4 on 4 off - A closer look

Your questions answered about the highly popular 4 on 4 off shift pattern

4 on 4 off

4 on 4 off is probably one of the most recognised shift patterns as it is used by many organisations that need continuous 24 7 shift coverage 52 weeks of the year.

Whilst it is well known, it’s not a perfect fit for every organisation. It may be that other types of shift patterns provide a better balance between operational requirements and the needs and preferences of shift workers.

Our experts have been helping organisations with shift patterns and shift work for over three decades.

In this time they have gained a huge amount of insight into the pros and cons of 4 on 4 shift patterns.

This article looks at some of the most common questions we’re asked by organisations either looking to introduce 4 on 4 off or wanting to adopt best practice around how 4 on 4 off shift patterns are planned and managed.

How does a 4 on 4 off shift pattern work?

As the name suggests, a 4 on 4 off shift pattern sees employees work four shifts across four consecutive 24 hour periods.

This is followed by four consecutive days off or rest days.

A key feature of 4 on 4 off shift patterns is that the start day moves forward one day each week.

For example, week one sees the four shifts start on a Monday. Week two the four shifts start on a Tuesday and so on.

Organising working time using 4 on 4 off allows resource planners to create a continuous shift pattern that provides 24 7 staff coverage across the 365 days of the year.

How does 4 on 4 off rotation work?

There’s flexibility in how you might approach implementing a 4 on 4 off rotating schedule.

Firstly you can look at how you create runs of shifts within your 4 on 4 off rotation.

In most cases a 4 on 4 off shift pattern sees teams alternate between day and night shifts either within or between a run of rest days as follows:

Two day shifts followed by two night shifts, followed by four rest days and repeat.

Or…

Four-day shifts followed by four rest days, followed by four night shifts, then four rest days and repeat.

A 4 on 4 off shift pattern runs across eight weeks.

A key consideration when it comes to 4 on 4 off rotating schedules is ensuring employee wellbeing and preferences are factored in across the range of alternative shift patterns available.

Shift Patterns

Finding shift patterns that balance the needs of your organisation and shift workers can be a slow and painful process.

optashift’s Shift Pattern Design service combines data science, expert insight and collaboration to create shift patterns that are fully optimised for your performance and people.

What are 4 on 4 off shift pattern pros and cons?

Like any shift pattern, it’s important you understand both the benefits and disadvantages of 4 on 4 off shift patterns.

Organisations should weigh up 4 on 4 off pros and cons and consider if it is actually the best shift pattern for 24 7 working.

In many cases there are alternatives to 4 on 4 off shift patterns that provide more flexibility.

It is vital you find a solution that balances organisational requirements with the needs of your shift workers.

The benefits of 4 on 4 off include:

Productivity

4 on 4 off shift patterns enable an organisation to have continuous 24 7 coverage for 365 days a year. In many industries this is essential to meeting customer demand or production requirements. The consistency of labour supply provided by a 4 on 4 off shift pattern also helps ensure you have adequate capacity and cover right across the year.

Certainty

For shift workers a 4 on 4 off shift pattern allows them to know well in advance what days they will be working and what days they will be off, therefore creating regularity. This makes it much easier to plan things like childcare and social occasions. For organisations the regularity of a 4 on 4 of shift pattern makes it easier to arrange cover for variables like annual leave.

Personal time

Many shift workers like 4 on 4 off shift patterns because it provides a good amount of leisure time between shifts and allows them to rest and undertake personal commitments.

The disadvantages of 4 on 4 off include:

Night working

Like any shift work system which includes night shifts, a 4 on 4 off shift pattern creates additional operational considerations regarding appropriate and safe working environment for night workers. As identified earlier, a 4 on 4 off shift pattern may mix day and night shifts in a block of four shifts or keep them separate.

Where shifts are separate, four continuous night shifts can be gruelling especially in certain environments. This can cause issues with circadian rhythms, whereas the fast rotation of switching between day and night shifts on a 4 on 4 off shift pattern is generally viewed as more favourable in this regard.

