HitchDaysShort answer
A hitch schedule, or rotation, is a repeating block of days at work followed by a block of days at home, written as time on, then time off. 14/14 means 14 days at work, then 14 days at home, repeating every 28 days. 20/10 is 20 on and 10 off. 28/14 is four weeks on and two off. 21/7 is three weeks on and one off. 2 and 1, also written 2/1 or 14/7, means two weeks on and one week off. 4 on 4 off is four days on and four days off, repeating every eight days.
What is a hitch?
A hitch is one stretch of consecutive work days away from home, the word used in the US oilfield, on drilling rigs, on pipelines, and offshore. Your hitch schedule is the pattern those stretches repeat in: "I work a 14 and 14" means every hitch is 14 days, followed by 14 days home. Australian FIFO workers say swing and roster for the same things; nurses and firefighters usually say rotation. Whatever the word, the schedule is fixed by two numbers and one date: days on, days off, and the first day of any one hitch.
How to read rotation numbers
The first number is always the time at work and the second is the time off. What changes is the unit:
- Days are the default in the US oilfield and offshore: 14/14, 28/28, 20/10, 7/7.
- Weeks are common in Australian FIFO rosters: 2/1 is two weeks on and one off (14/7), 2/2 is 14/14, 3/1 is 21/7.
- "On, off" wording usually means days: 4 on 4 off in a fire hall or a plant is four days.
Small numbers can go either way, so if you are not sure whether 2/1 means days or weeks, check the length of your first swing in your offer letter. "Even time" means the two numbers are equal, like 14/14 or 28/28.
Common rotations at a glance
The full cycle is days on plus days off. Days worked per year is the average over many years; the range is what one calendar year, January 1 to December 31, can hold depending on where in the cycle the year starts.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Rotation | Days on, off | Full cycle | Crew change on the same weekday? | Days on per year | In one calendar year | Trips home per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14/14 | 14, 14 | 28 days | Yes | 182.6 | 182 to 183 | 13.0 |
| 28/28 | 28, 28 | 56 days | Yes | 182.6 | 169 to 196 | 6.5 |
| 2 and 1 (14/7) | 14, 7 | 21 days | Yes | 243.5 | 239 to 246 | 17.4 |
| 20/10 | 20, 10 | 30 days | No, two weekdays later each cycle | 243.5 | 240 to 245 | 12.2 |
| 28/14 | 28, 14 | 42 days | Yes | 243.5 | 239 to 252 | 8.7 |
| 21/7 (3/1) | 21, 7 | 28 days | Yes | 273.9 | 273 to 274 | 13.0 |
| 14/21 | 14, 21 | 35 days | Yes | 146.1 | 140 to 154 | 10.4 |
| 7/7 | 7, 7 | 14 days | Yes | 182.6 | 182 to 183 | 26.1 |
| 21/21 | 21, 21 | 42 days | Yes | 182.6 | 176 to 189 | 8.7 |
| 8/6 | 8, 6 | 14 days | Yes | 208.7 | 208 to 209 | 26.1 |
| 4 on 4 off | 4, 4 | 8 days | No, one weekday later each cycle | 182.6 | 181 to 184 | 45.7 |
Trips home per year is 365.25 divided by the full cycle: how many times a year you pack, travel, and leave home again. 14/7, 20/10, and 28/14 all work the same 243.5 days on average, two thirds of the year, but one sends you home about 17 times and another about 9. The 20/10, 28/14, and 21/7 guides each lay one out on a real calendar.
The averages are 365.25 days times the share of the cycle spent on, so every even-time rotation averages the same 182.6 days. Long rotations swing more from year to year: a 28/28 year can hold anywhere from 169 to 196 days on, depending on whether the year starts at the beginning or the end of a hitch.
Words you'll hear on a rotation
- Hitch: one stretch of work days away, mostly in the US oilfield. "I'm on day 9 of my hitch."
- Swing: the Australian FIFO word for the block on site. The block at home is often called R&R.
- Rotation, roster: the repeating pattern of on and off. Roster is the usual word in Australia.
- Crew change: the day one crew leaves and the relief crew arrives. For many people it is a travel day.
- Back-to-back: the person who does your job while you are home.
- Held over, holdover: staying past your planned crew change, for weather, a late relief, or a job that ran long.
- Tour: on a drilling rig, a 12-hour shift, said "tower". Not the same thing as a hitch.
Why some rotations keep your crew change on the same weekday
A week is seven days, so a rotation whose full cycle is a multiple of seven brings you back to the same weekday every time. 14/14 is 28 days, exactly four weeks: start a hitch on a Tuesday and every hitch starts on a Tuesday. 2 and 1 is 21 days, three weeks. 28/28 is 56 days, eight weeks.
A cycle that is not a multiple of seven drifts. 4 on 4 off repeats every 8 days, one more than a week, so each block starts one weekday later than the last: Thursday, then Friday, then Saturday. A 20/10 repeats every 30 days, two more than four weeks, so it moves two weekdays later each time. That drift is why people on 4 on 4 off rarely know without counting whether they work next Saturday.
How the dates move around the month
Months are 28 to 31 days long, so even a rotation that keeps the same weekday lands on a different date each month. On a 14/14 that starts Tuesday, September 29, 2026, hitches start on October 27, November 24, and December 22, and the one after that on January 19, 2027. That is why "the 13th to the 27th" stops being right after one month, and why counting from the date on the fridge goes wrong.
Common mistakes when reading a rotation
- Reading weeks as days. A FIFO 2/1 is 14 days on, not 2.
- Assuming home days are all at home. Some employers count travel days as work days and some take them out of your days off. Your contract says which; it changes how many nights you are actually home.
- Using months instead of days. "Every second week of the month" does not describe a 14/14. Count in days from a known first hitch day.
- Treating the average as the year. A 28/28 averages 182.6 days on, but your calendar year might hold 196.
Questions about hitch schedules
What is a hitch schedule?
A hitch schedule is the repeating pattern of work days away and days at home, written days on, then days off. A 14/14 hitch schedule is 14 days at work, then 14 at home. The word hitch comes from the US oilfield and offshore work, where one hitch is one stretch of work days away.
What is a 20/10 rotation schedule?
20 days at work, then 10 days off, repeating every 30 days. It works out to about 243 work days a year, and the crew change moves two weekdays later every cycle. The 20/10 guide has a worked calendar.
What does 28/14 mean?
28 days at work, then 14 days off, in a 42-day cycle that keeps the crew change on the same weekday. The 28/14 guide lays it out from November 2026.
Which rotation gives the most time at home?
Of the common ones, 14/21 gives the most, with 21 days home for every 14 at work, about 219 days home a year. The even-time rotations, 7/7, 14/14, 21/21, and 28/28, give half the year at home, about 183 days.
How many days a year do you work on a 14/14?
182.6 on average, half the year, and 182 or 183 in any single calendar year. The 14/14 calendar guide shows the dates.
Keeping track of your rotation
Once you know your days on, days off, and one first hitch day, every date follows. You can write the year out by hand, as in the 14/14 calendar guide, check it in the rotation calculator, or let an app do it. HitchDays, the iPhone app this site is for, takes those three things and keeps the days until home on your first screen, with the month colored by hitch and home days.