ROTATING SCHEDULE
3×12 (three on, four off) schedule
Also called: three twelves, 3 on 4 off, three 12-hour shifts, 0.9 FTE
Common in: Hospital nursing, Emergency departments, ICU and critical care, Respiratory therapy, Hospital laboratories and imaging
Three 12-hour shifts in a seven-day week, then four days off. The standard full-time hospital schedule for nurses and allied health: 36 hours a week, never over 40, and four days off in every seven.
3×12 (three on, four off)
Three 12-hour shifts in a seven-day week, then four days off. The standard full-time hospital schedule for nurses and allied health: 36 hours a week, never over 40, and four days off in every seven.
August 2026
August 202612-hour shifts · 7-day cycle
15 shifts · 180 hrs
Ranges are best–worst case: they depend on which day your employer's workweek starts.
Set the date cycle day 1 falls on (any date you know was the first day of your rotation); the calendar then predicts every month that follows. The .ics holds a year of shifts from the first of the month shown, clocking in at 07:00 for days; adjust times in your calendar app. Open in ShiftCheck stamps the same rotation into the app and prices every week, overtime included.
3×12 (three on, four off) by the numbers
- Cycle length
- 7 days · 3 shifts
- Shift length
- 12 hours
- Average hours / week
- 36
- Longest week
- 36 h
- Weeks over 40 h (per year)
- 0
- Overtime hours / year at 40 h
- 0
- Longest stretch on
- 3 days
- Longest break
- 4 days
Computed from the cycle with 12-hour shifts and a 40-hour weekly overtime threshold. Ranges show the best and worst case depending on which day your employer's workweek starts — that single setting can change your overtime substantially on this rotation.
How the three-twelves schedule works
The 3×12 is a seven-day cycle: three 12-hour shifts, then four days off. Unlike the crew rotations on this site it is a personal pattern rather than a coverage plan. Hospital units self-schedule or use a scheduler to place each nurse's three shifts, so which three days you work can vary from week to week. The calendar here shows the cleanest version, three in a row, which is what most people mean by three on, four off.
The shifts are commonly 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., with a 30-minute unpaid meal break making the paid shift 12 hours. Nights are usually a fixed assignment rather than a rotation, and many hospitals require a set number of weekend shifts per schedule period, often every other or every third weekend.
Because three twelves is 36 hours, most US hospitals count it as full time (0.9 FTE) for benefits and offer a fourth shift as overtime or incentive pay. Stacking three in a row and then taking four off is popular because it leaves a long weekend every week; splitting them, two on, one off, one on, is easier on the body.
Hours, overtime, and what it pays
Three shifts of 12 hours is 36 hours a week and, because the cycle is exactly seven days, every workweek is the same regardless of where the employer's week starts. That is why the table above shows a range of zero: no weekly overtime at a 40-hour threshold is possible on a pure 3×12.
Overtime appears in two ways. Picking up a fourth shift makes a 48-hour week with 8 overtime hours at time and a half on your regular rate, differentials included, and the overtime pay calculator prices that. Staying late is the other: a 12-hour shift charted to 13 or 14 hours pushes a 36-hour week to 38 or 39, still under 40, so late departures on a three-twelves week are usually paid straight time unless a contract says otherwise.
Two federal wrinkles matter for nurses. Hospitals may elect the FLSA 8-and-80 system, which pays overtime after 8 hours in a day or 80 in 14 days; a 12-hour shift under 8-and-80 would carry 4 daily overtime hours, so hospitals that run twelves usually keep those staff on the standard 40-hour week. Separately, California and a few other states have daily overtime rules; hospitals there typically adopt an alternative workweek schedule so 12s do not trigger daily overtime, but hours beyond 12 in a day do.
Who uses it and why
Three twelves is the dominant full-time schedule for registered nurses in US hospitals, and common for LPNs, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, ED technicians, and laboratory and imaging staff on 24-hour units. Travel nursing contracts are written around it, 36 hours a week for 13 weeks, and many hospitals offer 4×12 or 3×12 plus a scheduled extra shift for people who want more hours.
Nurses like it for the four days off and for the simplicity of only three commutes and three handoffs a week. Hospitals like it for two shift changes a day instead of three. The known downside is fatigue: 12.5 hours on your feet, and nights that run into a day off, are hard, and the third consecutive twelve is where most people feel it.
Pros and cons
Three twelves against the 40-hour week it replaced.
- —Pro: four days off every week, with no rotation to track.
- —Pro: 36 hours counts as full time at most hospitals, with benefits.
- —Pro: a fourth shift crosses 40 hours, so most of it pays at the overtime rate.
- —Con: 12.5-hour shifts, with a 30-minute unpaid break, are physically demanding.
- —Con: 36 hours is 10% less pay than 40 at the same hourly rate.
- —Con: required weekend and holiday shifts still rotate through, depending on unit policy.
FAQ
How many hours a week do nurses work on 3×12?
36 paid hours: three 12-hour shifts, typically scheduled as 12.5 hours with a 30-minute unpaid meal break. Most US hospitals treat 36 hours as full time.
Is a 12-hour nursing shift overtime?
Not under the standard federal rule, which counts overtime after 40 hours in a workweek; three twelves is 36. It can be under a hospital's 8-and-80 election, or in states with daily overtime such as California unless an alternative workweek schedule is in place. Hours beyond your scheduled 12 in a day are the most common daily-overtime trigger.
What does a fourth 12-hour shift pay?
Four hours of straight time and eight hours at time and a half, because 36 plus 12 is 48 and the 40-hour threshold falls a third of the way through the shift. Many hospitals add an incentive or critical-staffing bonus on top. Your regular rate for the overtime hours must include any night or weekend differential you earned that week.
Related: 4 on, 3 off (4×10s) · 4 on, 4 off · 2-2-3 (Panama) · All schedules · Overtime pay calculator
SHIFTCHECK FOR IPHONE
Stamp the 3×12 (three on, four off) rotation and price every week.
Paint your shifts on a calendar — differentials, weekly overtime, holiday premiums, and time off computed automatically. Know your paycheck before it lands.
Free calendar · $14.99 once for the full pay engine · no subscription