DuPont Schedule Generator and Free Template

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Free printable and editable DuPont schedule template that you can adapt to your specific needs. Instant download.

Dupont Schedule Generator

DuPont Schedule Generator

Free Printable DuPont Schedule Template

 The DuPont schedule is a 28-day rotating shift pattern that uses four crews and two 12-hour shifts to keep an operation covered around the clock, and it ends every cycle with seven consecutive days off. Use the DuPont schedule generator above to build the real calendar for your own crew, or scroll down for the free printable DuPont schedule template if you would rather work from paper.

I had a template on this page for years, and it did the job it was built for. What it could not do was tell you what you are working on the second Tuesday in October. So I built the generator. Put in your crew and the date your cycle starts and it maps every day shift, every night shift, every day off, your hours, your overtime and your long breaks, then hands you a file for your phone, a spreadsheet, or something you can pin to a locker door.

Not sure the DuPont schedule is your pattern? Compare all the 12 hour shift schedules and take the quiz to find the one that fits.

What Is a DuPont Schedule?

A DuPont schedule is a rotating shift pattern that runs on a 28-day cycle, using four crews and two 12-hour shifts to provide continuous 24/7 coverage. It is named after the chemical company where it took hold in the middle of the last century, and it is still one of the most widely used 12-hour rotations in heavy industry across North America.

Two things define it. The first is that every crew alternates between nights and days inside the same cycle rather than sitting permanently on one or the other. The second, and the reason people put up with the first, is that the cycle ends with seven days off in a row. Not a long weekend. A full week, every four weeks, without touching your leave balance.

Across the full 28 days each crew works 14 shifts. At 12 hours a shift that is 168 hours, which averages out to exactly 42 hours a week. That number matters later, because 42 is not 40, and the gap between those two figures is where most of the money on this rotation lives.

You will also see the DuPont work schedule called the DuPont 12 hour schedule, the DuPont rotating schedule, a 28-day shift rotation, or simply a four-crew 24/7 schedule. They all describe the same pattern.

Sample DuPont Shift Schedule: The Full 28-Day Pattern

Here is the sequence one crew works from start to finish. This is the DuPont schedule example that every version of the pattern is built from:

• Week one — four night shifts, then three days off
• Week two — three day shifts, one day off, three night shifts
• Week three — three days off, then four day shifts
• Week four — seven days off

Written as a single line of 28 days, with D for a day shift, N for a night shift and a dash for a day off, it reads:

N N N N – – – D D D – N N N – – – D D D D – – – – – – –

Then it starts again. That is the whole DuPont shift schedule. Every crew works exactly that sequence; the only difference between crews is where in the sequence they are standing today.

How the hours land

The 42-hour average is honest, but it is also a little misleading, because the hours do not arrive evenly:

• Week one — four shifts, 48 hours
• Week two — six shifts, 72 hours
• Week three — four shifts, 48 hours
• Week four — no shifts, zero hours

That 72-hour week is the one every crew warns new starters about. Three day shifts, a single day off, then straight into three night shifts. Six shifts in seven days, with a full flip from days to nights sitting in the middle of it and one 24-hour window to make that flip in. Crews call it the hell week, and they are not being dramatic. If you are planning anything on a DuPont rotation, plan it around that week rather than into it.

How Four Crews Cover 24 Hours a Day

The elegance of the DuPont 12 hour shift schedule is in the offsets. All four crews run the same 28-day sequence, each one starting a week further along than the last. Line them up and something quite satisfying happens: on every single day of the cycle there is exactly one crew on days and exactly one crew on nights. Never two. Never none.

Two crews are always working and two are always off. That is what makes this a genuine 24/7 shift schedule rather than a rota with holes in it, and it is why the pattern needs four crews to function. Try to run it with three and the coverage falls apart. The rotation chart in the generator draws all four crews together and checks the coverage day by day, so you can see it rather than take my word for it.

How to Work Out Which Crew You Are On

This trips up more people than it should, usually because someone starts a new job, gets told they are on C crew, and has no idea what date the cycle began. The generator has a shortcut for it. Enter one or two dates you can actually remember — a night shift you worked on a particular Saturday, a day off you know you had — and it tests every crew against every possible cycle start date and tells you which combinations fit.

One date usually narrows it to a handful of options. Two dates from different weeks almost always pin it exactly. Once it has found you, one click loads your real calendar for the rest of the year.

Pay and Overtime on a DuPont Schedule

This is the part worth slowing down for, because it is where a DuPont schedule pay calculator earns its keep, and where a surprising amount of money quietly goes missing.

Over a year you work about 183 shifts and roughly 2,196 hours. But under United States federal law, overtime is not calculated over a year, or over a 28-day cycle. It is calculated inside a fixed, regularly recurring seven-day workweek that your employer designates, and hours over 40 inside that window attract the premium.

