Thinking about switching to a 10 hour shift schedule for 24/7 coverage? Or maybe you're just curious how other departments schedule with 10 hour shifts.
Article Highlights
This article will cover 3 specific examples we have seen multiple police departments or law enforcement agencies use.
Agencies exploring how scheduling templates work with 10-hour shift rotations will find that there is not only one way to handle any rotation. Depending on a few different variables, like the size of your department, you will need to adjust each example.
3 examples of 10-hour shift schedule rotations
The three rotations covered in this section include:
- [4 on 3 off]
- [5 on 3 off] x3 [5 on 4 off] [4 on 4 off] x2
- [4 on 4 off]
1. [4 on 3 off]
The [4 on 3 off] templates only run 1 week. You will need 3 shifts or squads to cover 24x7.
From our study, departments sized anywhere from 15 people to 150 people used this rotation. Here is what this 10-hour shift schedule template will look like:
You do not have to use all these templates. You can use a few of them. However, you will need to create 2 more squads: one for night shift and one for swing shift.
2. [5 on 3 off] x3 [5 on 4 off] [4 on 4 off] x2
The [5 on 3 off] x3 [5 on 4 off] [4 on 4 off] x2 rotation is a little more complex, but can easily be duplicated by following the templates below. The rotation will require seven 7-week templates with 3 squads to cover round the clock.
Below, we only show templates 1-4 because they're so big, but you can download the PDF for full template examples.
Create 2 more squads to cover night shift and swing shift for 24x7 coverage.
3. [4 on 4 off]
The [4 on 4 off] rotation commonly lasts 8 weeks as shown below. It can have 10 hour shifts or 10.5 hour shifts.
It will total approximately 35 hours a week with just 10 hour shifts. For this rotation, 2 templates are required with 3 different squads. See the first squad 10-hour shift schedule templates below:
Copy these 2 templates for the other 2 squads to cover swing shift and night shift.
More options to manage your shift schedules
If you're having trouble managing these schedules or finding that it is taking up too much time, police scheduling software options like PowerTime can help. Many software vendors will set up the schedule templates for you, so your agency just has to keep up with day-to-day tasks like time off and overtime approvals.
Still not set on a schedule rotation for your agency? Learn more about the pros and cons of 8-hour, 10-hour, and 12-hour shift schedule template for public safety departments to help you make an informed, confident decision.
