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Article • 7 min read

Effective Scheduling

Planning to make the best use of your time.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

how to plan a work schedule

It's the end of another busy working day and, even though you came into the office early and left late, you don't feel as if you've accomplished anything significant.

It's all too easy for this to happen. Faced with endless meetings, frequent interruptions, and urgent last-minute tasks, you can easily be busy all day without making any progress on high-priority projects and goals. That's why it's so important to know how to schedule your time properly.

In this article, we'll look at the steps that you can take to do this, thereby making time for the work that really matters – while still leaving time for personal development, family, and friends.

The Importance of Scheduling

Scheduling is the art of planning your activities so that you can achieve your goals and priorities in the time you have available. When it's done effectively, it helps you:

  • Understand what you can realistically achieve with your time.
  • Make sure you have enough time for essential tasks.
  • Add contingency time for "the unexpected."
  • Avoid taking on more than you can handle.
  • Work steadily toward your personal and career goals.
  • Have enough time for family and friends, exercise, and hobbies.
  • Achieve a good work-life balance.

Time is the one resource that we can't buy, but we often waste it or use it ineffectively. Scheduling helps you think about what you want to achieve in a day, week, or month, and it keeps you on track to accomplish your goals.

How to Schedule Your Time

Set a regular time to do your scheduling – at the start of every week or month, for example.

There are a number of different tools to choose from. A simple and easy way to keep a schedule is to use a pen and paper, organizing your time using a weekly planner. (Click here for a free downloadable planner template to get started.)

You can also use apps and software such as Google Calendar®, MS Outlook®, and Canva . Choose a scheduling tool that suits your situation, the current structure of your job, your personal taste, and your budget. [1]

The most important thing when choosing your planner is that it lets you enter data easily, and allows you to view an appropriate span of time (day/week/month) in the level of detail that you need.

Once you have decided which tool you want to use, prepare your schedule in the following way:

Step 1: Identify Available Time

Start by establishing the time you want to make available for your work.

How much time you spend at work should reflect the design of your job and your personal goals in life.

For example, if you're pushing for promotion, it might be prudent to work beyond normal hours each day to show your dedication. If, on the other hand, you want to have plenty of time for out-of-work activities, you might decide to do your allocated hours and no more.

Step 2: Schedule Essential Actions

Next, block in the actions you absolutely must take to do a good job. These will often be the things you are assessed against.

For example, if you manage people, make sure that you have enough time available to deal with team members' personal issues, coaching, and supervision needs. Also, allow time to communicate with your boss and key people around you.

Step 3: Schedule High-Priority Activities

Review your to-do list , and schedule in high-priority and urgent activities, as well as essential maintenance tasks that cannot be delegated or avoided.

Try to arrange these for the times of day when you are most productive – for example, some people are at their most energized and efficient in the morning, while others focus more effectively in the afternoon or evening. (Our article "Is This a Morning Task?" can help you identify your best times of day.)

Step 4: Schedule Contingency Time

Next, schedule some extra time to cope with contingencies and emergencies. Experience will tell you how much to allow – in general, the more unpredictable your job, the more contingency time you'll need. (If you don't schedule this time in, emergencies will still happen and you'll end up working late.)

Frequent interruptions can eat into your time. Learning how to manage them can reduce the amount of contingency time you need to set aside. Some interruptions will be hard to predict, but leaving some open space in your schedule gives you the flexibility you need to rearrange tasks and respond to important issues as they arise.

Step 5: Schedule Discretionary Time

The space you have left in your planner is "discretionary time": time that is available to deliver your priorities and achieve your goals. Review your prioritized to-do list and personal goals , evaluate the time you need to achieve them, and schedule them in.

Step 6: Analyze Your Activities

If, by the time you reach step five, you find that you have little or no discretionary time available, you need to go back through steps two, three, and four, and question whether all of the tasks you've entered are absolutely necessary. It may be that some things can be delegated or tackled in a more time-efficient way.

One of the most important ways that you can build success is by maximizing the leverage you can achieve with your time. Increase the amount of work you can complete by delegating to other people, outsourcing key tasks, or using technology to automate as much of your work as possible. This will free you up to achieve your goals.

If you find that your discretionary time is still limited, then you may need to renegotiate your workload or ask for help . Use your newly prepared schedule as evidence of your heavy commitments. This demonstrates to your boss how well-organized you are, and might make him or her more receptive to your request!

Scheduling is the process by which you plan how you'll use your time. Doing it well can maximize your effectiveness and reduce your stress levels.

Follow this six-step process to prepare your schedule:

  • Identify the time you have available.
  • Block in the essential tasks you must carry out to succeed in your job.
  • Schedule high-priority urgent tasks and vital "housekeeping" activities.
  • Block in appropriate contingency time to handle unpredictable events and interruptions.
  • Schedule the activities that address your priorities and personal goals in the time that remains.
  • Analyze your activities to identify tasks that can be delegated, outsourced, or cut altogether.