Now look again at where the hours fall. A 48-hour week gives you eight hours of overtime. A 72-hour week gives you 32. A zero-hour week gives you nothing to spread the others against. Because the DuPont cycle is 28 days and a workweek is seven days, the two line up exactly — which means where your employer draws that seven-day line decides how much of your work sits above 40 and how much sits below.

The number that surprised me

I ran the same rotation, the same crew and the same 2,196 hours through seven different workweek start days. Nothing about the shifts changed. Only the day the workweek was declared to begin.

The annual overtime came out anywhere between roughly 208 hours and roughly 624 hours. Same work, same year, three times the overtime, created purely by an administrative choice you probably never saw made.

So it is worth knowing which day your workweek starts. It is a fixed designation your employer has to make, and it cannot be moved around week to week to dodge the premium. You will find it in your handbook, your union agreement, or on your pay stub. Set it in the pay tab of the generator and it will show you which weeks tip over 40, by how much, and what that is worth at your rate. It also runs all seven options so you can see what the choice is costing or earning you.

What else to factor in

• Night shift differential — you work 91 or 92 night shifts a year on this rotation, so even a dollar an hour adds up over more than a thousand hours
• Unpaid meal breaks — 30 unpaid minutes a shift removes about 90 paid hours a year
• Which calendar day a night shift belongs to — a shift running 7pm to 7am straddles midnight, and how payroll splits it can move hours across the workweek boundary
• State law — some states apply daily overtime over eight or 12 hours as well as the weekly rule, which changes the answer considerably

The generator lets you set all of these. It produces a planning estimate, not payroll, so check it against a real pay stub before you rely on it.

The Seven Days Off

Every 28 days you get seven consecutive days off, which works out to 13 full weeks a year on top of any leave you are owed. Over a year you work 183 days and have 182 off. Half your life is not at work.

The part people miss is what happens when you put leave next to it. Your seven-day break already has scheduled shifts sitting on either side. Book leave for those shifts and the block extends outwards fast. Depending on where the break falls in the cycle, two or three leave days can turn seven days off into 11, 12 or more in a row. On a Monday-to-Friday job the same holiday would cost you two full weeks of annual leave.

The time off planner in the generator does this arithmetic for you. It lists every break of three days or more in your year, shows what one, two or three leave days buys you on each, and lets you type in any date range to see exactly how many leave days that trip actually costs.

What a Modified DuPont Schedule Actually Means

Search for a modified DuPont schedule and you will find a lot of pages talking around it, because there is no single official modified version. The term is a catch-all for any site-specific tweak to the standard 28-day pattern. In practice it usually means one of these:

• Changing the shift length — running 10-hour or eight-hour shifts instead of 12, which changes the crew count and the weekly hours
• Shortening or lengthening the cycle — some sites run 21 days instead of 28, trading the seven-day break for a shorter but more frequent one
• Adding a fifth relief crew — this absorbs training, holidays and absence, and is the most common fix for the 72-hour week
• Rearranging the days off — particularly removing that isolated single day off in week two, which is the change crews ask for most
• Swapping the order of days and nights, usually called a reverse DuPont schedule

Because there is no standard version, the generator does not pretend there is. Choose the custom option and you can type your own 28-day sequence, one letter per day. It works out the crew offsets, the weekly hours and the average, and it checks whether your pattern still gives continuous coverage or whether it has left a hole. That is a genuinely useful thing to have in front of you before you take a proposed roster change to a crew meeting.

Reverse DuPont Schedule

A reverse DuPont runs the identical 28-day cycle days-first instead of nights-first: four day shifts, three off, three nights, one off, three days, three off, four nights, seven off. Same hours, same coverage, same long break.

The argument for it is that a new starter, or someone coming back from the week off, eases in on days rather than being thrown straight onto four nights. The argument against is that it finishes the cycle on nights and then hands you seven days off, so you spend the first two days of your break sleeping the rotation out of your system. Which one suits you is genuinely personal, and the generator will build either.

DuPont Schedule Pros and Cons

What people like about it

• Seven consecutive days off, 13 times a year, without spending any leave
• Half the year is a day off — 182 days in a normal year
• The cycle is exactly 28 days, so it is completely predictable years ahead and you can book flights with confidence
• Fewer shift handovers than an eight-hour rotation, which most operations count as a safety gain
• The average 42-hour week usually generates paid overtime rather than being absorbed
• Days off land on weekdays as often as weekends, so appointments, banks and quiet supermarkets become normal

What people struggle with

• The 72-hour week, with a day-to-night flip in the middle and a single day off to make it in
• Twelve-hour shifts leave very little of the day once you add commute and sleep
• Rotating between days and nights inside one cycle makes a stable sleep routine hard to hold
• Income varies week to week, which is awkward if you are paid weekly and budgeting tightly
• Weekends off are not consistent, which is hard on families with school-age children
• It needs four full crews to work, so absence hurts more than it does on other patterns

Is the DuPont Schedule Bad for Your Health?

