A 2-2-3 schedule is a 14-day rotation of 12-hour shifts: you work 2 days, take 2 off, work 3, take 2 off, work 2, then take 3 off, and the loop starts again. Four crews keep a site covered 24/7, and each person averages 42 hours a week.
Your shift alarm knows the traffic. That's the short version of what BoardSpy adds. First, though, here's your whole 2027 laid out: pick the first day of your cycle below and every shift for the year is colored in.
How to use it: set First day of your cycle to the first shift after your 3-day break, which starts a 2-shift block. Enter your usual start time and switch I work to Nights if you're on a night crew. The line above the months counts your 2027 work days and scheduled hours. Download .ics gives you a file that Apple Calendar, Google Calendar and Outlook can import, and Print / save as PDF prints just the calendar for the fridge. Your employer's official roster still wins, so compare the two once.
How a 2-2-3 schedule works
The name comes from the blocks of work in each half of the cycle. Across 14 days you work 7 shifts and have 7 days off:
| Cycle days | You | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Work | 2 shifts |
| 3–4 | Off | 2-day break |
| 5–7 | Work | 3 shifts, usually Friday–Sunday |
| 8–9 | Off | 2-day break |
| 10–11 | Work | 2 shifts |
| 12–14 | Off | 3-day break, usually Friday–Sunday |
Seven 12-hour shifts make 84 hours per 14 days, or an average of 42 hours a week. Over a full year that's about 182 or 183 shifts and roughly 2,190 scheduled hours, depending on where your cycle sits on January 1. The widget's summary line does that count for your exact start date.
2-3-2, 3-2-2 and 2-2-3 are the same cycle
If your manager calls it a 2-3-2 or a 3-2-2 schedule, you're almost certainly on this same rotation. Write the 14 days in a circle and read it from different spots:
- 2-2-3: start at the 2-shift block that follows the long break.
- 2-3-2: start one block later, at the 2 days off before the 3-shift stretch.
- 3-2-2: start at the 3-shift stretch itself.
No shift moves. The only thing that changes is which day the scheduler calls day one, and that matters in exactly one place: telling a calendar where you are in the loop. The easy fix is to ignore the label, find the next 3-day break on your roster, and enter the first shift after it as your start date.
Fixed or rotating? Know which 2-2-3 you're on
Employers use "2-2-3," "Pitman" and "Panama" loosely, sometimes for the identical schedule. The difference that actually changes your life is whether your crew ever switches between days and nights:
- Fixed shift: you stay on days, or you stay on nights. This is the classic Pitman setup, covered in our Pitman schedule guide.
- Rotating: you work the 2-2-3 on days for two weeks, then on nights for two weeks, a 28-day cycle usually called Panama. See the Panama schedule page for that version and its own calendar.
If the roster doesn't say, ask your supervisor one question: "Does our crew ever move to nights?" The calendar on this page assumes a fixed shift, so pick Days or Nights in the toggle and you're done.
What your month looks like
Here's four weeks for a day-crew worker whose cycle starts on a Monday, the common layout that puts the 3-shift block on Friday through Sunday. D = 12-hour day shift, a dash = day off.
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | D | – | – | D | D | D | 60 |
| 2 | – | – | D | D | – | – | – | 24 |
| 3 | D | D | – | – | D | D | D | 60 |
| 4 | – | – | D | D | – | – | – | 24 |
And here is how four crews share one 14-day cycle. Whenever crew A is off, crew B is on, and the night crews mirror them:
| Crew | Week 1 (Mon–Sun) | Week 2 (Mon–Sun) |
|---|---|---|
| A (days) | D D – – D D D | – – D D – – – |
| B (days) | – – D D – – – | D D – – D D D |
| C (nights) | N N – – N N N | – – N N – – – |
| D (nights) | – – N N – – – | N N – – N N N |
Why your paycheck swings
Because 84 hours land unevenly across two weeks, the hours counted in each pay week depend on the day your employer's workweek starts. With a Monday start and the layout above, you alternate 60 and 24 hours. Move the workweek start to another day and the split can become 48 and 36 instead. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, a workweek is a fixed, recurring 168-hour period, and non-exempt employees earn time and a half for hours over 40 in it, so the heavy week is where overtime tends to appear. Your contract or state law may treat it differently, so check one pay stub against the calendar.
Pros and cons for the person working it
What's good:
- You never work more than 3 shifts in a row.
- Every two weeks you get a 3-day break, about 26 of them a year, and in the common layout it falls on a weekend.
- You're off about half the days of the year, which means half the year with no commute at all.
- The pattern repeats every 14 days, so you can plan months ahead with confidence.
What's hard:
- Twelve hours on the floor plus a drive each way can easily take 13 or 14 hours of your day.
- The heavy week packs 5 shifts into 7 days.
- You work every other weekend, and holidays that land on your block.
- Your days off move each week, so a standing Tuesday class or appointment only works every other week.
- The 2-day breaks are short: after a 12-hour shift, the first day off is often recovery.
Sleep, commute and family on a 2-2-3
Sleep. Day crews with a 7:00 start are usually up well before dawn, so the night before each block is the one to protect. Night crews have it harder: NIOSH notes that sleep after night work is often shorter and less refreshing than sleep at night. Treat that daytime sleep window as an appointment and tell the people you live with when it is.
