DuPont Shift Schedule Calculator
The DuPont four-week cycle
If you've landed here, you're probably on the DuPont rota at a plant somewhere and trying to work out exactly when your shifts fall. The short version: DuPont is a four-week pattern. Everything repeats on a 28-day loop, and once you've seen one full loop you've effectively seen the lot.
The reason it has to be four weeks long is the way the teams are arranged. A DuPont site runs four teams — usually called A, B, C and D, though plenty of plants use colours or numbers instead. All four work the same sequence of days, nights and rest days, but each one is offset from the next so that at any given hour there's always a team on days and a team on nights covering the place. Stack the four offset sequences on top of each other and they tile perfectly across the 28 days. That's what keeps the site staffed around the clock without anyone working more than their share.
Within that four-week loop, your own pattern isn't an even drumbeat of on-off-on-off. It's lumpy on purpose. You get a front section that's busy — a run that packs in day shifts and night shifts with only short gaps — and then, near the end of the cycle, the lumpiness pays off with a long uninterrupted block of rest. Shifts themselves are the long industrial kind, typically running twelve hours, with day teams clocking on around 7am and night teams around 7pm, though every site sets its own changeover times.
What makes DuPont feel different from a simple rota like four-on-four-off is exactly this uneven shape. You're not always the same number of days from your next break. Some weeks you're grinding; one week a month you're properly off. The calendar above is the easiest way to actually see that shape laid out, because reading it off a printed grid of letters never quite sticks until you watch a whole year of it scroll past.
That long stretch off
This is the bit DuPont is famous for, and the reason a lot of people put up with the rest of it. Near the end of each four-week cycle you hit a run of consecutive days off that stretches to roughly a week. Not a long weekend — an actual week-ish block where you don't go anywhere near the plant.
The thing that makes it genuinely useful, more than the length, is that it's predictable. It lands at the same point in every cycle, so you can see it coming from a fortnight away and plan around it without ever filling in a leave form. People treat it like a recurring mini-holiday. I've heard of folks who book a short trip away on the same week every cycle, parents who line it up to be properly present during the school holidays, and plenty who just use the first day or two to claw their sleep back after the nights and then enjoy the rest like a normal person.
It's worth being honest about how the first day of the break actually feels, though. If your run finished on nights, day one off is often a write-off — you're sleeping at odd hours and your body hasn't caught up yet. Most people find the block really starts paying out from the second day onward, once the night-shift fog has lifted. Knowing that in advance helps: don't book the big day out for the morning after your last night.
Because the break is so easy to spot on a calendar, it also makes the rest of life easier to schedule. Dentist appointments, the car's MOT, a wedding three months out — you can glance at your generated year, find the long block nearest the date, and slot things in without juggling shift swaps.
The trade-off: a heavier run first
Nothing's free, and the price of that long break is a tougher run earlier in the cycle. Before you get to the week off, you work through the heaviest stretch of the pattern: a front-loaded block that mixes day shifts and night shifts with only short breaks wedged in between. It's the part of DuPont people complain about, and fairly so.
The hardest moments are the turnarounds — the short gaps where you swing from one type of shift back into another with barely time to reset your body clock. A single day off between a run of nights and a run of days sounds fine on paper, but in practice it's not really a day off; it's a day spent trying to sleep when it's light out so you're fit for the next shift. That's the genuinely demanding part of the schedule, and it's why people on DuPont talk so much about blackout curtains, eye masks and being strict about caffeine timing.
My honest take: DuPont rewards people who can be disciplined about sleep during the busy run. If you protect your rest hard through the heavy stretch, the long break at the end feels like a proper reward. If you let the night-shift sleep debt pile up, you arrive at your week off already wrecked and burn the first half just recovering. The pattern doesn't change either way — but how good it feels really does come down to how you handle the front-loaded part.
It also suits some lives better than others. If you'd rather never be more than a couple of days from a break, a shorter cycle with rest spread more evenly might fit you better, and the related patterns below are worth a look. DuPont is for people who'll happily trade a harder fortnight for that one big, predictable block of freedom.
Generating your DuPont calendar
The tool at the top of this page turns the four-week loop into a personal twelve-month calendar so you don't have to count squares.
- Pick the pattern — DuPont is already selected on this page, so you can leave it as is.
- Choose your team — A, B, C or D. If you're not certain, check the next section before you commit, because the team sets which week your long break lands in.
- Set your cycle start date — enter the first day of your current 28-day cycle. This anchors everything; it's not the same as your next working day.
- Generate the year — your full twelve months appear, with the long rest block standing out as an unbroken run of days off. Bank holidays are flagged for whichever country you pick.
Use the date checker in the sidebar to look up any single day — handy when someone asks if you're free on a date months away. When it all looks right, export it to the calendar app on your phone so your shifts and that week off sit alongside the rest of your life.
DuPont questions people ask
What exactly is the DuPont schedule?
It's a four-week, 28-day rotating shift pattern worked by four teams so a site stays staffed around the clock. Every team works the same sequence of days, nights and rest days, just offset from one another. Its defining feature is a long stretch of consecutive days off inside each cycle, balanced by a heavier run of shifts beforehand.
How long is the famous DuPont break?
It's a block of roughly seven consecutive days off near the end of each 28-day cycle. The exact feel depends on whether your previous run finished on nights, but the key point is that it recurs at the same spot every cycle, so you can plan around it weeks ahead like a regular short holiday.
What's the demanding run before the break like?
It's the front-loaded part of the cycle that mixes day and night shifts with only short gaps between them. The turnarounds between nights and days are the tough bit, since the short break in the middle is mostly spent sleeping at awkward hours. Manage your sleep well through this stretch and the long block at the end feels far more like a reward.
Who actually uses the DuPont schedule?
It originated at the DuPont company and spread through chemical and process plants, petrochemical and oil-and-gas operations, paper mills and other continuous manufacturing. These are sites that run 24/7 and can't simply down tools overnight, which is exactly why a four-team rotation makes sense for them.
How do I find which team I'm on?
Your employer assigns you to one of the four teams — commonly A, B, C, D, or sometimes colours. Check your rota, your contract, the board in the control room, or just ask your shift coordinator. It matters in the calculator: the team you pick sets which week your long break falls in, so confirm it before you rely on the generated dates.
Related Shift Patterns
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