Days-Off Pattern

A days-off pattern is the specification of which days in a weekly (or n-week cyclic) horizon an employee works versus rests, typically constrained by minimum consecutive-day-off requirements, weekend-fairness rules (e.g. CSWD — Consecutive Saturday-Sunday Days-Off — guaranteeing weekend rest every k weeks), maximum consecutive work days, and ergonomic limits relating to consecutive nights and recovery time. Tour-scheduling models enumerate or implicitly generate feasible days-off patterns as building blocks of complete weekly tours. The days-off scheduling sub-problem appears in early workforce-planning literature (Tien and Kamiyama 1982 — manpower-scheduling algorithm review); the modern compact / implicit formulation that combines days-off with shift assignment in a polynomial-size MIP was given by Bechtold and Brusco (1991). In practice, days-off patterns interact with labor-law constraints (statutory weekly rest, weekend obligations), contract terms (e.g. CSWD requirement) and worker preferences.