I am not going to give you a medical answer, and anyone who does on a page like this should be read carefully. What I can tell you is what the concern is actually about, so you know what to ask.

The health question around rotating 12-hour shifts is not really about the length of the shift. It is about circadian disruption, the body running on a clock that keeps being reset. Night work in general, and rotating between nights and days in particular, is associated in the occupational health literature with sleep debt, digestive problems and cardiovascular risk. Rotating patterns tend to be studied less favourably than fixed nights, because a fixed night worker at least gets to build one routine and keep it.

Set against that, the DuPont pattern has real structural advantages over many alternatives. Rotations are slow rather than daily. There are only two direction changes in the whole cycle. And the seven-day break gives a genuine recovery window that most 12-hour rotations simply do not offer.

The consistent practical advice from people who work these patterns for years comes down to guarding sleep like it is part of the job: blackout blinds, a fixed wind-down whatever the clock says, caution with caffeine in the back half of a night shift, and treating that single day off in week two as a sleep day rather than an errand day. If you have an existing heart, sleep or metabolic condition, that is a conversation for your doctor and your occupational health team before you commit to a rotating schedule, not after.

DuPont Compared With Other 12-Hour Rotations

The DuPont schedule is one of several ways to cover 24 hours with four crews. The trade-offs are quite different, and it is worth seeing them side by side, which is why the generator will build the main alternatives too.

• Pitman, also called 2-2-3 — a 14-day cycle of two on, two off, three on, two off, two on, three off. Same 42-hour average, but shifts are usually fixed rather than rotating, and you get every second weekend off as a three-day weekend. The trade is that you never get a seven-day break.
• Panama — the same 2-2-3 rhythm with a slow rotation between days and nights every two weeks. A middle ground for sites that want rotation without the DuPont hell week.
• Four on, four off — a 16-day cycle of four days, four off, four nights, four off. Very steady and easy to remember, but no long break at all, and your days off drift across the week.
• Seven on, seven off — popular in oil, gas and offshore work. Longer blocks in both directions, generally with fewer, longer trips rather than daily commuting.

The short version: if you want the longest possible break and you can absorb one brutal week to get it, DuPont wins. If you want steadiness and predictable weekends more than a big block of time off, one of the 2-2-3 patterns will probably suit you better.

Who Works a DuPont Schedule

You will find this rotation anywhere the process cannot stop. Chemical plants and refineries, where it originated. Continuous-process manufacturing such as paper, steel, glass and food production. Power generation, including nuclear. Mining and mineral processing. Water treatment. Emergency dispatch and some police and fire services. Hospital departments that run around the clock. Security operations and some transport and logistics hubs.

If a job advert mentions 12-hour rotating shifts, four crews and a week off every month, you are almost certainly looking at a DuPont schedule or a close relative of one.

DuPont Schedule Calendar for Any Year

The generator gives you the same schedule in whichever form is actually useful to you:

• A full-year DuPont schedule calendar, all 12 months on one screen and colour-coded by shift, or one month at a time in detail
• A monthly DuPont schedule you can read at a glance, for this year or any year ahead
• A rotation chart showing all four crews across the cycle, with the coverage check and the weekly hours breakdown
• A calendar file that imports every shift into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, timed to your real start and finish
• A spreadsheet download that opens in Excel or Google Sheets, one row per day, so you can build your own DuPont work schedule template around it
• A printable black-and-white version sized for a fridge door or a locker and easy on a printer cartridge
• A shareable link that reopens the generator with your crew and start date already loaded, for sending to a crewmate

You can also load your country’s public holidays and see immediately which ones you are rostered to work, and use the crew compare tab to line your days off up against a partner, a carpool or a workmate on another crew. That last one has settled more household arguments than anything else I have built.

FAQ

What Is the DuPont Schedule?

The DuPont schedule is a rotating shift pattern that uses four crews and two 12-hour shifts across a 28-day cycle to cover an operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each crew works 14 shifts per cycle, averaging 42 hours a week, and every cycle ends with seven consecutive days off. It takes its name from the chemical company where it became standard in the mid twentieth century, and it is common in manufacturing, refining, power generation, emergency services and healthcare.

How Does the DuPont Schedule Work?

Each crew works the same 28-day sequence: four night shifts, three days off, three day shifts, one day off, three night shifts, three days off, four day shifts, then seven days off. The four crews run that identical sequence offset by one week each. The result is that on every day of the cycle exactly one crew is on days and exactly one is on nights, with the other two off, which is what delivers continuous coverage with no gaps and no doubling up.