It's important that your schedule makes time for your professional and personal goals. If you have little or no discretionary time left when you reach step five, revisit your tasks to see if you can do them differently – otherwise, your work-life balance will suffer.

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TRADEMARK INFORMATION

[1] The following are trademarks: Google Calendar (see google.com ), MS Outlook (see microsoft.com ).

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Kate Robinson

Thanks for the article! If you look for a quick way to increase productivity, you can try planning focus times and break times. Here's how to do it: https://kanbantool.com/support/power-ups/work-timer. I hope you'll find it helpful!

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How to make a work schedule (+ work schedule templates)

Last updated on: March 11, 2022

Research shows that managers spend about 3.14 hours per week creating work schedules, which translates to about 20% of a manager’s time at work. 

But three hours seems like a small amount of time for such an important task.

And it’s true — the amount of time does seem little — but, for planning and creating a perfect work schedule, you don’t necessarily need to go above and beyond. 

But where to begin? Your mind must be full of questions, especially if you are new to team management. From What is the perfect work schedule to Can I schedule employees outside their work hours — the concerns you might have are only natural.

Still, it doesn’t have to be like that. We’ll go over each and every question you might have about employee scheduling , talk about different types of work schedules and all the points you need to cover before you issue a schedule . 

As a special safety measure — to ensure that everything goes as planned — we’ve prepared 6 free work schedule templates that you can download and use as many times as you need.

🔽 Quick access to free downloadable work schedule templates:

  • Employee Availability Form Template — Excel , Google Sheets , PDF  
  • Daily Work Schedule Template — Excel , Google Sheets , PDF  
  • Weekly Work Schedule Template — Excel , Google Sheets , PDF  
  • Bi-Weekly Work Schedule Template — Excel , Google Sheets , PDF  
  • Monthly Work Schedule Template — Excel , Google Sheets , PDF  
  • Yearly Work Schedule Template — Excel , Google Sheets , PDF  

how to plan a work schedule

Table of Contents

A quick introduction to work schedules

Before we dive into the question of how to effectively schedule employee time , let’s look at the basics of work schedules: 

  • What they are , 
  • Why they are beneficial for a business , and 
  • What types of work schedules you can implement .

What’s a work schedule?

A work schedule (also known as a rota or roster ), is a list that contains employee information such as:

  • Work locations
  • Responsibilities during the time period covered by the schedule
  • Other associated employee information

The process of creating a schedule is referred to as scheduling and is usually carried out by a manager. Many types of businesses require schedules, including:

  • Retail stores
  • Manufacturing facilities
  • Restaurants and coffee shops
  • Call centers
  • Businesses with customer/user support teams
  • Businesses that employ freelancers
  • Businesses that employ seasonal workers

Why is work scheduling important?

When you think of work schedules, it’s easy to come up with dozens of reasons why they’re important right off the top of your head.  

But there’s even more to work scheduling than meets the eye — so let’s get right into the benefits you can reap if you invest some time in creating an employee schedule. 

Work scheduling ensures efficient operation

When employees understand their work hours and their responsibilities, as well as the location of their work (in case they perform fieldwork), they are in the position to maximize their productivity.

Work scheduling helps plan work according to employee availability

Proper work planning should be about establishing a work schedule that requires minimum changes along the way. 

This is usually achieved when the manager takes into account employee attendance , their expected work hours, and requests for PTO . 

💡 Clockify Pro Tip 

Although a great PTO policy does not come out of thin air, there still are tricks for creating a perfect one while wasting minimum energy. Make sure to check out:

  • How to create a PTO policy (+ PTO policy template)

Work scheduling eradicates the idea of favoritism

Work schedules make shifts transparent, so the team members are able to see everyone’s shifts/tasks and understand that no one is (hopefully) getting the best shifts/tasks every time.

Work scheduling helps you better manage your time and meet deadlines

Proper time management is important for maintaining high productivity — and, work schedules help you organize your workload better, thus making you more productive. 

When all the tasks are well organized, none of the employees remain buried under piles of deadlines. Instead, they meet them according to the plan and always keep the workload under control. 

Work scheduling helps employees strike a work-life balance

When employees are aware of when they are scheduled to work, they’re able to plan and balance their work obligations, but also their doctor appointments, personal errands, and family activities. This also helps in retaining a healthy work-life balance and keeps your team members’ stress levels lower.

Work scheduling decreases employee turnover

Employees who have low stress levels and feel like they are as appreciated as their colleagues are less likely to leave their jobs.

