Plan leave with your partner around shift work
Combine a rotation and a regular working week to find which leave dates each of you could take for a longer break together.
Your weekends may be someone else’s working days
A Friday finish does not help much when your partner is halfway through a swing. And time off on a rotation can disappear into ordinary working weeks for the person at home.
RotationLife is free, with no account needed. It puts the two schedules into one leave-planning calculation. It suggests which shifts the rotation worker could request and which working days the other partner could take. Separate leave allowances stay separate, so a promising break does not quietly depend on leave one of you does not have.
How it works in three steps
- Describe both schedules. Enter the rotation pattern and its first working day. For the regular-week partner, confirm the actual working weekdays rather than assuming every job is Monday–Friday.
- Add budgets and important dates. Give each person their own leave allowance. Add a date constraint if the break must include a particular event or period.
- Read the proposed requests together. Look at the full break, then check exactly what each person would need to request from work.
Example: 14/14 and a Monday–Friday partner
Search 1 Jan–31 Mar 2027. You work 14 days on, then 14 days off, starting work on 1 Jan 2027, with six leave shifts available. Your partner works Monday–Friday with 20 working days available. This example uses whole-day shifts and excludes public holidays, travel and other exceptions.
You: request 6 shifts — 9–14 Jan 2027
Partner: request 14 working days — 11–15 Jan, 18–22 Jan, 25–28 Jan 2027
You get 20 days together: 9–28 Jan 2027.
Needs employer approval.
Why this works: Your requested 9–14 Jan 2027 joins your existing time off on 15–28 Jan 2027; your partner requests weekdays while their weekends need no leave.
Without leave, your longest time together in this period is 2 days (16–17 Jan 2027); this plan gives you 20: 9–28 Jan 2027.
Your partner is already off on 9–10 Jan, 16–17 Jan and 23–24 Jan 2027. Their requested weekdays fill the gaps. Your six requested shifts cover the days before your own time off begins. Neither person needs to request dates they are already off. The recommendation uses 14 of your partner’s 20 available working days. A larger allowance does not mean every day needs to be used. Confirm the actual requests before making arrangements.
Find our best break →Made with rotationlife.com
Check before you make plans
Check school dates, travel and each employer’s leave rules. Public holidays only count as free when the person is actually off work.
Try the partner leave optimizer, or check a single roster with the homepage leave optimizer. Keep money questions separate with the pay and allowance calculator. When your journey is confirmed, use the homepage flight-home countdown to look ahead to the planned return.
Continue planning
Questions before you plan
Can one person work Monday–Friday while the other works a rotation?
Yes. Enter the rotation for one person and the confirmed working weekdays for the other, with separate leave budgets.
Do weekends cost leave?
Only if they are working dates under that person’s schedule and leave is needed. A Monday–Friday example treats Saturday and Sunday as non-working.
Are school holidays automatically included?
Do not assume they are. Check your school’s calendar and enter the dates relevant to your plans.
Can a teacher use this example?
Only after adapting it to their actual working calendar and leave rules. School closure dates do not establish unrestricted annual-leave availability.
Should we book travel straight from the result?
Wait until both employers have approved the leave and you have checked travel days. The result is a proposed plan, not approval.
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