Quick answer
The Pitman schedule, also called 2-3-2, is a 14-day rotation of 12-hour shifts. Work 2, off 2, work 3, off 2, work 2, off 3, then repeat. Four teams cover 24/7, everyone averages 42 hours a week, and every other weekend is a 3-day weekend. To track it, describe the rotation once and subscribe to a calendar link instead of typing 14 days of shifts by hand.
The Pitman schedule runs four teams of 12-hour shifts through a 14-day cycle: work 2, off 2, work 3, off 2, work 2, off 3. Two teams hold days, two hold nights, and on any date one day team and one night team are on duty. The payoff that made it standard in police departments, dispatch centers, hospitals, and plants: every other weekend off, as a full 3-day weekend.
The 14-day pattern
Seven 12-hour shifts per cycle: 84 hours, a 42-hour weekly average. One calendar week runs heavy and the next light, which is why Pitman positions often build the overtime expectation into pay.
The Friday-Saturday-Sunday block at the end of the cycle is the celebrated part. In a 24/7 operation, a guaranteed full weekend every other week is rare.
Fixed vs rotating
Fixed Pitman assigns each team to days or nights permanently. Sleep stays stable. The night teams carry the whole night burden.
Rotating Pitman flips teams between days and nights, commonly each month. The burden spreads evenly, at the cost of resetting everyone's sleep on each flip.
Which one you are on changes nothing about the 2-3-2 on/off pattern. It only changes the clock times.
Why it never fits a normal calendar
Calendar apps repeat weekly. Pitman repeats every 14 days, and the two weeks differ. There is no "every Monday" to anchor on, so people end up typing each shift by hand and re-typing when the cycle resets or a swap lands.
The shortcut is to stop typing shifts and describe the rotation once. The shift calendar maker has a Pitman preset: tap it, set the real start date and shift times, and it builds out months of shifts in one pass, overnights included. Or start from the ready-made Pitman schedule template. Publish the result as a calendar link and subscribe on the phone.
A household bonus: the same link works for anyone. A spouse subscribes once and sees every on-duty day on their own phone, including the 3-day weekends worth planning around.
Pitman vs the other 12-hour rotations
| Pattern | Cycle | Shape | Weekend rhythm | |---|---|---|---| | Pitman (2-3-2) | 14 days | 2 on, 2 off, 3 on / 2 off, 2 on, 3 off | Every other weekend off, 3 days | | 2-2-3 (Panama) | 14 days | Same block family, naming varies | Every other weekend off | | DuPont | 28 days | Mixed day/night weeks + 7 straight days off | One long break per cycle | | 4-on-4-off | 8 days | 4 on, 4 off | Weekends drift through the cycle |
If the roster says "2-2-3" or "Panama," the same preset approach works: the differences are starting point and labels, not math.
The hard parts
Twelve hours is a long shift, and the 3-shift stretch wears. On rotating Pitman, the day/night flip is the common complaint: the first night shift after a flip lands on a body still set to days. None of that is fixable with a calendar, but seeing the full cycle laid out months ahead makes the recovery days plannable, which is most of what shift workers ask for.