The graveyard shift is the overnight shift, the one that runs while everyone else is asleep: in most workplaces the graveyard shift hours are 11 at night to 7 in the morning or midnight to 8, and on twelve-hour patterns 6 in the evening to 6 in the morning, where it is simply called nights. The name is old American slang for the quiet, empty hours, and it means the same thing as third shift and night shift. This page sets out the graveyard shift meaning, what graveyard shifts are and the night shift hours they run by industry, and how a manager schedules a night crew so it is not always the same people.
What the graveyard shift is and where the name comes from
Graveyard shift is the shift that runs through the small hours, so named, by most accounts, for the deserted quiet of a workplace at 3 in the morning rather than for any connection to cemeteries. In a three-shift operation it is third shift; in a two-shift twelve-hour operation it is the night shift; in hospitals it is nights or the night rotation. The hours are the employer's to set. Eight-hour graveyard shifts commonly run 11 to 7 or midnight to 8; ten-hour shifts 9 in the evening to 7; twelve-hour night shifts 6 to 6 or 7 to 7. All of them cross midnight, which is the one thing every graveyard shift has in common.
Scheduling a night crew
The choice is between a fixed night crew and a rotation. A fixed crew of people who prefer nights, kept with a differential, is the steadiest arrangement and the hardest to recruit. A rotation that moves everyone through days and nights shares the burden and costs the operation the adjustment each turn brings; the best-tolerated rotations turn forward, from days to evenings to nights, and give a long break before the next stretch of nights. A twelve-hour 2-2-3 or Pitman keeps day and night crews fixed for several weeks and then swaps them. The rotating schedule generator on this site shows the crews each shape needs and the hours per person, which is where a manager finds out whether a fixed night crew is affordable.
What the schedule has to carry for the night crew
The workweek boundary, because a shift that straddles midnight puts hours in two days and the schedule, the time records and the overtime calculation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act have to agree on which week they fall in. The rest before and after a stretch of nights. Any night differential, which the employer sets rather than the law. And a published copy with a date, because a night crew cannot ask anyone whether the schedule on the wall is the current one.
Questions people ask about graveyard shift meaning
What hours is the graveyard shift?
Usually 11 at night to 7 in the morning or midnight to 8 on eight-hour shifts, and 6 to 6 or 7 to 7 on twelve-hour nights. The employer sets the hours; the name only says it runs overnight.
Is the graveyard shift the same as third shift?
Yes. Graveyard shift, night shift and third shift are three names for the overnight shift; which one is used is habit rather than a difference in the hours.
Does the graveyard shift pay extra?
Only where the employer or an agreement pays a night differential. Federal law requires overtime on hours over forty in the workweek and nothing for the hour of day.