Pitman vs DuPont: 12-Hour Rotating Schedules Compared

Pitman (2-3-2): the steady one

The Pitman cycle is 14 days: 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. Never more than three shifts in a row, every other weekend off, alternating 36/48-hour weeks. It's the same on/off rhythm as the 2-2-3 Panama — the name usually signals fixed day and night crews rather than rotating ones.

DuPont: the week-off one

The DuPont cycle runs 28 days: 4 night shifts, 3 off, 3 day shifts, 1 off, 3 nights, 3 off, 4 days — then 7 consecutive days off. That built-in vacation every month is why crews defend it fiercely.

The cost: one 72-hour week inside every cycle, a single recovery day mid-cycle, and day/night flips baked into the pattern. Sleep scientists wince at it; plenty of plants have run it for decades anyway.

Head to head

The trade-offs in one list:

• —Longest stretch: Pitman 3 shifts · DuPont 4 shifts
• —Longest break: Pitman 3 days · DuPont 7 days
• —Worst week: Pitman 48 hrs · DuPont 72 hrs
• —Weekends: Pitman every other one off · DuPont clustered around the week off
• —Day/night flips: Pitman optional/slow · DuPont built into every cycle
• —OT distribution: Pitman alternates 0/8 hrs weekly · DuPont swings 0 to 32 hrs

Paycheck reality

DuPont's 72-hour week means a monster check once a cycle (32 OT hours at your differential-included rate), followed by lean ones. Pitman pays more evenly. Either way, knowing which weeks are heavy is exactly the problem ShiftCheck solves — stamp the pattern with rotation autofill and read each paycheck off the calendar.

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