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26 Free Employee Work Schedule Templates (Word | Excel)

The perfect employee work schedule is something that all managers strive for; however, only a few of them have managed to achieve it. A work schedule includes the days of the day and time of the week; an employee is scheduled to work at a job.

Employee work schedules vary depending on various factors, such as the position, type of work, and duration of the work.

Whether you are relying on online tools or have your tools like Excel or you are simply using the pen-and-paper method, there are various things that you must keep in mind.

How do Employee Schedules work?

During the hiring process, the organization will determine the work schedule for the employee. The schedule is usually set with predetermined working hours to help the employee in knowing exactly when and for how long they shall be working each week.

Work schedules differ from one organization to the other. This is due to the different policies employed by the organizations. Flexible employee work schedules allow employees to determine the way they work and gives them the ability to set their schedule.

An employer may decide to use the old fashion method of scheduling where they manually determine the work schedule for the employees on paper or by using a computer spreadsheet or calendar. Most established organizations, however, prefer the use of scheduling software and applications, which are way more convenient in setting staff schedules.

Contents of a Work Schedule

An employee work schedule should contain:

  • The name or title of the employee
  • Date
  • Week
  • Time of the day
  • Start and end of the shift
  • Days off

Types of Employee Work Schedules

There are different types of work schedules that employers may use. Some of these include:

The “9-5” work schedule

This is one of the most used work schedules in most organizations today. It requires that employees work from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the 9-5 work schedule is commonly referred to as the “Normal business hours,” as all full-time employees are required to work the same shift every day of the workweek as per the schedule while part-time employees may be required to work in the mornings or afternoons, however, the hours they work remains fixed.

Shift work schedule

Shift work schedules happen when an employer decides to divide the day into shifts and assigns employees to work set periods. At times these shifts may vary day to day or week to week- these shifts are referred to as rotating schedules while other times, the employee may only be hired to work on a specific shift- this type of shift is referred to as fixed schedules.

The employers may also decide to have their workplaces opened early and closed late with employees taking shifts throughout the day to cover the days’ workload. This is referred to as a modified shift schedule. For instance, an employee might have a shift from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., while another employee might have a shift from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. 

The shift work schedule is particularly common in medicine, where many nurses and doctors work on a rotating shift. Other careers that operate using a shift work schedule include; law enforcement, transportation, the military, and retail shops. Shift work schedules might involve working twelve-hour shifts a week or altering day and night shifts or working four days on one shift and then having three days off before switching to a different shift.

Flexible work schedule

Flexible work schedules are now becoming more and more popular in corporate setups. The flexible work schedule is where an employer allows an employee to come in any time they want so long as they complete the eight hours of work every day.

Other companies, however, have a different but still flexible work schedule. For instance, a company might let an employee arrive at work anytime between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. and leave anytime between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The employees may also be allowed to take a day off during the workweek if they agree to come in on the weekend.

Part-time and full-time schedules

A full-time employee can be defined by many as someone who works a standard 40-hour a week. The Fair Labour Standards Act provides 40-hours as the threshold before employers must pay overtime wages to non-exempt employees. Depending on the employers’ take, a full-time job can be defined as eight hours of work from Monday through Friday.

A part-time employee can be defined as someone who works 30 or fewer hours per week. However, there is no definitive way for employers to differentiate between part-time and full-time jobs. Some employers consider employees who work 34-37.5 hours per week as full-time employees, while some consider those who are working 30 hours or less as part-time workers, thereby making anyone working more than 30 hours a full-time employee by default.

Employee Work Schedule Templates

Below are free employee work schedule templates that can be customized as per needs:

Professional-Work-Schedule-Template-for-Employee

Auto-Work-Schedule-Maker-in-Excel%C2%AE

Weekly-Work-Schedule-Template-for-Excel

daily work schedule template

rotating shift schedule template

monthly schedule template excel

employee schedule template - google sheets

12 hour shift schedule template excel
betterteam.com

nurse schedule template
betterteam.com

daily schedule template
smartsheet.com

work schedule maker

daily work schedule template 01

rotating shift schedule template 01

monthly schedule template excel 01

employee schedule template - google sheets 01

12 hour shift schedule template excel 05

nurse schedule template 01

daily schedule template 01

work schedule maker 01

daily work schedule template 02

rotating shift schedule template 02

monthly schedule template excel 02

employee schedule template - google sheets 02

12 hour shift schedule template excel 02

nurse schedule template 02

daily schedule template 02

work schedule maker 02

    What Legislations Cover Work Schedules?

    Following are the laws that are related to the employee work schedule:

    Federal Law

    Other than the Child Labor Laws requirements, which limit the work hours for minors below the age of 18, there are no other federal legal requirements regulating work schedules or hours an employee can be scheduled to work.

    State and Local Laws

    Different states may have different legislations that govern employee work schedules. For instance, in New York, retail companies with over 20 employees are not allowed to have their employees working on an “on-call” basis. They must furnish you with a work schedule at least 72 hours before the start of the schedule. Other regulations may include: posting the work schedule at your workplace, including the dates, start and end time of the shift, and location(s) of all shifts in the work schedule.

    Overtime

    Employers are under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) required to pay Non-exempt workers for time worked over 40 hours. Additionally, there are federal and state legislation that regulates the amount of overtime some employees can work

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