Work scheduling helps increase customer/client satisfaction

A well-thought-out schedule helps keep the workflow running like clockwork. It goes without saying that, when everything functions smoothly, the customers or clients get the expected quality of service.

An organized schedule is especially beneficial if your business requires you to communicate with customers over the phone — because it can contribute to reducing your average handle time and increasing your customers’ overall satisfaction. 

What are the types of work schedules?

Even though work schedules come in different shapes and sizes (especially now that remote work is here to stay), we can still pick out 12 main types of work schedules : 

1. A full-time schedule

A full-time schedule has employees work between 35 and 40 hours per week. It is usually tied to job positions whose amount and type of workload requires full-time specialists. 

Many US states mandate that employees working on full-time schedules receive employee benefits. Most such employees work the same number of days per week and the same number of hours per day. However, their exact working hours may be fixed (e.g. 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) or flexible (e.g. 8 hours per day, in no fixed order).

Example : An in-house designer scheduled to work 40 hours per week, 8 hours per day, from Monday to Friday.

2. A part-time schedule

A part-time schedule has employees work less than the full-time equivalent schedule prescribed by the company (e.g., in companies that count 35 hours per week as full-time, anything fewer counts as part-time). It is usually tied to job positions whose type of workload permits several part-time employees to carry it out, or whose amount doesn’t require full-time employment. 

Employees with part-time schedules may not get employee benefits usually associated with full-time work. Such schedules may be consistent (e.g. 9:00 – 2:00 p.m. every workday), or not (e.g. 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. from Mondays to Wednesdays + 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays).

Example : A restaurant hostess who works 25 hours per week in total, during the busy times of the day.

3. A fixed schedule

A fixed schedule has a timetable with the same number of working days and hours per week. May be used for any type of business that requires employees to work together at the same time, or be at service to customers/clients during fixed open hours. A fixed schedule may involve full-time or part-time work.

Example : A team of HR specialists who are scheduled to work Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

4. A flexible schedule

A flexible schedule prescribes that an employee needs to work a specific number of hours per day, as a minimum requirement (e.g. 6 hours). But, the actual hours will depend on the employee’s time of arrival at the workplace (e.g. The employee arrives on Monday at 8:00 a.m. and then works until 2:00 p.m. But, she arrives at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday and then works until 3:00 p.m.). 

Such schedules may be full-time or part-time. May be used for any type of business that DOESN’T require employees to work together at the same time, or be at service to customers/clients during fixed open hours.

Example : A customer support specialist is scheduled to work Monday through Friday for 8 hours per day, from the moment of arrival to the office.

5. A floating schedule

A floating schedule involves a fixed, main part (the employee being at the disposal of the employer) and a variable, “floating” part (the employee can choose his/her start and end times during the workday).

In practice, floating schedules have been in use for some time. But, they were only given a legal framework with the introduction of the “Flexible and Workable” act (FWW-act) — at least in Belgium.

Example : A maintenance technician is scheduled to replace a vital part of an ice-cream machine after every 20,000 gallons of ice-cream created, which happens every two weeks. While the ice-cream machine maintenance is a fixed assignment that occurs every two weeks, the maintenance technician performs other work in the meantime.

6. A shift-based schedule

A shift-based schedule is usually implemented in businesses that operate for 10 or more hours per day. If a business operates 24/7, they usually implement a three-shift approach: employees always work or take turns working in the first shift (morning shift), second shift (afternoon shift), and third shift (night shift).

Example : 3 gas station attendants who take turns working in three shifts (7:00 a.m.– 3:00 p.m.; 3:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.; 11:00 p.m. – 7:00 a.m.) Monday through Thursday.

7. A seasonal schedule

A seasonal schedule may be shift-based, flexible, fixed, part-time, or full-time, but it is limited to a specific season or time period (e.g. the winter holiday season in November and December).

Example : Two Santa Clauses scheduled to work in a shopping mall throughout November and December, in two shifts (Shift 1: 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.; Shift 2: 2:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.).

8. An overtime schedule

An overtime schedule involves working for more than the standard 40-hours per week. Depending on the day or length of overtime, but also the US state where the worker is employed, overtime is paid either 1.5. or double the regular employee rates — this applies only to employees who are not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) .

Example : A waiter scheduled to work 45 hours in one week — the 5 extra hours scheduled are considered overtime.

9. A compressed schedule

A compressed schedule involves working the traditional 35-40 hours per week, but in fewer days.

Example : A window washer scheduled to work 40 hours per week, 10 hours per day (7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Monday through Thursday.

10. A rotating schedule

A rotating schedule is usually tied to shift-based work. Employees are assigned shifts based on a predefined pattern, usually on a weekly or daily basis.

Example : A doctor working ER is scheduled to work 12-hour day shifts on Mondays and Saturdays and 12-hour night shifts on Tuesdays and Sundays. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are off.

