Rotazo answers

Every answer below is aimed at a question people measurably search for, is written from named sources, and links to the page that handles the job itself. None of them is a landing page in disguise.

These are the questions a manager asks when staffing shifts in a US small business, and the questions the crew asks back: what a 2-2-3, a Pitman, a Panama or a 9/80 is and how the weekends fall on it, what hours first, second, third, swing and graveyard shift run, how a 12-hour or a 24-hour rotation is covered and by how many crews, what a roster is and how a rotating schedule is generated, and how a salon or a hotel front desk is scheduled. Each answer is written for the person who has to publish the schedule, and each one feeds the free worksheet and the record Rotazo keeps.

• 2nd shift hours: when second shift starts and ends, and how it is scheduled

  Second shift usually runs from mid-afternoon to around midnight, after first shift and before third. The hours by industry, and how it is scheduled.

• 3rd shift hours: when the night shift runs, and how a crew is scheduled

  Third shift is the overnight shift, usually 11 at night to 7 in the morning on an eight-hour pattern. The hours, the handovers, and how it is scheduled.

• 1st shift hours: when first shift starts, and who gets it

  First shift is the morning shift, usually 7 to 3 or 6 to 2 on eight-hour patterns and 6 to 6 on twelve-hour days. The hours and how it is shared out.

• Graveyard shift meaning: where the name comes from, and the hours it runs

  The graveyard shift is the overnight shift, usually midnight to 8 or 11 to 7. Where the name comes from, the hours, and how a night crew is scheduled.

• Swing shift hours: the two meanings of swing shift, and when each runs

  Swing shift is the afternoon-to-evening shift, usually 3 to 11 or 4 to midnight, or a shift that rotates between the others. The hours and both meanings.

• Mid shift hours: the overlap shift between the opening and the close

  A mid shift runs through the middle of the day, usually 10 to 6 or 11 to 7, overlapping the opening and closing shifts. What it is and how it is used.

• Types of shift: the three that cover the clock, and the ones around them

  The three types of work shift are day, afternoon and night, with split, mid, on-call and rotating shifts around them. The hours each runs.

• Roster meaning: what a roster is, and how a work roster is written

  A roster is the list of who is working when: names against shifts. The roster definition, how it differs from a schedule, and how one is written.

• The 2-2-3 schedule: fourteen days, twelve hour shifts and four crews

  A 2-2-3 schedule puts four crews on 12-hour shifts: two on, two off, three on, two off, two on, three off. Every other weekend free, 42 hours a week.

• 2-2-3 work schedule: your month on it, and how days and nights rotate

  The 2-2-3 work schedule from the worker's side: which days you work, when the weekends fall, how days and nights rotate, and what a month looks like.

• Pitman schedule: the four-crew 2-2-3 rotation, and the pitman schedule police departments and dispatch centers run

  The Pitman schedule is a four-crew 2-2-3 on 12-hour shifts with days and nights swapping every two weeks. Its layout, hours, and the police version.

• Panama schedule: the Panama shift schedule laid out over four weeks

  The Panama schedule is a four-crew 2-2-3 on 12-hour shifts over a 28-day cycle, with every other weekend off. Its layout, a worked example, and its hours.

• 9/80 work schedule: two weeks laid out, and the workweek trick that avoids overtime

  A 9/80 work schedule is eighty hours in nine days over two weeks: eight nine-hour days, one eight-hour day, every other Friday off. The workweek trick.

• 9x80 schedule: eighty hours in nine days, and the calendar for a year

  A 9x80 schedule is the 9/80 written another way: eighty hours in nine days over two weeks, every other Friday off. The calendar, the hours, the checks.

• 4 on 4 off schedule: half the days on twelve hour shifts, and its shorter cousins

  4 on 4 off, 4 on 2 off and 2 on 2 off are the simplest rotations: fixed days on and off, repeating. What each does to hours, weekends and crews.

• 12 hour shift schedule: the four crew rotations, and why three crews do not work

  How 12-hour shifts are scheduled: the 2-2-3, the DuPont, the 4 on 4 off, what each does to hours and weekends, and why covering the clock takes four crews.

• 24 hour shift schedule template: eight hour, twelve hour and 24 hour patterns compared

  How a 24x7 operation is covered: three eight-hour shifts with five crews, 12-hour rotations with four, or 24-hour shifts on a 24/48 with Kelly days.

• The 10 hour shift schedule: how a 10 hour shift is rotated on 4/10s and staggered starts, with a free 10-hour shift schedule generator for the crews and the hours

  A 10 hour shift schedule is usually four days on, three off: forty hours and a three-day weekend. How 10-hour shifts overlap to cover a day.

• Double shift: what a sixteen hour day costs, and what it does to the schedule

  A double shift is two consecutive shifts worked by one person, usually 16 hours, because a call-out was not covered. Its cost, the rest it breaks, the fix.

• The split shift: two blocks of work in one day with an unpaid gap between, where it is used, and what the schedule owes for it

  A split shift is two blocks of work in one day with an unpaid gap longer than a meal between them, common in restaurants and transit. The rules.

• Open shifts: how a published schedule handles the shifts nobody owns yet

  Open shifts are published with no name on them; an on call shift is one a person must be available for; a shift trade is a swap. How each is recorded.

• Rotating schedule generator free: the work schedule creator, and how to read its answer

  The free rotating schedule generator on this site lays out any pattern from crews, shift length and days on: hours, coverage, cost. How to use and read it.

• Roster management software for a small team: what a store, a crew or a hotel needs

  What roster management software has to do for a store, an event crew and a hotel front desk: coverage by hour, the published roster, swaps and hours.

• Salon scheduling from the owner's side: the stylist schedule behind the booking book, and what nail salon scheduling software has to add

  Salon scheduling is two schedules: the stylists' shifts and the clients' bookings. How the first is written so the second works, and the nail salon case.

• Staffing and scheduling in a small business: from headcount to a published schedule

  Staffing and scheduling is deciding how many people the operation needs and laying them across the week. Shift management and the types of work schedule.

• Workforce scheduling, and what a workforce app has to do before it is worth the license

  Workforce scheduling covers forecasting, shift patterns, availability and cost. What a small business needs from it, and what is enterprise noise.

• Scheduling software for retail stores: what a retail scheduling platform must do, and where scheduling software for retail stops

  Retail scheduling has its own constraints: trading hours, keyholders, seasonal peaks and predictive scheduling law. What to judge a platform on.

• Labor percentage calculator: how to find labor cost percentage, and what labor cost percentage actually compares

  Labor cost percentage is total labor cost, including employer burden, over net sales for the period. The arithmetic and the three ways it goes wrong.