If you run a business that relies on shift work (especially in regional operations, construction, resources, logistics, or 24/7 service delivery), you’ve probably come across the 8/6 roster.
On paper, it sounds simple: eight days on, six days off. But when you’re planning headcount, pricing jobs, setting payroll budgets, and managing fatigue and leave, you’ll quickly need a clear answer to a very practical question:
How many days do employees work on an 8/6 roster each year?
Below, we’ll break down the calculation, explain how it changes in real life (public holidays, annual leave, shift lengths, and site shutdowns), and flag the key employment-law issues you should check before adopting (or changing) an 8/6 arrangement in your business.
Note: This article is general information for Australian businesses and isn’t legal advice. Your obligations and pay outcomes can vary depending on the employee’s classification, whether they’re a shiftworker, and what applies to your workplace (for example, a Modern Award, enterprise agreement, or other industrial instrument). If you’re unsure, get advice specific to your situation.
What Is An 8/6 Roster (And Why Businesses Use It)?
An 8/6 roster is a repeating roster cycle where an employee works for 8 consecutive days (or shifts) and then has 6 consecutive days off.
It’s commonly used because it:
- Creates predictable coverage (helpful for operations that need consistent staffing levels)
- Builds in extended rest blocks (useful for fatigue management and long-distance commuting)
- Can support attraction and retention for remote or demanding roles
- Makes forward planning easier (you can roster weeks/months in advance with a repeating pattern)
As an employer, though, “8 days on” doesn’t automatically mean “8 ordinary days at standard hours”. In many industries, those 8 days are long shifts (for example, 10-12 hour shifts), and the legal treatment of ordinary hours, overtime, penalty rates, allowances, and breaks depends heavily on the relevant award, enterprise agreement, or contract structure (and what those instruments allow).
This is why it’s worth thinking about 8/6 as both a workforce model and a compliance issue-especially if you have mixed work sites, different awards, or a combination of employees and contractors.
How Many Days Do Employees Work On An 8/6 Roster Each Year?
Here’s the core calculation for how many days are worked on an 8/6 roster each year (based on the roster repeating consistently across the year):
- One roster cycle is 14 days total (8 on + 6 off).
- Workdays per cycle = 8.
- There are 365 days in most years.
Workdays per year (approximate) = (365 ÷ 14) × 8
Let’s do the maths:
- 365 ÷ 14 = 26.0714 cycles per year (approximately)
- 26.0714 × 8 = 208.5712 workdays per year (approximately)
So, an employee on a true 8/6 roster is rostered to work about 208.6 days per year-typically rounded to 209 days.
For a leap year (366 days):
- 366 ÷ 14 = 26.1429
- 26.1429 × 8 = 209.14
In a leap year, it’s still effectively about 209 rostered workdays.
A Quick Reference Table (Standard Year)
| Roster Pattern |
Cycle Length |
Workdays Per Cycle |
Approx. Workdays Per Year (365 days) |
| 8/6 |
14 days |
8 |
208.6 (≈ 209) |
Important: this is the “rostered days” number. It’s not automatically the same as “ordinary days paid”, “hours paid”, or “days actually worked” once leave, shutdowns, public holidays, or workforce changes are factored in.
How To Calculate 8/6 Work Days For Payroll, Budgeting, And Staffing
To use the “209 days per year” figure properly, it helps to translate it into the numbers your business actually runs on: hours, cost, coverage, and leave liability.
1) Convert Days Into Hours (Based On Your Typical Shift Length)
Many 8/6 rosters use long shifts. For example, if your standard rostered shift is 12 hours:
- Approx. 209 workdays per year × 12 hours = 2,508 hours per year
If your standard rostered shift is 10 hours:
- 209 × 10 = 2,090 hours per year
From here, you can:
- Forecast annual labour cost per role
- Estimate staffing requirements per workfront/site
- Model overtime exposure (if any hours sit outside “ordinary hours” under the applicable rules)
Where things get tricky is that an employee can work the same number of rostered days but trigger very different pay outcomes depending on whether those hours are classed as ordinary time or overtime, whether penalties apply, and whether an averaging arrangement is permitted (and properly set up) under the relevant award/EA.
