4-crew rotating shift schedule
Four crews, three shifts, sixteen days, every day covered.
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This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and you can even turn off your internet connection before you start.
Example
Example: four control-room crews through December 2026, carried on from November
A water treatment plant staffs its control room around the clock with Crew A to Crew D on 8-hour shifts. November’s rota began on November 1, 2026, so December is made with Month December, Year 2026, Cycle starts on November 1, 2026 kept as it was, Title Riverside Water Plant and Department Control room.
- The crews stay four days apart on the 16-day cycle, so December 1 picks up where November 30 stopped: Crew A is off, B on nights, C on lates and D on earlies.
- Every day has one crew on each shift and one resting, Christmas Day included, which is shaded and named at the foot of the sheet.
- The totals count days and hours. Shifts are 8 hours unless you say otherwise: type 7:30 under Hours per shift and Crew B shows 180 hours instead of 192.
| Day | Crew A | Crew B | Crew C | Crew D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue, Dec 1 | Off | Night | Late | Early |
| Thu, Dec 24 | Late | Early | Night | Off |
| Fri, Dec 25 | Late | Early | Off | Night |
| Sat, Dec 26 | Late | Early | Off | Night |
| Thu, Dec 31 | Night | Late | Off | Early |
| Days / hours in December | 23 / 184 | 24 / 192 | 23 / 184 | 23 / 184 |
Riverside Water Plant 2026-12.pdf: one landscape Letter sheet with E, L and N in the cells, blank for days off, an Approved by line, and Christmas Day named under the table. Keep the same start date for January and the cycle runs on.
How it works
- List the four crews or the people, one per line.
- Pick the month; shifts count as 8 hours, which you can change.
- To carry on from last month, enter the date the cycle started.
- Download the PDF and pin it up.
- For a roster spanning several sheets, find the page by its first and last employee and download just that sheet.
Frequently asked questions
- How does the 16-day cycle go?
- Each crew works four earlies, has a day off, works four lates, has a day off, works four nights and has two days off. The crews are four days apart, so on every day one crew is on each shift and one is resting.
- How is it different from the two-two-two rota?
- The three-shift rota changes shift every two days; this one keeps a crew on the same shift for four days, with a rest day between blocks and two after the nights. Both need four crews for round-the-clock cover.
- How many hours is that?
- Twelve shifts in every sixteen days: 96 hours per cycle on eight-hour shifts, about 42 hours a week on average. The PDF totals days and hours for each crew.
- How do I carry the rota on into next month?
- Put the date the cycle started in Cycle starts on (the 1st of your first month if you left it empty) and change only the month. The cycle is counted from that date, not from the first of the month, so a crew that ended November on nights starts December on its days off. Left empty, each month would start the cycle again on its 1st.
- Which public holidays are marked?
- On this English page, the US federal holidays: in December 2026, Christmas Day. They are shaded and named at the foot of the sheet, and the crews work them like any other day, because round-the-clock cover does not stop for a holiday.
- Can the shifts be 7½ or 12 hours?
- Type the length under Hours per shift, as 7:30, 7.5 or 12. The key under the table shows it, E = Early (7:30 h), and every crew’s total uses it: 24 shifts at 7:30 are 180 hours.
- Is anything uploaded?
- No. The rota is made in your browser. The free plan prints a small line with our name at the foot of the sheet; Pro leaves it off.