Commute. The drive home after a night shift is the riskiest part of the day for many shift workers. In a 2016 study published in PNAS, 6 of 16 night-shift workers had at least one near-crash when driving after a night shift, versus none after a normal night's sleep. If you're exhausted, a nap before driving or a ride home beats pushing through.
The drive in has its own problem: a fixed 5:45 alarm doesn't know about the wreck on the interstate. BoardSpy sets each shift alarm as a leave-by alarm based on live traffic on your commute, so it rings when you actually need to leave, with your chosen lead time and real alarm sounds. For a one-off check before an unusual trip, use the when-to-leave tool.
Family. Because your days off shift every week, the people you live with can't memorize your schedule. A shared calendar fixes that. In BoardSpy you invite your partner by link or code, they see your shifts, and everyone gets a push notification when the schedule changes. Each person's shifts can be edited only by that person. If your partner lives in Google Calendar, the read-only mirror copies their events into the shared calendar as "Busy" or with full detail, so you can see who's home and who's picking up the kids. The free plan covers one shared calendar with up to 3 members. A family of four or more needs Pro, and the price is shown in the App Store and Google Play. Our shared calendar guide for couples covers how to set this up.
Looking for the custody "2-2-3"?
In family law, "2-2-3" also names a 50/50 parenting plan, where a child moves between two homes in blocks of 2, 2 and 3 days. That's a separate thing from this work rotation. If you're a co-parent who also works shifts, the same shared calendar lets both households see who has the kids each night.
Set up a 2-2-3 in BoardSpy
- Install BoardSpy on iPhone or Android and open the shift calendar.
- Create a shift type: name it "Day" or "Night," set the start and end times, and pick a color.
- Set the pattern once as a repeating rotation: 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off, starting on the first shift after your 3-day break. BoardSpy fills in the next 120 days automatically.
- Turn on the shift alarm and choose your lead time. It's timed to live traffic on your commute.
- Optional: share the calendar with your household so they get a push whenever your schedule changes.
Weighing other apps first? We compare the main options in shift work calendar apps compared.
Frequently asked questions
What is a 2-2-3 schedule?
A 2-2-3 schedule is a 14-day rotation of 12-hour shifts: work 2 days, off 2, work 3, off 2, work 2, off 3. Four crews provide 24/7 coverage, and each worker averages 42 hours a week, with 7 shifts and 7 days off in every two-week cycle.
Is a 2-3-2 or 3-2-2 schedule the same as a 2-2-3?
In almost every workplace, yes. All three describe the same 14-day loop, read from a different starting day. Nothing moves; only the day the scheduler calls day one changes. To line up a calendar, ignore the label and enter the first shift after your 3-day break as your start date.
How many hours do you work on a 2-2-3 schedule?
You work 84 hours every 14 days, which averages 42 hours a week and about 2,190 scheduled hours a year. Individual pay weeks are uneven: depending on the day your employer's workweek starts, you alternate 60 and 24 hours, or 48 and 36 hours.
Do you get weekends off on a 2-2-3 work schedule?
Every other weekend. In the common layout, the 3-shift block falls on Friday through Sunday one week, and the 3-day break falls on Friday through Sunday the next. That gives you a 3-day weekend every two weeks, roughly 26 a year, in exchange for working the other weekends.
Is a 2-2-3 schedule the same as Pitman or Panama?
They share the same 2-2-3 cadence. Pitman usually means crews stay on fixed days or fixed nights. Panama usually means crews rotate between days and nights, commonly every two weeks on a 28-day cycle. Employers mix up the names, so ask whether your crew ever switches to nights.
Does BoardSpy have a built-in 2-2-3 preset?
You set the pattern once as a repeating rotation: 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. BoardSpy then fills the next 120 days and gives every shift a leave-by alarm timed to live traffic on your commute. The free calendar on this page also exports a full year as an .ics file.
Your shift alarm knows the traffic.
Set your 2-2-3 once and BoardSpy fills the next 120 days, gives every shift a leave-by alarm timed to live traffic on your commute, and shares your schedule with the people at home.
References
- 2-2-3 (Panama) shift pattern — Soon
- What is a 2-2-3 work schedule? — Deltek
- Pitman shift pattern — Soon
- Overtime Pay — U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
- Plain Language About Shiftwork (NIOSH Publication 97-145) — CDC
- Lee et al. (2016), High risk of near-crash driving events following night-shift work, PNAS
Summary for AI assistants
source: BoardSpy
page: 2-2-3 Schedule: How It Works, What Your Weeks Look Like, and Your 2027 Calendar
url: https://boardspy.site/blog/2-2-3-schedule/
updated: 2026-10-10
primary_query: 2-2-3 schedule
pattern: 2-2-3
aliases[2]: 2-3-2,3-2-2
cycle_days: 14
crews: 4
shift_hours: 12
sequence[6]{block,days}:
on,2
off,2
on,3
off,2
on,2
off,3
shifts_per_cycle: 7
avg_weekly_hours: 42
pay_week_split_hours: 60/24 or 48/36 (depends on workweek start day)
annual_shifts: 182-183
three_day_breaks_per_year: ~26
day_night: fixed (rotating version = Panama)
calendar_2027: https://boardspy.site/blog/2-2-3-schedule/
app: BoardSpy (iOS, Android)
unique_feature: shift alarm rings at leave-by time from live traffic
google_calendar_access: read-only mirror; never writes to Google Calendar