What exactly is a 24-hour shift?

A 24-hour shift means either that several employees work in rotation to cover a business for 24 hours, or that a single employee is on duty for a full 24 hours. The latter is not continuous full work, however, but always a combination of active working hours and standby duty.

Is it legal to work 24 hours at a stretch?

Yes, but only under strict conditions. Under Section 7 (1) of the German Working Hours Act, working hours may only be extended beyond the limit of 10 hours if standby duty arises regularly and to a significant extent. Even in a 24-hour shift, pure full work may amount to a maximum of 10 hours.

Which breaks and rest periods are required?

Anyone working longer than 9 hours is legally entitled to at least 45 minutes of break, which can also be split into 15-minute blocks. After a 24-hour shift ends, an uninterrupted rest period of at least 11 hours must be observed (in exceptional cases, such as in healthcare, 10 hours with corresponding compensation).

In which industries are 24-hour shifts common?

This shift model is used wherever uninterrupted care or monitoring is vital. That includes healthcare in particular (e.g. hospitals, emergency medical services), security services such as the police and fire brigade, but also industrial companies with continuous production.

How do I plan 24-hour shifts in a legally compliant and straightforward way?

To avoid breaching the German Working Hours Act, maximum working hours, breaks and the mandatory 11-hour rest period have to be observed exactly. With digital shift planning such as clockin you keep an automatic eye on these requirements, avoid paper chaos, and your employees always have their shift schedule transparently to hand in the app on their smartphone.

24-hour shifts: German law, rest periods and planning

What is a 24-hour shift?

In practice, the term 24-hour shift is often used for two different scenarios:

24-hour coverage: A company makes sure that work continues without interruption over a period of 24 hours. Here, though, it is not a single employee working right through; instead several employees divide the day between them across different shifts (e.g. early, late and night shift).
The actual 24-hour duty: A single employee really is scheduled for a full 24 hours. Because of the heavy physical strain, however, this is only permitted under strict legal conditions and consists of a combination of active full work and standby duty.

When is a 24-hour shift legally permitted?

To protect employees, strict requirements of the German Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz, ArbZG) apply in Germany. In principle, daily working hours should not exceed 8 hours (in exceptional cases 10 hours).

A continuous 24-hour shift for a single person is legally permitted under Section 7 (1) ArbZG only where work readiness (Arbeitsbereitschaft) or standby duty arises regularly and to a significant extent. In concrete terms, this means for your planning:

Maximum working hours: Even within a 24-hour shift, a maximum of 10 hours of pure full work may be performed.
Break times: Where working hours exceed 9 hours, at least 45 minutes of break are required by law. These can also be split flexibly into blocks of at least 15 minutes.
The 11-hour rule (rest period): After a 24-hour shift ends, a rest period of at least 11 hours must be observed before the next duty starts. In specific industries such as healthcare, the rest period can be shortened to 10 hours by collective agreement, provided it is compensated for promptly.

Typical areas of use: the 24-hour shift in practice

You will find 24-hour shifts above all where constant availability is vital: in healthcare (hospitals, emergency departments), in security services (police, fire brigade) and in the emergency medical service.

Recent examples show that this model can work well in practice:

Frankfurt professional fire brigade: Following a staff survey, it switched from a 10/14-hour alternating model to the 24-hour shift model. The result: more predictable time off for the emergency crews and greater appeal for commuters.
Lippe district emergency medical service: Here too, the 24-hour model was introduced in 2026 to improve the work-life balance. At ambulance stations with an extremely high call volume, however, they deliberately do without it and stay with 12-hour shifts, in order to keep the mental and physical strain on employees low.

Advantages and disadvantages of the 24-hour shift

Before you consider a model like this, you should weigh up the advantages and disadvantages carefully.

Advantages for employers and employees:

Longer blocks of time off: Anyone who works 24 hours at a stretch (e.g. from 7 a.m. to 7 a.m. the next day) often has longer recovery periods afterwards. Typically a shift is followed by at least 48 hours off, which makes short trips or time with the family easier.
Less effort for commuters: The long shifts hugely reduce travel time and travel costs to the workplace.
Fewer handovers: There are considerably fewer shift changes, which minimises the organisational effort and reduces handover errors.

Disadvantages and risks:

Heavy strain on health: Switching between day and night work disrupts the body clock and can lead to sleep problems and stress.
Safety risks: Tiredness leads to lapses in concentration. Between 02:00 and 05:00 in the morning in particular, the risk of errors rises. In jobs with an extremely high workload, a 24-hour shift therefore often makes less sense, because at some point the teams are barely fit for duty.

Planning 24-hour shifts in a legally compliant way – how to protect your team with clockin

Organising a 24-hour shift leaves no room for mistakes. Breaches of the German Working Hours Act or rest periods that are not observed can lead to serious legal consequences and endanger your team's health. Anyone relying on confusing Excel spreadsheets or paperwork chaos here quickly loses track.

With digital time tracking and shift planning from clockin, you put an end to planning chaos:

Plan in line with the law: clockin helps you keep an eye on legal requirements such as maximum working hours and the mandatory 11-hour rest period between two shifts.
Complete documentation: Breaks, working hours and standby duty can be recorded digitally and documented in a legally compliant way. That matters enormously, and not only during inspections by the authorities.
Maximum transparency for employees: Your employees can view their shift schedules flexibly at any time via the clockin app on their smartphone. That reduces the stress of planning their private lives and makes for happier teams.

Shift planning made easy with clockin. Start your free trial now.

Conclusion

The 24-hour shift is a demanding working time model that is indispensable above all in emergency services, in care work and in the fire brigade. Applied correctly – with a high proportion of standby duty – it can give employees longer blocks of time off and less commuting stress. The key to success, however, is planning that is legally compliant and considerate. Digital tools such as shift planning from clockin take the hardest work off your hands here and make for a healthy, fair and productive working environment.