How to Develop an Employee Schedule Template

by Contributor - Updated September 26, 2017
Save yourself time in scheduling employees by creating a template.

Employees need know when they are scheduled for work, and creating an employee schedule template can make the task of posting and updating schedules easy. Simply having a template will save time and allow you to focus on more pressing managerial duties. You can develop an employee schedule template for your place of business with simple spreadsheet skills.

Open a new document in your spreadsheet software of choice.

Create a header on the schedule template. The header should contain a title for the employees, the department where the employees are working and days and dates of the work week. Use boldface or a slightly larger type size for easy readability.

Set up a table for the first day of the work week. Use the columns across the top of the table for hours of the work day, and designate the rows down the left side for a list of names of employees who will work on the given day. You may use any time increment for a given work day -- i.e., hour, half-hour or 15-minute intervals.

Add a column at the end to display the total hours each employee is scheduled work for the given day. This will help employees readily see how many hours they need to schedule. You can include a formula in the row so the hours will automatically sum in this column.

Create tables for the other days of the work week. You can accomplish this quickly by copying the first table and altering the work day description.

Add a legend at the bottom of your employee schedule template to designate staff functions if your employees cover different duties in different shifts. For instance, a restaurant manager may use a P for prep cook, L for line cook, W for wait staff, H for hostess or D for delivery driver.

Include the designations for each employee function in each hour of the work day that is required of the given employee.


  • Use the landscape page layout for easy printing. Make the schedule simple and easy to follow.

About the Author


Photo Credits

  • Creatas/Creatas/Getty Images