FREE 13+ Employee Shift Schedule Samples & Templates in PDF | MS Word | Excel

Working in a company means coming in to work on time every workday. It is expected that every employee follows their work shift schedules strictly so that the productivity of a business will not be affected. Having an employee shift schedule in place allows a company or organization to keep track of the number of people coming in to work for a particular time of day. Shift schedules are especially useful in large companies or corporations where they need to manage a lot of people and organize their schedules as best as they can. This is perhaps one of the many reasons why employee shift schedule templates are considered important.

We have 9+ employee shift schedule samples and templates attached in this article. They are available for free download. The samples and templates can be used both as a visual aid as you go through some useful information about shift schedules and as your guide if you plan to make an employee shift schedule of your own. The samples are provided in different varieties and format to ensure that you will be able to find the employee shift schedule sample or template that will fit your needs. Feel free to check them out below!

Sample Employee Shift Schedule Template

Sample Weekly Employee Shift Schedule Template

Sample Weekly Employee Shift Schedule Template

Sample Monthly Employee Shift Schedule Template

Employee Weekly Shift Schedule Template

Office Cleaning Shift Schedule Sample

Employee Shift Schedule Generator in Excel

12-Week Work Shift Schedule Template

What Is an Employee Shift Schedule?

The usual work shift schedule that a lot of people are aware of are day shift schedules wherein an employee’s shift starts in the morning and ends in the afternoon. This is what we have been accustomed to for a very long time until the start of outsourcing businesses and international clients. Before the work shift was only limited to an 8–9 hour shift from morning until late afternoon or early evening. Right now, there are employees who go on round-the-clock shifts. There are now a lot of businesses and establishments that are open 24 hours a day to serve the people. Examples are convenient stores, business process outsourcing companies, information technology companies, insurance companies whose clients are from abroad, and many more. This is when employee shifting schedules have become prevalent, which cause an increase in the use of an employee shifting schedule.

An employee shift schedule is a sheet or document that helps in the planning and allocation of the available work and vacation schedules of all of the employees in a company or institution. It is important for a company or institution to have enough number of heads or employees for a particular day and work shift to ensure that the needs of the business or the needs of the clients are met. It may just be a sheet with the names and shift schedule of the employees in a company and may not seem that important at all. Truth is, even a very little mistake in the shift planning can be fatal to a business and can ruin every single shift schedule that they have already prepared. It is essential that the people doing the shift planning and scheduling are very keen on the details.

Uses of an Employee Shift Schedule

With a lot of different shift and work schedules in just about any industry in operation, there is for sure a use for an employee shift schedule. This is the age where there are more than two shift schedules available, thus the emphasis on the use of a properly planned and allocated employee shift schedule. We have enumerated a list of its uses below.

• An employee schedule is an effective tool that helps in organizing and planning the work shift schedule of an entire company on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Organization of a company’s work schedule plays a critical part in the productivity of a company. Every work shift requires a specific number of people to work and if that is not done right, then the other employees might need to work double time to reach the company’s required quota.
• It is used to keep track of the work shift of every employee. It helps determine which employee is scheduled to work on a particular day and shift to making sure that they have all the expected number of employees coming in to work. This lets them know which employee to contact if there is anybody missing in the schedule.
• An employee shift schedule provides information about the work schedule of each employees. Most of the time the shift employee schedule is posted on a company’s bulletin board or sent through email so that the employee would know when they are required to work, go on break, and go on day off.
• Employee shift schedules are often done by managers if not by scheduling specialists. Managers use the shift schedule to determine which shift to put a particular employee. Sometimes, a shift is done to allow employees to choose the shift that they want but it is always the performing employee or team that gets to choose first.  This also serves as a way for them to motivate employees to do better.
• An employee shift schedule is used to determine the exact number of employees scheduled to work for a particular day and shift. Knowing the employee size will help managers and shift runners determine if there are enough people to do the job and produce the desired results. You might also be interested in a staff schedule.

Aside from employee shift schedules, we also have other schedule samples and templates available on our website, like activity schedule samples and templates, vehicle maintenance schedule samples and templates, and many more.

Company 10-Hour Shift Schedule Sample in PDF

Employee Shift Template in Excel

Night Shift Work Schedule Template

Sample Employee Biweekly Work Schedule Template

Blank Weekday Employee Shift Schedule Template

Downloadable Employee Work Shift Schedule Template in Word

What Is On-Call Scheduling?

There is actually no specific schedule plotted for an on-call schedule because of the existence of an unpredictable work demand. An on-call work schedule is a process wherein the employees are called for work based on business needs or demands. This means that they are intentionally not provided with a fixed work schedule so that they can be summoned to work through a phone call or short notice anytime their employer needs them to be there.

On-call scheduling has been practiced a long time ago, most especially in the medical and engineering fields. In the medical field, doctors and other medical practitioners are being summoned in emergency cases and when there is a shortage of hospital staff. In the engineering field, engineers are being called to the site for structural or safety issues or any issues related to building and construction that require attention and expertise. For that, a construction schedule would come in handy.

Another industry that is also known to have irregular and on-call shift schedules are call center jobs. Call centers usually have a database that helps them forecast the number of calls that they will be receiving in a particular shift and day. This helps them properly plan the shift schedule of all their employees.

But there are situations where the expected number of employees do not show up or if there is an unexpected service interruption. This is when they summon their employees to come to work. These employees could either be working for the next shift, currently on day off, or on vacation leave. And they get notified on very, very short notice. For some, it is an opportunity to earn more money, but other people think it is unfair and unjust.

What Is a Rotating Shift?

A rotating shift means that an employee’s work shift changes according the schedule that has been set. The usual shift that we know of scheduled on the same hours every day and it stays that way until the employee is transferred to a different department, changed position, or resigns from work. The only way it can be changed is if the employee requests a change of shift and if there is another shift where they can be moved.

This is actually very different from a rotating shift. In a rotating shift, every employee has to work on a different shift either on a weekly basis or on a monthly basis. The change in shift or the shift rotation usually takes place after an employees takes their day off. Take a look at rotation schedule templates to help you in this situation.

There are a lot of different companies who use rotating work schedules for their business. Shift rotation allows other employees to experience different work hours and also to be fair to all employees. You may also be interested in monthly work schedule templates and weekly work schedule templates. Both are available for download on our website. Check them out now!