Employee Schedule Template for Excel (Free Download)

Whether running a construction site, manufacturing facility or, frankly, any enterprise, there are employees. These workers have to have work to do. Idle time is lost time and money. An employee schedule organizes their time on the job and ensures that there are people in place when they’re needed. Download this free employee schedule template for Excel to capture start and end times, days off and more.

What Is an Employee Schedule?

An employee schedule is a detailed plan that outlines when individual employees are expected to work, including their start and end times, days off and any assigned tasks or shifts. It might include the roles and responsibilities of the employees. Breaks and meal times are also scheduled and overtime is captured if applicable.

There are different types of employee schedules. For example, a fixed schedule is for employees who work the same hours and days each week. A rotating schedule, as the name implies, is for employees who rotate through different shifts or workdays, who can help distribute workloads fairly.

The other two types of employee schedules include the flexible schedule—where employees have some control over their hours, allowing for variations based on personal needs or preferences—and the on-call schedule, in which employees are scheduled to be available for work as needed, often in response to fluctuating demand.

ProjectManager's free employee schedule template for Excel

Why Use This Employee Schedule Template?

Whatever schedule type is used, an employee schedule template is essential for effective workforce management. It helps manage staffing levels to ensure adequate coverage for operations while balancing workloads among employees. It also serves operational efficiency by making sure all shifts and tasks are adequately staffed. This is crucial for maintaining productivity and service quality.

Using an employee schedule template also sets clear expectations for when employees are required to work. This makes employees accountable and helps managers track attendance and performance. Furthermore, it acts as a communication tool between management and employees so that everyone is aware of their work commitments. Lastly, the employee schedule helps meet compliance with labor laws regarding working hours, breaks and overtime.

The only downside is that templates are static documents. Someone is taking time away from their work to manually fill them in. Then they’re routed, and there’s no security to avoid tampering with the hours. Overall, templates are a nightmare for human resources. Project management software is the dream solution.

ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software with online scheduling tools for balancing workload and secure timesheets that easily track time spent on tasks for helpful time-tracking reports. Employees can log hours online or with our mobile app for Android and iOS, streamlining payroll and saving money with accurate project time management software. Timesheets also track labor costs to keep projects on budget and notifications alert managers when timesheets are ready for review, which can only be authorized by approved personnel. Templates can’t do that so get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Timesheet tool for managing employee schedules and hours — ProjectManager’s timesheets are an all-in-one tracking solution. Learn more

Who Uses This Employee Schedule Template for Excel?

Anyone who is responsible for the management of a workforce, organizing their hours and distributing pay will benefit from the use of an employee schedule. That list is long, but here are some examples of the various stakeholders within an organization who could benefit from using an employee schedule template.

Managers and supervisors
Human resources personnel
Employees
Team leaders
Payroll department
Administrative staff
Health and safety officers

When Should You Use This Employee Schedule Template?

Just as there are many professionals who use an employee schedule template, there are just as many reasons to do so. Some of those situations are listed below, all of which positively impact workforce management and operational efficiency.

Regular work shifts
Staffing for events or projects
Managing attendance
Overtime management
Flexible work arrangements
Shift rotations
Leave management
Training and development
Project-based work
Compliance and reporting

What’s Included in This Employee Schedule Template?

Download the employee schedule template for Excel and find a fully customizable document that can be branded with one’s company logo and used for weekly scheduling. Unlike a timesheet, which is dedicated to just one employee, the schedule captures the work for everyone on one sheet.

Of course, timesheets can be used in employee scheduling with project management software, where each individual one feeds into the larger project schedule and plan.

This employee schedule template is simple. It has a column for the name of each employee. There are also columns for each day of the week to capture the shift start time and end time. Then each employee row is filled out, including their day’s off. This creates an employee schedule for everyone on the job that can be viewed in one place.

Related Employee Management Templates

An employee schedule template is only one of over 100 free project management templates for Excel and Word that can be downloaded from our site. They cover every aspect of managing a project, across multiple industries. Here are a few that can be used when managing employees.

Performance Improvement Plan Template

When an employee is not meeting job expectations there are a number of things that management can do. When nothing works, try using this free performance improvement plan template for Word. It outlines the performance issues, the actions to resolve them and tracks the employee’s progress in getting back to expected standards.

Timesheet Template

For those not ready to upgrade to project management software, there is this free timesheet template for Excel. While not as secure as software, it does a great job of time management, keeping track of the hours worked by employees.

Workload Analysis Template

Scheduling employees is the start, but workload has to be taken into account. If some employees are overallocated or underutilized there will be problems of burnout or costly delays. Use this free workload analysis template for Excel to evenly distribute tasks across project teams.

ProjectManager Is Employee Scheduling Software

We’ve already said that templates are a band-aid solution, though an understandable one for those not familiar with project management software. But eventually the frustration of having to manually update these static documents that are poor collaborative tools will make even the most strident template user seek a more efficient and effective solution. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that can plan, manage and track employee schedules with interactive Gantt charts and other project views, such as the visual workflow of kanban boards, task lists and the monthly overview of calendars.

Balance Team Workload and Keep Everyone Productive

Monitoring employees on progress and performance can spot issues. Resource management tools can help to resolve them. First, when onboarding employees, their availability and skill set can be set. That means when assigning tasks to employees managers know their working hours, PTO, vacation time and global holidays. This makes creating an employee schedule easier. Then managers can toggle over to the team page or color-coded workload chart to view employee allocation and balance their workload to keep everyone working at capacity.

Employee Schedule Template