Free Employee Schedule Template

It's Sunday night. You're moving names around on a piece of paper, texting three people to ask who can cover Saturday, and hoping nobody ends up with 46 hours by accident.

A good employee schedule template turns that into a 15-minute job. This one is built for small businesses with a handful of staff: cafés, salons, shops, restaurants, cleaning crews. The Excel and Google Sheets versions add up each person's hours, warn you about overtime and show what the week will cost in wages.

Download the free employee schedule template

No email required. In the Excel file, everything in blue is yours to fill in. Everything in black calculates on its own.

What's in this employee work schedule template

• One week, Monday to Sunday. Type the Monday date once and every day header updates.
• Up to 12 employees, each with a role and a start and end time for every shift.
• Hours per employee, calculated from the shift times. Overnight shifts (10:00 PM to 6:00 AM) work too.
• An overtime warning. Anyone over 40 hours turns orange and shows how many extra hours. You can change the limit.
• Labor cost for the week. Add each person's hourly rate and the sheet shows the wage bill before you post the schedule.
• Daily hours, so you can see at a glance which days are over- or under-staffed.
• House rules for shift swaps and time off, printed right on the schedule.
• A printable Word version to fill in by hand and pin up in the back room.

Sample employee schedule

Here's the template filled in for a small café (it's the example already in the file):

With hourly rates of $17, $19 and $16, the week costs $2,072 in wages. And the template flags a problem before it happens: James is scheduled for 48 hours, which means 8 hours of overtime. Move one of his shifts to Aisha, who has room, and the problem is gone.

That's the whole point of a schedule that does the math: you catch the expensive mistakes on Sunday, not on payday.

How to make an employee schedule (step by step)

1. Collect availability first. Ask everyone for the days and hours they can't work, once, in writing. Keep it in one place, not scattered across texts.
2. Start with your busy hours, not your people. Write down how many people you need for each part of each day. Lunch rush might need three; a quiet Tuesday afternoon needs one.
3. Fill the hardest shifts first. Weekends, opening and closing. Then fill the easy ones.
4. Check the hours column. Look for anyone over 40 (overtime) and anyone well under what they were promised. Both cause problems.
5. Check the labor cost. If the week costs more than your sales can carry, trim the quietest shifts first.
6. Post it at least a week ahead, in the same place every time: a group chat, a printed copy in the back room or a shared Google Sheet. People plan their lives around it.
7. Handle changes in writing. Swaps go through you, and you update the schedule. A schedule that's out of date is worse than none.

Employee schedule format: which one to use

• Weekly schedule (this template): best for most small businesses with shifts that change week to week.
• Fixed schedule: the same shifts every week. Easy, but you still need a template for covering time off.
• Rotating schedule: people rotate through day, evening and weekend shifts so nobody always gets the worst ones. Use one copy of the template per week of the rotation.
• Spreadsheet or app? A spreadsheet is free and fine for up to about 15 people. If you're juggling more staff, several locations, or need clock-in and shift-swap features, a scheduling app starts to pay for itself.

Build the schedule faster with AI

You don't have to solve the puzzle in your head. Paste your staff's availability into an AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot) with this prompt:

Help me build next week's staff schedule for my [type of business]. We're open [hours]. I need [2] people from [11am to 2pm] and [1] person the rest of the day. Here's each person's availability and the hours they want: [paste]. Nobody should go over 40 hours. Give me a table with each person's shifts and total hours, and tell me any gaps you couldn't fill.

Check the result, then copy the shifts into the template so the hours and costs calculate. AI drafts, you decide.

Frequently asked questions

How far in advance should I post the schedule?

At least one week is a good rule; two weeks is better. Some cities and states have "predictive scheduling" laws that require advance notice for certain businesses, such as large retail and restaurant chains, so check your local rules. This is general information, not legal advice.

When does overtime start?

Under US federal law, most hourly employees earn overtime after 40 hours in a workweek. Some states, like California, also count daily overtime, and Canadian provinces have their own rules. The template uses 40 hours per week by default; change the number at the top if your rule is different.

Does the template subtract breaks?

No. It counts the time from the start to the end of each shift. If you have unpaid breaks, either shorten the shift times or subtract the break from the hours yourself.

Can I use this employee schedule template in Google Sheets?

Yes. Use the Google Sheets link above to make your own copy, or upload the Excel file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. The formulas work in both.

How do I make a schedule for the next week?

Duplicate the tab (or make a copy of the file), change the Monday date at the top and update the shifts. Keep the old weeks; they're useful when you check payroll.