This is why it’s worth aligning your roster design with your award/EA/contract rules (and not only with operational convenience). If you’re unsure, it’s usually best to get advice early-especially before you roll a roster change out to multiple employees.
2) Allow For “Real World” Variations: Leave, Public Holidays, And Shutdowns
The 209 figure assumes the roster runs perfectly all year. In practice, most businesses need to account for:
- Annual leave (and how it interacts with rostered swings)
- Personal/carer’s leave (unplanned absences)
- Public holidays (and whether they fall on workdays or days off, and what the relevant rules say)
- Training days (which may be paid differently or require minimum engagement)
- Site shutdowns or weather events (particularly in construction/outdoor operations)
From a planning perspective, many businesses treat 209 as the “maximum rostered days” baseline, then apply a buffer for absence rates and leave.
From a compliance perspective, you’ll also want to be clear about how annual leave is recorded and paid on a roster. For example, annual leave accrues based on an employee’s ordinary hours of work (and part-time employees accrue on a pro-rata basis), but the payment outcome can depend on the applicable industrial instrument and how ordinary hours are defined and rostered (including any shift loadings, penalties, allowances, or “annual leave loading” rules that may apply). This is a common area where businesses can accidentally underpay if payroll, timesheets and rostering assumptions don’t match the legal framework.
If annual leave is a regular source of confusion in your workplace, it’s worth reviewing your approach to annual leave payments so payroll and rostering stay aligned.
3) Confirm Ordinary Hours vs Overtime (Because 8/6 Can Inflate Hours Fast)
An 8/6 roster can create a lot of hours over a year-especially if shifts are long. Whether those hours are treated as ordinary hours or overtime depends on:
- the applicable Modern Award or Enterprise Agreement
- any averaging arrangements permitted (and any steps/conditions required to use them)
- the employment contract and how it defines ordinary hours (to the extent the contract can do so consistently with the award/EA and the Fair Work Act)
- the pattern of hours (including start/finish times, weekends, and public holidays, and whether the employee is treated as a shiftworker)
If you’re running an 8/6 roster without checking overtime triggers, you may be building a wage risk into your business model. A quick internal audit now can be cheaper than fixing an underpayment issue later.
For a practical overview, it can help to map your roster against overtime laws explained and then check your award/EA rules.
What Employment Law Issues Should You Check Before Using An 8/6 Roster?
As an employer, you generally have flexibility to roster employees-but that flexibility isn’t unlimited. Your obligations can come from the Fair Work Act, Modern Awards, Enterprise Agreements, and your contracts/policies.
Here are the big-ticket issues to check before you implement (or change) an 8/6 roster.
Rostering Rules Under Awards Or Enterprise Agreements
Some instruments have specific rules about:
- maximum ordinary hours per day or per roster cycle
- how hours can be averaged
- consultation obligations before changing rosters
- minimum engagement periods
- penalty rates for weekends, nights, or public holidays (and when those rates apply)
Even if your roster is operationally sensible, it may not be compliant unless it fits within the relevant industrial framework.
If you’re designing rosters across different roles or sites, it’s also useful to sanity-check your approach against the broader employee rostering compliance principles.
Notice Requirements For Roster Or Shift Changes
Many businesses run into problems when they treat rosters as “flexible” in practice but don’t follow the minimum notice or consultation requirements in the relevant instrument.
Before you change an employee’s swing (or cancel planned shifts), check:
- what the award/EA says about notice
- what the employment contract says (and whether it’s consistent with the award/EA)
- whether you need to consult employees or representatives first
If your business makes frequent operational changes, having a compliant process around minimum notice for shift changes can significantly reduce disputes (and reduce the risk of inadvertent non-compliance).