Conversely, the fast rotation of two days followed by two nights means that the first rest day always follows a night shift. The final rest day precedes a day shift therefore resulting in two usable rest days in the middle.

Complexity of shift management

When operating with a 4 on 4 off shift pattern it can be hard to find additional cover at short notice. Shift workers rarely want to interrupt their four days off which potentially creates gaps in cover and may have compliance implications.

Typically, shift workers don’t want to work the two days off in the middle of a four-day rest period, rather working an additional shift at the start or end of a run of shifts. When employees are already working four night shifts a fifth can be particularly impactful from a fatigue perspective.

Similarly, on the fast rotations of two day shifts followed by two night shifts (where each rest day period is always preceded with a night shift as described above), the issue is compounded as every run of shifts finishes on a night shift. In this instance the only option for employees is to work a night shift, which makes your task of finding cover for day shifts more difficult.

Weekend impact

One of the biggest disadvantages of 4 on 4 off is the number of weekends it impacts for employees as the shift pattern rotates across the year. The cycle of a 4 on 4 off shift pattern requires shift workers to work six weekends in succession.

The work-life balance impact this has can be a major bugbear of shift workers, impacting both their wellbeing and your ability to recruit and retain employees. Alternatives to 4 on 4 off shift patterns provide more options to ensure working weekends are better spaced.

Responsible employers should be aware of how these 4 on 4 off shift pattern pros and cons impact their business and workforce.

It could be that tailoring certain aspects of the 4 on 4 shift pattern might help, or perhaps exploring whether an alternative continuous shift pattern might be better suited to your performance goals and shift worker’s preferences.

Is 4 on 4 off a 12 hour shift pattern? Can you have 4 on 4 off 10 hour shift patterns?

In continuous environments 4 on 4 off 12 hour shift patterns are the norm.

Running 12 hour day shifts followed by 12 hour night shifts ensures there is always adequate shift coverage and makes shift planning and workforce management much simpler.

However 4 on 4 off 12 hour schedules pose their own challenges as they can be gruelling to work, particularly if a shift worker has four consecutive night shifts.

Some organisations do operate with 4 on 4 off 10 hour shift patterns and use techniques like staggered start and finish times to ensure there is adequate cover throughout the 24 7 period.

Alternatively they might run with an operating window of less than 24 hours (e.g. 06:00 to 20:00).

However the ability to achieve this within a 4 on 4 off shift pattern will be dictated by many factors like demand, operational processes and team skills mix.

If you are considering 10 hour, or even 8 hour shift patterns, to support 24 7 operating environments then there are much more suitable shift patterns than 4 on 4 off.

Check out our Quick Guide to 24 7 Shift Patterns for more info.

Shift Work Assessment

Optimising shift patterns and shift work delivers huge benefits…but complexity and competing priorities sees many organisations leave things as they are.

Our Shift Work Assessment is a streamlined process which quickly analyses all relevant operational and HR factors to give you a tailored plan for immediate improvement.

How many weekends are worked with a 4 on 4 off shift pattern?

As referenced earlier, one of the major disadvantages of a 4 on 4 off shift pattern is that it’s impossible for you to run them without having a significant impact on shift workers’ weekends.

The precise ratio of weekends impacted will depend on team structure used (e.g. 4 crew or 5 crew).

If you’d like to know more about team or crew sizes options, check out Quick Guide To 24 7 Shift Patterns.

With a four crew 4 on 4 off shift pattern, every eight-weeks throughout the year, there are six consecutive weeks where shift workers must work a minimum of one day on the weekend (this is 10 weeks with a five crew four on four off shift pattern).

For some people this is a compromise too far and many organisations find that it impacts their ability to recruit and retain talent.

Increasingly optashift experts are being asked to help find alternatives to 4 on 4 off that still provide 24 7 cover, but with reduced and fair distribution of weekends.

