What a twelve-hour shift actually pays
Twelve-hour shifts are standard in nursing, manufacturing, emergency services and logistics. The pay is rarely twelve times the base rate, because most of these schedules cross an overtime threshold and many carry a shift differential.
This calculator gives the straight figure. The sections below cover the two adjustments that change it.
The formula
Worked example: $25 an hour for 12 hours
- Straight time: $300
That is the floor. Under federal rules overtime is owed after 40 hours in a week, but several states — California among them — require it after 8 hours in a day. On a daily-overtime rule the same shift pays:
- 8 hours at $25 = $200
- 4 hours at $37.50 (time and a half) = $150
- Total: $350
The same twelve hours, the same rate, and a difference of $50 decided entirely by which state you work in.
The rotation matters more than the shift
Twelve-hour schedules usually run on a pattern that averages under 40 hours across two weeks:
| Pattern | Shifts / fortnight | Hours / fortnight | Weekly average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 on, 4 off alternating with 4 on | 7 | 84 | 42 |
| Straight 3 on, 4 off | 6 | 72 | 36 |
| Panama (2-2-3) | 7 | 84 | 42 |
At 84 hours a fortnight you have 4 hours of weekly overtime built into the schedule — roughly $150 a fortnight on this rate, before any differential.
Shift differential
Nights and weekends typically add 10 to 15%. A $25 base becomes $27.50 to $28.75 on nights, worth $30 to $45 extra on a single twelve-hour shift and several thousand a year on a rotating schedule.
Differential is usually applied before overtime is calculated, so it compounds: time and a half on $28.75 is $43.13, not $37.50.
What this calculator leaves out
Unpaid meal breaks, which in many jurisdictions reduce a 12-hour shift to 11.5 paid hours. Also holiday premiums, on-call pay and any deduction for uniform or parking.
Comparing a rotation against a salary
To weigh a shift job against a salaried one, annualise the rotation rather than the shift. Seven twelve-hour shifts a fortnight at $25 base, with the built-in four hours of weekly overtime, comes to roughly $56,550 a year before differential.
Add a 12% night differential across half the shifts and it approaches $60,000. A salaried role would need to beat that figure, and would also have to be worth giving up the four-day weeks the rotation produces.
The cost side of a long shift
Twelve-hour rotations concentrate the commute: three round trips a week instead of five saves roughly 40% of fuel and parking. On a 30-mile round trip that is worth several hundred dollars a year, and it is a real part of the comparison.
Against it sit childcare, which often costs more per day for a twelve-hour block than for a standard one, and the fact that a shift crossing midnight can push a rest day onto a calendar day you expected to have free.
Related calculators
- Overtime calculator — the premium hours on their own
- Hourly to salary calculator — the annual figure from a rotation
- Salary calculator — what reaches your account after tax