Breaks, Fatigue, And WHS Risk
With long shifts, you’ll also want to look beyond Fair Work compliance and consider safety. Fatigue can become both a productivity issue and a legal risk.
Depending on the award/EA and the nature of the work, you may have rules around:
- meal breaks and rest breaks
- minimum break between shifts
- maximum shift lengths (or conditions attached to longer shifts)
To avoid payroll mistakes and compliance issues, it’s worth confirming your break entitlements and recording practices are consistent with Fair Work breaks requirements (and any more specific award/EA rules).
Leave Accrual And Leave Taking On An 8/6 Pattern
A common practical question we see from employers is: “If my employee works 8/6, do they get less annual leave?”
Generally speaking, full-time employees still accrue annual leave based on ordinary hours of work (and part-time employees accrue on a pro-rata basis). However, how leave is taken and paid on a roster can vary depending on the applicable award/EA (and any agreed, compliant rostering/averaging arrangements). This can create confusion, especially where:
- leave is booked in “days” but employees work long shifts
- leave spans across rostered days on/off
- there are allowances, penalties, or loadings that may apply (or be excluded) depending on the rules
If you’re not confident that leave is being applied and paid correctly on your swing rosters, it’s worth getting clarity early, because leave underpayments can accumulate over time.
How Should You Document An 8/6 Roster In Your Employment Contracts And Policies?
If you’re running an 8/6 roster, your paperwork matters. Clear contracts and policies reduce the chance of disputes, and they also help protect you if there’s a disagreement later about what was agreed.
At a practical level, you want employees to understand:
- what the roster pattern is (8 on / 6 off, and whether it can change)
- where the work is performed (especially for FIFO/DIDO or remote sites)
- expected hours per shift and start/finish times (where possible)
- how overtime is approved and paid
- how leave is taken and what happens on public holidays (including any shiftworker/public holiday rules that apply)
- what happens if the business needs to change the roster
Use The Right Employment Contract (And Don’t “Wing It” With Rosters)
Your roster shouldn’t live only in a spreadsheet. If the roster is a core condition of employment, it should be accurately reflected in the employee’s contract (while still allowing the flexibility you lawfully need).
For many small businesses, the right starting point is a tailored Employment Contract that matches the employee’s status (full-time or part-time), the applicable award/EA, and the operational reality of your roster.
If you engage casuals on swing-style arrangements, be especially careful-casuals can have different rostering rules and are generally paid a casual loading instead of paid annual leave and paid personal/carer’s leave (subject to specific rules, including casual conversion pathways and any applicable award/EA terms).
Have A Clear Process For Ending Employment Or Paying Out Notice
Rosters also affect how you manage exits. If an employee resigns or you terminate employment, you may need to decide whether they work out their notice on roster, or whether you pay out notice instead.
It’s worth understanding the payroll implications of payment in lieu of notice, especially where the roster includes long shifts or allowances that may (or may not) be included in notice payments depending on the circumstances and the applicable instrument.
Having these rules clear upfront reduces confusion and helps you run a smoother offboarding process.
Key Takeaways
- The simplest answer to how many days employees work on an 8/6 roster each year is about 208.6 days, which typically rounds to 209 rostered workdays per year.
- For budgeting and staffing, convert rostered days into annual hours based on your shift length (for example, 209 × 12-hour shifts = 2,508 hours per year).
- In practice, leave, public holidays, shutdowns, and unplanned absences mean “days actually worked” can be lower than the roster baseline.
- Before implementing an 8/6 roster, check award/EA rostering rules, overtime triggers, notice requirements for roster changes, and break entitlements (and any WHS/fatigue considerations for long shifts).
- Document the roster properly in your employment contracts and policies to reduce disputes and manage expectations.
- If you’re unsure whether your 8/6 roster is compliant (or costed correctly), getting advice early can help prevent underpayment and rostering disputes later.
If you’d like help setting up or reviewing an 8/6 roster arrangement for your business, you can reach Sprintlaw at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat.
