Shift patterns explained: 2-2-3, 4-on-4-off, DuPont, rotating 8-hour — and what Greek law allows

02

Patterns with 8-hour shifts

• Fixed 5/2: five shifts and two days off, on the same shift every week. Average 40 hours.
• Weekly rotation: one week of mornings, one of afternoons, one of nights, always forward. Average 40 hours on a 5-day week.
• 2-2-2-2: two mornings, two afternoons, two nights, two days off. 8-day cycle, 4 crews for 24/7, average 42 hours.
• Continental: a 28-day cycle with 21 shifts per crew (e.g. MMAANNN, 2 off, MMAAANN, 2 off, MMMAANN, 3 off), 4 crews, average 42 hours — with runs of 7 consecutive shifts.

03

Patterns with 12-hour shifts, and 24/48

• 2-2-3 (also called Panama or Pitman): 2 days on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. 14-day cycle, 4 crews, average 42 hours.
• 4-on-4-off: four 12-hour shifts, then four days off. 8-day cycle, 4 crews, average 42 hours.
• DuPont: 4 nights, 3 off, 3 days, 1 off, 3 nights, 3 off, 4 days, 7 off. 28-day cycle, 4 crews, average 42 hours.
• 24/48: 24 hours on, 48 off. Average 56 hours a week.

04

What Greek law checks in every pattern

• Full-time is 40 hours a week: 8 hours a day on a 5-day week or 6 hours 40 minutes on a 6-day week (Labour Code art. 189).
• A ceiling of 8 hours every day and 48 every week (art. 187); the week runs from Monday 00:01 to Sunday 24:00 (art. 170).
• At most 48 hours a week on average over any four months, overtime included (art. 174).
• At least 11 consecutive hours of daily rest (art. 171) and 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest on top of those 11 (art. 173).
• At night (22:00–06:00), normal working time must not exceed an average of 8 hours per 24 hours over a one-week period (art. 176).
• Under a working-time arrangement (διευθέτηση), up to 10 hours a day without extra-hours pay, if the period average stays at 40 hours (art. 202).
• Work that by its nature must run continuously with successive crews may exceed the art. 187 limit, provided the average stays within 48 hours, the night crew moves to day hours every week, and any crew that works a Sunday gets 24 hours of rest on another day (art. 201).
• In security work, the rules on rest, breaks and night work can be adjusted only by collective agreement or agreement with the works council, with equivalent compensatory rest (art. 182).

05

Which patterns fit the limits

• Fixed 5/2 and the weekly 8-hour rotation: within the limits as described. Rotating forward (morning → afternoon → night) leaves well over 11 hours; rotating backward, from an afternoon ending at 22:00 to a 06:00 morning, leaves only 8.
• 2-2-2-2 and Continental: a 42-hour average is 2 hours a week above 40 — extra work at +20% (art. 194) or a διευθέτηση that brings the average back to 40. Align the cycle with the Monday–Sunday week so no week exceeds 48 hours and every week keeps its 24-hour rest.
• 12-hour patterns (2-2-3, 4-on-4-off, DuPont): a 12-hour shift exceeds the 8-hour limit of art. 187 and the 10-hour cap of διευθέτηση. The legal basis for routinely exceeding 8 hours is continuous-operation work under art. 201 — which requires the night/day switch every week, while 2-2-3 and 4-on-4-off switch every two weeks or every 8 days.
• 24/48: a 56-hour average, above the 48 hours of art. 174.

06

Good practice for health

The UK Health and Safety Executive recommends, among other things:

• avoiding permanent night shifts;
• rotating every 2–3 days or every 3–4 weeks, otherwise forward;
• shifts of up to 12 hours including overtime, or up to 8 for night shifts or demanding work;
• no more than 2–3 consecutive night or long shifts, and two nights of full sleep when switching between days and nights.

07

Setting it up in 365shift

• Save a week’s shifts as a template and apply it to other weeks, or copy a week or a month and paste it, keeping the same people if you like.
• The AI Scheduler’s auto-fill aims for the 2-2-2-2 rotation for people without shift restrictions.
• The minimum-rest rule (11 hours by default) flags every shift that breaks it, and the maximum-weekly-hours rule stops auto-fill from going over it.