11. A split schedule

A split schedule involves parsing a workday intro three distinct points:

  • Working for a few hours in one go
  • Having several hours off
  • Working for another set of hours after the “break”

Example : A taxi driver scheduled to work from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., takes a break from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and then starts working again from 2:00 p.m. to 9 p.m.

12. An on-call schedule

An on-call schedule involves employees being available during specific times of day, or days in general, when they may, or may not be called in to work.

Example : A firefighter scheduled to work on-call needs to be in a 5-minute vicinity from the fire station during the scheduled days.

How best to create work schedules?

In order to effectively schedule employee time, you’ll need to:

  • Make the time to understand your team.
  • Make the time to analyze the workload.
  • Track employee clock-in and clock-out times.
  • Follow a set of rules to schedule employees fairly.
  • Establish an efficient team communication system.
  • Post the work schedule at least 7 days in advance.
  • Avoid common scheduling errors.
  • Honor work preferences and requests for time off as much as you can.
  • Schedule at least one top-notch employee per shift.
  • Involve the employees in the scheduling process.
  • Use work schedule templates to speed up the scheduling process.

Let’s look at each point in detail.

#1: Make the time to understand your team

You may think that having enough people during a shift is enough for success. But, you’ll also need to make sure that they are the right people for the type of tasks, amount of workload, time of day, or type of customers.

So, the first real step in creating efficient work schedules is knowing your team. Make a list that includes their:

  • Relevant skills
  • Personal qualities such as perseverance, efficiency, or reliability
  • Certifications, relevant education, experience
  • Their employment status (Are they full-time or part-time?)
  • Personality type (Are they introverted or extroverted?)
  • Work habits , especially if you have flexible schedules, and some employees have the habit of arriving sooner than others

With such a list, you’ll be able to pick the ideal teammates for each shift/task.

Example : Tasking the extroverted full-stack developer, who tends to come in at a later time and finish work at a later time, with the 5:00 p.m. daily call with a client who’s just starting her workday due to the time zone difference.

#2: Make the time to analyze the workload

Now that you understand the skills, qualities, and traits of each member of your team, it’s time you analyze the workload and the resources you have to handle it.

One option is to make a chart of workdays and hours your team has at their disposal. So, if you operate on a flexible, 8-hours-based schedule Monday through Friday, your team members will have 40 hours each to carry out their work. 

Then, you can identify the busy hours or the most important tasks that need to be done, and schedule your most needed specialists accordingly.

Alternatively, you can always stay in the loop with everyone’s availability and workshare by making use of Clockify’s project and team scheduling feature .

You can either take a look at separate projects and see who’s actively involved in them, or check up on individual team members and quickly figure out who is overbooked, who is working over capacity, and who is available. 

In Clockify, you can quickly glance at everyone’s availability and decide how to create an efficient schedule

#3: Track employee clock-in and clock-out times

Not only does recording employee time help track the overtime hours (if your business authorized overtime), but it also provides the employees with a clear log of the hours worked. 

Before setting up your work schedules, you’ll need to instruct your employees on how to track their clock-in clock-out times. For this purpose, you can use an employee time clock app , such as Clockify.

Clockify helps you define your projects and tasks and assign tasks to team members. Once all the tasks are distributed, team members can keep track of their progress in 2 ways:

1. By tracking time in the timer mode — just have everyone start/stop the timer as they start working/finish work on an assigned task/today’s shift.

Adding time with a timer

2. By logging time after work manually, also in 2 distinct ways:

In the manual mode — just have everyone add the duration for each assigned task/shift manually.

Adding time manually

In a timesheet — just have everyone add shift duration for each day in a weekly timecard.

Adding time in a timesheet

All the time entered can later be viewed in visual and weekly reports that can assist you in creating even better schedules in the future. 

If your employees log billable hours , you can also use Clockify data for payroll — since the tracker will automatically calculate how much you need to pay employees based on their tracked time. 

💡 Clockify Pro Tip  

To learn more about how best to set up and carry out a clock-in clock-out system, check out our detailed blog post about it:

  • How to set up a simple employee clock-in clock-out system

#4: Follow a set of rules to schedule employee fairly

Although there’s still a lot to be done to ensure employees are able to maintain a healthy work-life balance, Predictive Scheduling Laws are one step further in protecting the employees from overworking . 

These laws mandate certain scheduling practices to be followed, such as an advance notice of work schedule. 

In case the employee was not timely notified about their upcoming schedule, they receive a guaranteed predictability payment. 

Despite only a handful of US cities currently enacting them (e.g. Chicago, Emeryville, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle), and only certain industries (e.g. food service, retail, and hospitality), the 10 scheduling rules prescribed by these laws may be a great addition to any scheduling practice:

Rule#1 —  Provide “Good faith estimates” for the schedules of all new hires.