Fair and equal distribution is a key focus of our shift pattern design process. If you’d like to know more check out our article on Shift Pattern Design Fundamentals.

What are the average weekly hours in 4 on 4 off shift pattern?

To work out the average weekly hours in a 4 on 4 off shift pattern you multiply the average number of shifts per week (3.5 on a 4 crew pattern) by the length of the shifts.

This means for a 4 on 4 off 12 hour shift pattern the average weekly working hours is 42 (assuming all breaks are paid).

The average weekly hours in 4 on 4 off 10 hour shift pattern is 35.

A 4 on 4 off 8 hour shift pattern creates average weekly hours of 28.

How many hours per year is a 4 on 4 off shift pattern?

When working out the how many hours per year is a 4 on 4 off shift pattern it’s not as simple as multiplying the hours per week by the number of weeks in a year.

The reason is that you must account for leap years which happen every four years.

Working out how many hours per year is a 4 on 4 off shift pattern requires you to use the average number of weeks in a year which is actually 52.18.

So, you multiply the average weekly working hours by 52.18.

This means for a 4 crew 4 on 4 off 12 hour shift pattern the average hours per year worked is 2,192.

The average annual hours in 4 on 4 10 hour shift pattern is 1,826.

A 4 on 4 8 hour shift pattern creates average annual hours of 1,461.

How many days in a year are worked with a 4 on 4 off shift pattern?

To calculate how many days a year are worked with a 4 on 4 off shift pattern it’s as simple as dividing the number of days in a year by two, which equals an average of 182.5.

Shift Work Health

The effects of shift work on physical and mental health are clear…so responsible employers need to provide shift workers with tailored support across sleep, nutrition, exercise and social issues.

optashift will help you deliver a programme that blends strategic, operational, practical and technical solutions that are designed in collaboration with your workforce.

What holiday entitlement do you get with a 4 on 4 off shift pattern?

With a 4 on 4 off shift pattern the number of shifts that can be taken as holiday will depend largely on the Terms and Conditions of the employer.

For example you may have a standard contract of 38 hours with 33 days holiday including Bank Holidays.

This needs to be converted to hours in order to calculate the equivalent number of 12 hour shifts holiday entitlement.

One consideration when it comes to 4 on 4 off annual leave entitlement is whether you use holidays on request or rostered holidays.

Whilst holidays on request is probably most common, the system needs to be managed well in 4 on 4 off shift pattern or it can leave shift workers disappointed and the organisation short on cover during popular periods like summer school holidays.

If you operate with a 5 crew system an alternative approach to 4 on 4 off holiday entitlement is rostered holidays which allocate employees fixed holiday slots in the calendar. On the face of it this appears to reduce choice, but it does deliver significant benefits.

The increased certainty means each shift worker will know exactly when they are going to be off which helps work-life balance.

It can also be used to embed weeks off within the 4 on 4 off shift pattern, which can combine with rest days to create regular extended breaks.

Whilst employees may initially resist the idea of 4 on 4 off annual leave entitlement being rostered, once they can see the impact it has on the frequency and length of time off it often becomes more popular than holiday on demand.

The organisation benefits too as it provides more flexibility to ensure adequate cover when there are peaks in demand, as holidays being rostered in ‘quieter’ periods.

Help with 4 on 4 off shift patterns

There’s no doubt that 4 on 4 off shift patterns will be an ideal fit in certain 24 7 operating environments.

However it’s also worth considering the alternatives. There are a vast array of shift pattern examples and options which can be tailored to suit your organisation and workforce.

If you would like to discuss what type of shift pattern would provide the best fit for you then please get in touch. You can also consider booking a Shift Work Assessment.

This will help you quickly identify if a 4 on 4 off shift pattern is the best option for your organisation.

optashift experts have designed and implemented hundreds of alternatives to 4 on 4 off shift patterns in diverse 24 7 environments across a wide range of industries.

We’ll help you find alternatives to 4 on 4 off shift patterns that unlock huge benefits for your performance and people.