How Many Hours a Week Is a DuPont Schedule?

It averages 42 hours a week, but the hours arrive unevenly. Inside the cycle you work a 48-hour week, then a 72-hour week, then another 48-hour week, then a week with no hours at all. Over a year that comes to about 183 shifts and roughly 2,196 hours.

Do You Get Overtime on a DuPont Schedule?

Usually yes, because the 72-hour and 48-hour weeks sit above the 40-hour federal threshold. How much depends heavily on which weekday your employer has designated as the start of its workweek, since that decides where the seven-day line cuts through the 28-day cycle. On the same rotation and the same hours, annual overtime can vary by a factor of three depending on that one choice. The pay tab in the generator works it out for your setup and compares all seven options.

Does the DuPont Schedule Really Give You 7 Days Off?

Yes. The fourth week of every cycle is seven consecutive days off, which works out to 13 full weeks a year without spending any annual leave. Because the shifts on either side of the break are scheduled, booking two or three leave days next to it commonly stretches the break to 11 or 12 days off in a row.

What Is a Modified DuPont Schedule?

There is no single official modified version. The term covers any site-specific change to the standard 28-day pattern, most often a different shift length, a shorter cycle, an added fifth relief crew, a rearrangement of the days off to remove the isolated single day in week two, or swapping the order of days and nights. The custom option in the generator lets you type your own sequence and then checks whether it still delivers continuous coverage.

What Is a Reverse DuPont Schedule?

A reverse DuPont runs the same 28-day cycle days-first rather than nights-first: four day shifts, three off, three nights, one off, three days, three off, four nights, then seven off. The hours, coverage and long break are identical. It eases you in on days but finishes the cycle on nights, so the first part of the seven-day break goes on sleep recovery.

How Do I Know Which Crew I Am On?

Your employer assigns it, usually as A, B, C and D, or as numbers or colours. If you know your crew but not when the cycle started, use the crew finder in the generator: enter one or two dates you remember working and what you worked, and it tests every crew against every possible cycle start date to find the combinations that fit. Two dates from different weeks normally pin it exactly.

Is the DuPont Schedule Bad for Your Health?

The concern with any rotating 12-hour pattern is circadian disruption rather than shift length alone, and night work in general is associated in occupational health research with sleep debt, digestive complaints and cardiovascular risk. The DuPont pattern rotates slowly, changes direction only twice per cycle and includes a genuine seven-day recovery window, which compares well with faster rotations. If you have an existing heart, sleep or metabolic condition, discuss it with your doctor and your occupational health team before committing to rotating shifts.

What Is the Difference Between the DuPont Schedule and 7 on 7 Off?

Seven on, seven off gives you a solid week of work followed by a solid week off, at 84 hours in a working week and an average of 42. A DuPont schedule reaches the same 42-hour average through a mix of four, six and four shift weeks plus one week off in four. Seven on, seven off is simpler and common in offshore and remote work; DuPont breaks the work into shorter runs but only gives you the full week off once a month.

Can I Get a DuPont Schedule Template in Excel?

Yes. The printable DuPont schedule template on this page downloads as a PDF, an Excel file or an image. The generator also exports a spreadsheet with one row per day covering the date, weekday, shift, start and finish time and hours, which opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers so you can sort it, filter it, or build your own DuPont work schedule template around it.

Is There a DuPont Schedule for 8-Hour Shifts?

The classic pattern is built around 12-hour shifts. Shortening the shift to eight hours drops the weekly average from 42 hours to 28, which no longer covers a full-time role or the full day with four crews, so sites wanting eight-hour coverage normally move to a different rotation or add crews. You can still model an eight-hour variation in the generator by changing the shift length and entering a custom sequence, and it will tell you whether your pattern still covers the clock.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of the DuPont Schedule?

For employees the draw is the seven-day break every cycle, 182 days off a year, a pattern that is predictable years ahead, and a 42-hour average that usually generates paid overtime. The costs are the 72-hour week with its day-to-night flip, the difficulty of holding a sleep routine while rotating, income that varies week to week, and weekends off that are not consistent. For employers it delivers genuine 24/7 cover with fewer handovers than an eight-hour rotation and a schedule crews tend to value, but it requires four full crews, makes absence expensive to cover, and the averaged 42-hour week means budgeting for overtime rather than avoiding it.

How Do I Know if the DuPont Schedule Will Work for My Business?

The pattern only makes sense if the operation genuinely cannot stop, because the whole design is built around continuous cover. Beyond that, the practical questions are whether you have enough people for four full crews plus relief, whether your work suits 12-hour blocks, what your state’s daily overtime rules do to the cost, what your union agreement or local working-time regulations allow, and whether your crews actually want it. Schedules chosen with the workforce hold up far better than schedules imposed on it, so run the pattern past the people who would work it before you commit.