Rule #2 — Have employees state their work time/day and location preferences.

Rule #3 — Notify employees in advance about their work schedules.

Rule #4 — Offer additional hours to existing employees before hiring someone new.

Rule #5 — Notify employees about their work schedule changes.

Rule #6 — Offer premium pay for schedule changes you’ve had to make without timely notice.

Rule #7 — Provide a rest period in between two employee shifts, unless the said employee agreed to work during this time.

Rule #8 — Keep the records of previous schedules, for future reference.

Rule #9 — Have a list of schedule-related rights posted at the workplace and/or easily accessible online.

Rule #10 — Don’t retaliate against the employee for trying to enforce schedule-related employee rights.

#5: Establish an efficient team communication system

One of the keys to team productivity and proper employee time management is ensuring the team feels connected and well-informed about recent developments, updates, or changes to the expected workflow or workload.

So, make sure you always communicate any changes related to the work schedules, and give everybody a chance to reach out to you with their own questions and requests. 

To establish an efficient communication system, don’t forget to:

  • Notify the employees as soon as you’ve finished and posted the newest work schedule.
  • Let everyone know about last-minute schedule updates or unexpected, additional obligations.
  • Clearly state that your team needs to inform you whenever they swap shifts or take up additional tasks, since these changes could influence further scheduling.

Of course, to manage all this communication, you’ll need to establish a well-organized communication system, which may involve:

  • Business messaging apps — for example, you can schedule messages and plan all your important conversations ahead.
  • Text messages — for example, you can send short texts for matters you need to communicate, but are otherwise not that urgent. 
  • Phone calls — for example, you can call up people when you need a quick confirmation for something that cannot wait.
  • Emails — for example, you can use an AI email writer to speed up the email writing process.
  • Online video meetings — for example, you can use video meetings to share your screen and notes while talking with teammates.

Good old face-to-face communication is almost outshined by the swiftness of team chat apps. If you’re looking for a way to quickly inform your remote team about their upcoming schedule, make sure not to miss out on:

  • 10 best team chat apps for remote businesses

If you’re using Clockify for scheduling , you can easily notify your teammates whenever there’s an upcoming assignment for them so that nothing passes unnoticed. 

By creating an assignment, you choose the exact time range for that particular task and the number of hours per day your team members need to devote to the assignment.

Create assignment

#6: Post the work schedule at least 7 days in advance

In line with Predictive Scheduling Laws, employers must post new work schedules between 7 and 14 days prior to the first scheduled shift. However, as we’ve previously discussed, these laws are mainly enacted in certain cities because they fall under the category of local laws. 

Federal employment laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act allow employers to change schedules without any prior notice.

Still, when you inform your team members about their schedules days in advance, you leave enough time in case someone: 

  • Needs to schedule (or reschedule) personal commitments to accommodate the new work schedule.
  • Wants to find a substitute or trade shifts (you can either let employees trade shifts or have a system for substitutes).
  • Wants to talk to you about the days or times they work (perhaps you’re always scheduling employee X on times and days that never work for them).

#7: Avoid common scheduling errors

When scheduling, make sure you don’t:

1. Double-schedule employees who have dual responsibilities, but in same shifts

Example : A person who works as both the hotel hostess and a busser accidentally getting double-scheduled.

2. Schedule staff for the position they were not trained to fill

Example : A Pantry Chef in a luxurious restaurant being scheduled to perform the duties of the Roast Chef.

3. Under-schedule or over-schedule your employees, in terms of their work hours

Example : A part-time employee being scheduled with too many shifts, or a full-time employee being scheduled with too few shifts.

Being overworked usually brings more harm than good, but sometimes it goes unnoticed. Find out why recognizing this issue should be your top priority:

  • How to recognize if you’re being overworked

4. Under-schedule or over-schedule your employees, in terms of the expected workload

Example : Realizing that a cocktail bar is understaffed during happy hour.

#8: Honor work preferences and requests for time off as much as you can

High employee satisfaction means higher productivity. And, the best way to get high employee satisfaction is to let the employees know that they are being heard by the management.

So, if certain employees prefer to work on certain hours or days, accommodate them if you can.

Or, when an employee asks for time off, try to agree to their request whenever possible. 

Moreover, you should always implement a clear system for employees asking for preferred times and time off. This way, you’ll make the request approvals/denials transparent, making it clear there is no favoritism.

If you and your team are using Clockify to track work hours and plan tasks in advance, you can set a time off policy and approve your team’s time off requests on-the-spot. 

Honor work preferences

Using Clockify as a time off and vacation tracker also gives you accurate insight into everyone’s availability and upcoming leaves so that you can schedule their work time accordingly. 

