The DuPont schedule explained
The DuPont schedule is a four-week rotation of 12-hour shifts that covers every hour of every day with four crews. Each crew works 4 nights, 3 off, 3 days, 1 off, 3 nights, 3 off, 4 days, 7 off, then the cycle repeats. That is 14 shifts every 28 days, an average of 42 hours a week.
One crew’s 28 days
Read it a week at a time from a Monday start. Week 1: four nights, then three off. Week 2: three days, one off, three nights. Week 3: three off, then four days. Week 4: all seven days off.
How four crews cover around the clock
Each crew runs the same 28-day cycle, starting a week after the one before. With the crews a week apart, every day has exactly one crew on the day shift and one on the night shift, while the other two are off.
Crew A
Crew B (a week ahead)
Crew C (two weeks ahead)
Crew D (three weeks ahead)
Hours each week, and overtime
| Week | Shifts | Hours | Over 40 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 4 | 48 | 8 |
| Week 2 | 6 | 72 | 32 |
| Week 3 | 4 | 48 | 8 |
| Week 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The average is 42 hours, but the weeks are uneven. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, hours can’t be averaged across weeks: a non-exempt employee is owed time and a half for each hour over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek. In this example that is 48 overtime hours every four weeks. Your own split depends on the day and hour your employer’s workweek starts; a night shift that crosses that boundary splits its hours between two weeks.
Strengths and trade-offs
- The seven-day break. Once every four weeks you get a full week off without using leave.
- No more than four shifts in a row, but the middle week packs three days, one day off and three nights into seven days.
- Quick switches. Moving from days to nights with one day off between, and blocks of three or four nights, run against two of the guidelines NIOSH summarizes: keep consecutive night shifts to a minimum, and consider two rest days after three consecutive 12-hour shifts. NIOSH also cautions against several days of 12-hour shifts followed by a 4- to 7-day mini-vacation, which is the shape of the DuPont’s last two weeks.
For getting through the night blocks, see how to sleep after a night shift. To compare DuPont with other patterns, see rotating shift schedules explained.
Where Shiftfolk helps
Shiftfolk has DuPont as a preset, with day shifts from 07:00 and nights from 19:00, and you can adjust the times. Choose it or another preset, including DuPont, Pitman 2-2-3, Panama, 4 on 4 off, Kelly 24-hour shifts and fixed nights, or build a custom cycle of 1 to 56 days. Set your shift times and which day of the cycle today is, and Shiftfolk lays the rotation out as a month calendar. Swaps, overtime, PTO and sick days go in as exceptions without breaking the underlying pattern.
A one-time QR code lets a partner see your shared days off over the next eight weeks, with no account and no schedule server.
Shiftfolk is coming soon to iPhone and Android.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA
- CDC / NIOSH: Training for Nurses on Shift Work and Long Work Hours, Module 5: guidelines for designing work schedules
Schedules vary by employer and agreement; this guide describes common forms of each. Overtime figures use the federal FLSA baseline for non-exempt employees and count each shift in the week it starts; state law, contracts and special rules can differ. General information, not legal advice.