock. One person at a time means four people, two at a time means eight.

Other shift patterns

• Pitman schedule
• DuPont schedule
• 4 on 4 off schedule
• Kelly schedule
• 9/80 schedule
• 3 shift system
• 2 shift system
• 4 crew 8 hour schedule