Honor work preferences - vacation and holiday

#9: Schedule at least one top-notch employee per shift

If your business operates in shifts, make sure that each shift features at least one of your top players in terms of relevant employee skills, expertise, experience, and personal qualities. This will largely improve the quality of the shift, but also the customer experience. Moreover, the less-experienced employees (especially the newly hired ones) will have someone to look up to in terms of work standards or turn for support when needed.

Having one of your best employees is especially relevant during busy times when you want someone reliable at the scene to “pull” the workload and inspire other teammates to keep up the pace.

Example :  Scheduling a reliable food service specialist to operate the cash register, serve customers, and stock supplies during lunchtime in a city’s business district.

#10: Involve the employees in the scheduling process

You probably don’t want to waste time on constant work schedule updates because your employees are always asking for shift swaps or deadline extensions.

To minimize this, you can aim to involve the employees in the process of creating work schedules as much as you find suitable.

1. Have someone assist you in scheduling

Colleagues are more likely to understand what their co-workers think about their schedules, so having someone from the “inside” directly assist you with the schedules is optimal. This way, you’ll find out whether members of your team:

  • Are satisfied with their appointed times
  • Want more or less time scheduled per week
  • Prefer other days or times for their schedules

2. Have the team fill out availability charts

With an availability chart, all employees need to do is mark the days when they are available to work during a certain week. Later on, you’ll use this data to create feasible work schedules.

Example : You schedule someone for the first shift, but that someone isn’t available to work during this time. You glance at the availability chart and find the next suitable employee who marked his/her availability during the required time. You may even find that you’d have a backup for your backup if a larger number of employees is available.

3. When scheduling outside the available times, consult first

Sometimes, despite all the efforts the team has made with the availability chart, you’ll still need to schedule someone outside their availability times.

Example :  Perhaps, there’s a big celebration being hosted at your restaurant and you’ll need all hands on deck. Or, perhaps, there’s an unexpected bug in your app, and you need to call in your full-stack engineer to assist you from her vacation.

Emergencies happen, but it’s important how you approach them. If possible, always try to find the person who’d be the least inconvenienced by working outside his/her ideal availability times.

Example : If you have to choose between two options, always go for the person who is unavailable because of their spa appointment instead of calling a team member who is at the hospital worried about their family member. 

Either way, it’s always best to call up the person in question, explain the situation, and be courteous about the request. A reliable, conscientious employee will oblige to your request if it’s possible and will appreciate having a say in this.

Still, try to be understanding if an employee is genuinely not able to agree to your request, e.g. they have a doctor’s appointment. 

#11: Use work schedule templates to speed up the scheduling process

The previous 10 points are designed to help you effectively schedule employee time — but, schedule templates will help you make the scheduling process faster and more accurate. Here are 6 work schedule templates you can use now, for free: 

  • Employee Availability Form Template 
  • Daily Work Schedule Template 
  • Weekly Work Schedule Template 
  • Bi-Weekly Work Schedule Template 
  • Monthly Work Schedule Template 
  • Yearly Work Schedule Template 

Employee Availability Form Template

What’s it about?

The Employee Availability Form Template gives your team the option to share their available hours with you — so that you can schedule their work time accordingly. 

The employees should mark the time they can come to work and/or be on-call duty with checkmarks (Google Sheets) or “X” (Excel). 

Alternatively, you can print out the forms and have the employees fill them out with a pen.

Later on, you can use these individual employee availability forms to create feasible schedules.

Who is it for?

This scheduling form is perfect for any type of business that revolves around scheduling.

Employee Availability Form

⬇️ Download the classic Employee Availability Form Template in Excel

⬇️ Download the online, shareable Employee Availability Form Template in Google Sheets

⬇️ Download the printable Employee Availability Form Template in PDF

Daily Work Schedule Template

The Daily Work Schedule Template lets you schedule both work hours and tasks for each workday.

Simply insert the employee’s name, their department, the date, and add a checkmark (Google Sheets) or “X” (Excel) next to each hour they’re scheduled to work.

Alternatively, you can print out the schedule and fill it out with a pen.

This template is perfect if you prefer to schedule work hours and tasks on a daily basis. 

In case you need to stay compliant with the rule of scheduling work at least 7 days in advance, you can combine this more detailed, task-oriented schedule with schedules that cover a larger time period.

Daily Work Schedule

⬇️ Download the classic Daily Work Schedule Template in Excel

⬇️ Download the online, shareable Daily Work Schedule Template in Google Sheets

⬇️ Download the printable Daily Work Schedule Template in PDF

Weekly Work Schedule Template

The Weekly Work Schedule Template lets you schedule the employees’ work days and shifts on a weekly basis. 

Simply add the employee names and an “X” or a checkmark under each day they are scheduled to work.

