Free Shift Schedule Templates

By Andy Marker | October 24, 2024

We’ve compiled the most useful shift schedule templates in Excel, Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, Google Docs, and Google Sheets formats.

Included this article, you’ll find the following:

Basic Employee Shift Schedule Template

Basic Employee Shift Schedule Template

Download Blank and Sample Versions of a Basic Employee Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  |  Microsoft Word  | Google Docs | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: Use this basic employee shift schedule template when you need a straightforward tool for assigning your team’s shifts and tracking work hours. It’s best for small businesses looking for an easy-to-manage schedule format.

Notable Template Features: This template includes space for essential information, including employee names, roles, shift start and end times, and hours. It enables you to create a clear, shareable schedule for the week ahead.

Discover a variety of free work timetable templates to help you manage schedules effectively and boost productivity.

10-Hour Shift Schedule Template

10-Hour Shift Schedule Template

Download Blank and Sample Versions of a 10-Hour Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  |  Microsoft Word  | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: Ideal for manufacturing or healthcare settings, this template facilitates scheduling for employees with 10-hour shifts. It helps you ensure that all necessary roles are covered during extended work periods.

Notable Template Features: This template includes sections for days of the week, 10-hour shift blocks, and total hours, allowing users to manage specific shift rotations. This format supports a streamlined scheduling process and compliance with labor regulations.

Explore this collection of free work schedule templates in Microsoft Word and Excel formats, designed for efficient shift planning and tracking.

8-Hour 24/7 Shift Schedule Template

8-Hour 24/7 Shift Schedule Template

Download Blank and Sample Versions of an 8-Hour 24/7 Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: This template is perfect for setting up a consistent rotation of 8-hour shifts to provide 24-hour coverage. It’s suitable for industries that operate continuously and need to distribute shifts fairly among employees.

Notable Template Features: This template features fields for tracking alternating shift patterns, days off, and cycles of day shifts, swing shifts, and night shifts. The template makes it easy for managers to maintain balanced rotations and schedule shifts well in advance for smooth operations.

Discover the tools for achieving your time management goals with these free daily schedule templates

12-Hour Shift Schedule Template

12-Hour Shift Schedule Template

Download Blank and Sample Versions of a 12-Hour Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: Use this template for scheduling employees who work 12-hour shifts, commonly seen in emergency services or healthcare. It facilitates effective planning so you can minimize shift handovers.

Notable Template Features: This 12-hour shift schedule template provides fields for tracking shift start and end times, rest breaks, and rotation cycles. It helps managers create efficient, compliant 12-hour shift schedules.

Find more scheduling aids in this collection of free customizable Google Sheets schedule templates that offer real-time updates for collaborative planning.

Weekly Shift Schedule Template

Weekly Shift Schedule Template

Download Blank and Sample Versions of a Weekly Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  |  Adobe PDF  | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: Use this shift schedule template to organize employee shifts on a weekly basis and create a clear overview of staffing each day. It’s ideal for retail, hospitality, and other industries needing flexible weekly plans.

Notable Template Features: This template lays out the week ahead with columns for each day, divided into shift start and end times. Each employee can find their name and role in the leftmost column and quickly review their schedule for the week. The template’s simple layout ensures managers can easily adjust and update shifts as needed.

Learn more about creating custom schedules with these free Excel schedule templates, ideal for organizing work shifts, project timelines, and personal to-do lists.

Night Shift Schedule Template

Night Shift Schedule Template

Download Blank and Sample Versions of a Night Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: This template is suited for businesses that operate night shifts, such as in logistics or security industries. It enables managers to organize overnight staff schedules efficiently, ensuring sufficient coverage.

Notable Template Features: The template includes fields for assigned employees, so you can mark which nights they are scheduled over the coming weeks. It helps you tally the total shifts scheduled and compare it to the number of shifts needing to be filled, so you can ensure a full staff at all hours.

Monthly Employee Shift Schedule Template

Monthly Employee Shift Schedule Template

Download Blank and Sample Versions of a Monthly Employee Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: Use this monthly employee shift schedule template when managing regular shifts over a longer period. It provides a comprehensive view of employee schedules for the month ahead, helping businesses coordinate long-term staffing needs.

Notable Template Features: This template offers space to fill in scheduled daily shifts — as well as individual employee absences and organization-wide holidays — for the entire month. It facilitates effective planning with a clear visual of staffing patterns and improves foresight into future staffing needs.

Restaurant Shift Schedule Template

Restaurant Shift Schedule Template

Download a Restaurant Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: This restaurant shift schedule template is designed for scheduling both front-of-house and kitchen positions. It helps managers supervise employees over peak hours and ensure proper coverage during service times.

Notable Template Features: This template features specific fields for tracking shift hours, roles (e.g., front desk, manager, chef, prep, line cook), and total work hours per shift. This template’s layout is tailored to accommodate the dynamic needs of restaurant operations. 

Advanced Employee Shift Schedule Template

Advanced Employee Shift Schedule Template

Download Blank and Sample Versions of an Advanced Employee Shift Schedule Template for
Excel  | Google Sheets

When to Use This Template: This advanced employee shift schedule template is ideal for businesses with complex scheduling needs, offering detailed tracking and shift management options. It supports organizations managing large teams or multiple locations.

Notable Template Features: This template includes customizable fields to designate employees by name, ID number, and role. With comprehensive availability tracking and automated total hour calculations, it enables you to create efficient schedules with ease. 

Streamline Shift Schedules With Timeline View in Smartsheet

Timeline view in Smartsheet empowers users to plan, visualize, and collaborate on date-based work in real-time, enabling you to effortlessly organize tasks, track progress, and communicate status.

In just a few clicks, launch your project’s timeline on any sheet to visualize your work, understand the details, and adjust information, making it easy to track project progress, detect blockers, and communicate statuses.

Discover how timeline view in Smartsheet can help your team visualize date-based work and achieve greater efficiency and transparency across projects.

Learn more about timeline view in Smartsheet.



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