Free Work Schedule Templates

Plan efficiently with our Excel, Word and PDF scheduling templates.

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Easy employee schedule making.

Scheduling. Time Tracking. Communication.

Build your own schedules with these 3 free employee schedule makers

Creating a shift schedule for employees from scratch can be complex for those with less experience. That’s why we’re offering you a selection of free templates (Excel, Word and printable PDFs) to help you manage your schedules. The advantage of our work schedule makers: there’s something for everyone.

Looking for an even simpler solution? Agendrix offers online scheduling software: Easily create your schedules and share them with your employees in just one click.

An employee schedule template is perfectly fine to use, but scheduling with Agendrix is so much better!

Table of contents

    Weekly Work Schedule Template

    With this free employee weekly planner, building your schedules each week is a breeze. Once you’ve completed your schedule, you’ll have an overview of your employees’ shifts and positions for a full week. Download this free template now in any format you like.

    Available for download:
    • Excel Weekly Work Schedule Template
    • Word Weekly Work Schedule Template
    • Printable Weekly Work Schedule PDF Template
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    Excel
    Word
    PDF

    Daily Schedule Template

    Use this 24-hour schedule template to create daily schedules and gain more granular visibility while managing your employees’ schedules. What’s special about this free template is that it provides a detailed overview of your employees’ shifts and tasks over a full day. Download it now in one of three formats.

    Available for download:
    • Excel Daily Schedule Template
    • Word Daily Schedule Template
    • Printable Daily Schedule PDF Template
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    Excel
    Word
    PDF

    Simplify workforce management.

    Scheduling. Attendance. HR Document Management.

    Monthly Work Schedule Template

    Want to simply build your employee schedules for the entire month? You can now do so with this monthly schedule maker. As well as allowing you to create a schedule, this template gives you an overview of your employees’ shifts and positions, over 4 weeks. Keep total control over your schedules and labor costs now with this free downloadable template, available in three formats.

    Available for download:
    • Excel Monthly Schedule Template
    • Word Monthly Schedule Template
    • Printable Monthly Work Schedule PDF Template
    Read more
    Excel
    Word
    PDF

    Choosing the Right Work Schedule Template

    There are many different types of employee shift schedules. If you’re a manager, you may be wondering which one best suits your needs. That’s why you need to ask yourself the following questions:

    1. What’s My Industry?

    For example, a restaurant manager, who needs to be more reactive in managing schedules (often due to traffic), will probably not have the same needs as a factory manager, who has a better overview of day-to-day operations.

    2. What Do I Need in Terms of Workforce Management?

    As a manager, do you tend to have only full-time employees on your team, or do you manage more part-time employees such as students? Similarly, do you need to manage different types of availability, or are they always the same?

    3. Which Template Format Is Right for Me?

    Depending on your needs and knowledge, some formats are more accessible than others. It’s up to you to decide which one appeals to you most. For example, if you prefer to create your schedules by hand, the printable PDF format will be more interesting than an Excel format.

    Master Your Schedule Management With 5 Practices

    To make employee scheduling easier, it’s important to adopt good practices. Here are a few that will help you develop the right reflexes when creating your work schedules, and that can be repeated:

    1. Build schedule skeletons that can be applied in different contexts;
    2. Encourage your employees to take part in the creation process (preferences, availability, shift swaps, etc.);
    3. Remain fair and equitable when creating schedules;
    4. Respect employee requests as much as possible;
    5. Keep a constant eye on labor costs.

    Improve Workforce Management in 3 Steps

    Looking for tips to optimize your workforce management? Put these practices to work and you’ll see the difference:

    1. Be flexible and listen to your employees;
    2. Encourage feedback and transparency in your workplace;
    3. Use workforce scheduling software such as Agendrix to automate scheduling and HR tasks.

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    How to Create a Schedule in Excel?

    To build an employee work schedule in Excel, follow these 15 steps:

    1. Enter the start date of the week in the top left-hand corner: this will serve as the basis for creating your schedule.
    2. Copy the date below into the desired cell and add the day of the week below it.
    3. Merge three table cells from the date to better distribute the weekly work schedule; do the same thing for the day of the week.
    4. Select the merged table cell containing the date, click in the bottom right-hand corner and drag to the desired cell: all the week’s dates will appear.
    5. Repeat the same operation with the table cell containing the day of the week.
    6. To the left of this section, enter the name of the first employee.
    7. Under each work day, enter the employee’s hours (start and end times).
    8. Below these time entries, enter the employee’s shift position.
    9. Further down, in a blank table cell, enter a formula to calculate the total hours for the employee’s day: =End time cell-Start time cell (if necessary).
    10. To retain the layout of the workday and the formulas, select all and copy-paste to the desired cell.
    11. To calculate an employee’s total weekly working hours, select a blank cell and enter the following formula: =sum(set of cells containing total daily working hours).
    12. To get the actual number of hours worked over the whole week, select the same cell, right-click and choose “Format Cells”. Go to the “Custom” tab and enter this in the search bar below “Type:”: [hh]:mm.
    13. According to your preferences, fine-tune the visual appearance of the schedule.
    14. Select all that has been done for one employee and copy below to add other employees.
    15. Save the schedule and share.

    Want to create a shift schedule more easily? Find out more about the benefits of using an employee scheduling software and try it out for free.

    What Should Be Included in a Shift Schedule?

    A number of elements can be included in a shift schedule. Here are a few examples:

    • Date
    • Days of the week
    • Employees’ first and last names
    • Employee positions
    • Employee work shifts
    • Paid breaks
    • Unpaid breaks
    • Time off
    • Employee availability
    • Total number of hours for each employee
    • Total number of scheduled work hours
    • Labor costs

    What Are The Different Types of Working Schedules?

    There are several types of working schedules. The most common are:

  1. Full-time work schedule
  2. Part-time work schedule
  3. Shift work schedule
  4. Split shift schedule
  5. Compressed work schedule
  6. Flexible schedule
  7. Job sharing schedule
  8. On-call schedule
  9. Seasonal work schedule
  10. Find out more in this comprehensive guide to types of work schedules.

    Is a Work Schedule Template available in Excel or Google Sheets Format?

    Yes, of course! Download it by selecting from daily, weekly or monthly schedule templates and select the Excel option. Excel templates can be uploaded to Google Drive and edited through Google Sheets.

    Employee scheduling software such as Agendrix automates and accelerates many HR tasks related to scheduling and workforce management.

    Some software packages also add professional messaging, workplace recognition and employee records management functionalities. In short, everything you need to improve and centralize all your operations.

    Try it for free! Agendrix even offers a 21-day free trial, and it does not require a credit card to start.

    What Are The Advantages of Using an Employee Scheduling Software?

    There are many advantages to using a scheduling application. Here are just a few of them:

    • Faster creation of work schedules
    • Fewer scheduling errors
    • Better communication between managers and employees
    • Less tardiness and absenteeism
    • Optimization of labor costs

    Can Excel Be Used to Create Employee Work Schedules?

    Yes.

    However, Excel is not designed for creating shift schedules, compared to an workforce management software such as Agendrix, which is much more intuitive and accessible. What’s more, Agendrix offers a number of additional features for managing a company’s human resources – something Excel doesn’t provide.

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