The Google Sheet and Excel versions of the template also calculate the daily statistics per employee, in terms of:

  • How many times individual employees have been scheduled to work per week
  • How many times they were scheduled to work the First, Second, Third, or Split shift (if applicable)

In case your employees work different split shifts, work overtime, or have specific requests regarding their schedules, you can clarify this below each employee row.

This template is perfect if you prefer to schedule work days on a weekly basis, and/or pay your employees on a weekly basis.

Weekly Work Schedule

⬇️ Download the classic Weekly Work Schedule Template in Excel

⬇️ Download the online, shareable Weekly Work Schedule Template in Google Sheets

⬇️ Download the printable Weekly Work Schedule Template in PDF

Bi-Weekly Work Schedule Template

The Bi-Weekly Work Schedule Template gives you the option to schedule both the employees’ work days and shifts on a bi-weekly basis. 

Simply add the employee names, and add an “X” or a checkmark each day they are scheduled to work.

  • How many times individual employees have been scheduled to work per two weeks

This template is perfect if you prefer to schedule workdays on a bi-weekly basis, and/or pay your employees on a bi-weekly basis.

Bi-Weekly Work Schedule

⬇️ Download the classic Bi-Weekly Work Schedule Template in Excel

⬇️ Download the online, shareable Bi-Weekly Work Schedule Template in Google Sheets

⬇️ Download the printable Bi-Weekly Work Schedule Template in PDF

Monthly Work Schedule Template

The Monthly Work Schedule Template lets you schedule both the employees’ work days and shifts for each date on a monthly basis. 

Simply add the employee names, and an “X” or a checkmark under each date they are scheduled to work.

  • How many times individual employees have been scheduled to work per month

In case your employees work different split shifts, work overtime, or have specific instructions regarding their schedules, you can clarify this below each employee row.

This template is perfect if you prefer to schedule workdays on a monthly basis, and/or pay your employees on a monthly basis.

Monthly Work Schedule

⬇️ Download the classic Monthly Work Schedule Template in Excel

⬇️ Download the online, shareable Monthly Work Schedule Template in Google Sheets

⬇️ Download the printable Monthly Work Schedule Template in PDF

Yearly Work Schedule Template

The Yearly Work Schedule Template lets you schedule 5 employees over the course of one year (or several weeks or months). 

Simply name your employees and associate each with a symbol (“x1”, “x2”, “x3”, “x4”, “x5”).

Write the appropriate symbol (e.g “x1” for employee 1) next to the suitable date to schedule an employee.

This template is perfect if your team operates on a rotating schedule, or you manage seasonal workers. It can also be a great choice if you prefer to view and plan the workweeks on a larger scale.

Yearly Work Schedule

⬇️ Download the classic Yearly Work Schedule Template in Excel

⬇️ Download the online, shareable Yearly Work Schedule Template in Google Sheets

⬇️ Download the printable Yearly Work Schedule Template in PDF

In case you’re wondering whether an old school ready-made scheduling template could really top a time tracker as its alternative, make sure to go through the following article to help you make an informed decision: 

  • The benefits of using a time tracker in a remote team

Wrapping up

Scheduling employee time effectively should not be a challenge — if you implement the right scheduling system that involves:

  • Understanding your team and the workload
  • Having employees track their work time
  • Making sure you schedule work fairly and in a timely manner
  • Communicating everything
  • Avoiding common scheduling errors
  • Honoring work preferences and time off requests to the best of your ability
  • Building shifts around the best employees
  • Involving employees in the scheduling process

If you add a scheduling template to this equation, you will both speed up the entire scheduling process and ensure that tasks always go as planned. 

In the end, no matter whether you work on a fixed, flexible, floating, or any other type of schedule, if you schedule properly, you’ll improve:

  • Business operations
  • Time management
  • Employee work-life balance
  • Employee satisfaction
  • Customer/client satisfaction

As a result, the employee turnover rate will start declining, while transparency will almost instantly become the norm.  

✉️ What helps your scheduling process run smoothly? Do you have any tips or tricks that we didn’t mention in this blog post? Feel free to share your thoughts at [email protected] and we may include them in this one or one of our upcoming blog posts. 

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Marija Kojic is a productivity writer who's always researching about various productivity techniques and time management tips in order to find the best ones to write about. She can often be found testing and writing about apps meant to enhance the workflow of freelancers, remote workers, and regular employees. Appeared in G2 Crowd Learning Hub, The Good Men Project, and Pick the Brain, among other places.

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Staffing Management

Work Schedule Planning [Guide + Examples]

By Dan Whitehead

May. 17, 2021

Planning work schedules for employees can be a time-consuming process. Planning schedules for hourly workers can be even more frustrating, like trying to solve a never-ending jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces are constantly changing. It doesn’t have to be so bad. If hourly schedules are the bane of your life, follow these suggestions to make them less of a chore.

