Top 3 Schedule Examples for 24x7 Coverage with 8 Hour Shifts

Exploring new ways to schedule patrol? You've come to the right place. We specialize in public safety scheduling software so we know a thing or two about 24x7 coverage.

Less than 30% of PowerTime users schedule with 8 hour shifts.

While they keep the shift per day feasible, they don't allow for as many days off.

You may be required to use 8 hour shifts but don't worry, there are a couple different options.

In this article, we will list the top 3, 8 hour rotations that we have seen used.

You can also download a whole list of 8 hour shift schedule examples to evaluate for yourself!

The Top 3 Rotations are:

1. [5 on 2 off]
2. [4 on 2 off]
3. [5 on 2 off] [5 on 3 off]

[5 on 2 off]

This rotation only requires one-week templates but 3 squads: one for day shift, one for mid shift, one for night shift. Departments ranging from 15 people to 175+ people use this rotation.

*** What is a template? - a template could be a single employee or a squad of employees working the same shifts. This would depend upon your department size and minimum staffing levels.

Repeat this 8 hour shift schedule template for 2 more squads with different shift times to cover 24x7.

Instead of using all the templates, you can choose 1, 3, and 5 or 2, 4, and 6 or mix and match depending on your specific requirements.

The [5 on 2 off] is definitely the most known and widely used from small to large organizations. But, that does not mean that it is the best fit for every department.

[4 on 2 off]

This rotation requires 3, 6-week templates.

You will need 3 squads to cover a day, mid, and night shift.

Departments ranging anywhere from 35-50 people use the [4 on 2 off] rotation.

 Use the template examples above and repeat for 2 more squads with different shift times to cover 24x7.

[5 on 2 off] [5 on 3 off]

This 8 hour shift schedule can be used in any department but we have seen it used by departments sized 25-50 people.

It uses 3 templates and 3 squads to cover day, mid and night shift.

 Repeat for 2 more squads with different shift times (mids and nights) to cover 24x7.

Pros and cons to using 8 hour shifts:

Pros

• Average work day hours - officers are less likely to get fatigued
• Better work/life balance
• Fair to employees if you rotate shift times
• Fewer errors made on duty

Cons

• More days on duty (comparing to 10 or 12 hour shifts)
• Requires 3 shifts to cover the whole day
• Commuting more days vs.10 or 12 hr shifts

While these officer scheduling examples are in the format of Word or Excel, they can all be handled with scheduling templates in officer scheduling software.

Using templates in scheduling software will allow you to publish the schedules for as long as you need to. You can also switch employees from one template to another easily. Explore PowerTime today by clicking the button below!