What to consider before work schedule planning

As with any complex process, don’t just jump in and start filling in shifts. The more time and energy you devote to preparation, the smoother the end process becomes.

Monitor and map your demand

You’d be shocked how many businesses fail to take into account the basic need to track customer demand when work schedule planning for your hourly employees. Step back and take stock of how your business works on a day-to-day, week-by-week, and month-by-month basis, and let that guide your planning. What are your busiest and quietest periods? Are you in a sector where demand is seasonal? These aren’t questions to be asked once, but something you should query regularly. Patterns change, and it’s all too easy to find yourself overstaffed or understaffed because you didn’t notice in time.

Use past performance to predict your staffing needs

There are several ways you can predict your future staffing requirements based on past performance.

  • Staffing Ratio: Looking at your typical staffing ratio can offer a rough guide to working out how many new hires are needed and in which areas. For example, if you generally have 10 workers to every manager, then deviations can tell you if you need more managers, less staff, or some other variation.
  • Statistical Regression: For businesses where income is closely tied to staffing, such as call centers, using a statistical regression model allows you to track when your most profitable periods were and see what the staff levels were for those periods, helping you find the most efficient size for your workforce.
  • The Delphi Method: For larger companies, this approach involves convening a panel of senior managers and external consultants to pool their insights and offer a roadmap for future staffing needs.

If all of this sounds intimidating, or if you have a new or small business where such data is limited, don’t worry. There are workforce management tools that can automatically provide this analysis for you.

Prepare a clear and concise paid time off policy

You can head off many work schedule planning issues early on by making sure your paid time off (PTO) policy is robust, clear, and up to date. Employees who know what time they are entitled to are empowered to make meaningful decisions about their schedule.

Your PTO policy should include details on the following:

  • The types of time off covered: Sick leave, vacations, personal/bereavement days, national holidays .
  • How PTO is accrued based on hours worked and how many days workers are eligible for.
  • How PTO can be used. For example, is it taken in units of an hour or less, or as full or half days?
  • How much notice is needed to book time off and are there any blackout periods during which time off cannot be taken, such as key retail periods.

The exact contents of a PTO policy will vary from one business to another. But as a rule of thumb, the Society for Human Resource Management says that most current policies offer between 15 and 20 days of PTO per year, plus any company-observed holidays.

Don’t assume that because you implement such a policy that workers will use it. A 2018 study for the Annual Review of Sociology revealed that many workers were afraid of repercussions to their job if they took full advantage of flexible working hours. It’s not enough to have more equitable scheduling; you have to reassure your employees that they should take advantage of it.

Your work schedule planning checklist

Once you have done your top-level preparation, you’re ready to start work schedule planning for your hourly workers. Use this checklist to make sure you don’t overlook anything important.

Identify your needs. You’ve already laid the groundwork for this in the preparation process above. It’s the basic question at the heart of all workplace schedules: How many people do you need where and when? Don’t be tempted to guess. The Workforce Business Intelligence Board’s 2020 HR State of the Industry Survey found that only 21.1 percent of organizations have used workforce analytics.

Choose the right people . Employees aren’t generic widgets used to plug gaps. The more you know about your employees’ strengths and experience, the greater your ability to not just drop them into a schedule but plan well-balanced shifts that run smoothly.

Cross-reference your resources. Scheduling isn’t just about people; it’s about making sure they have what they need when they need it. For example, when are deliveries made? Who signs them in? Who moves the stock and how? Miss this step and your schedule falls apart when staff members have to leave one task to deal with another.

Check against safety regulations. Don’t assume this is only an issue for construction workers and similar manual jobs. Even a low-risk workplace should have trained first aid personnel on each shift. Check the OSHA guidelines to see how many you need.

Fill out the shifts. An obvious step, but one that still requires strategic thought. You can take a top-down approach in which the manager sets the schedule, or a bottom-up process in which employees can request open shifts. Workers who have more control over their working life are happier and more loyal. So, if your business model allows it, a hybrid of the two will likely yield best results. Let Workforce’s analytics guide you. Working in the dark on staffing management makes for bad business.

Be prepared. No-shows and last-minute changes will happen. It’s frustrating, but you can minimize disruption by keeping a standby list of dependable part-time workers or employees looking for overtime to deal with these problems. Always do so in consultation and with prior agreement with these workers—nobody wants to have their evening plans ruined by a demand to come into work, and it may even be illegal to do so.

Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Whenever the natural break in your shift cycle falls, audit the performance of your scheduling over that period. Are there still crunch points with not enough staff or regular periods of over-staffing? Scheduling is not the sort of job that is ever finished. It will always be in flux to some degree, so use a tool like Workforce to automatically collate the data you need to make informed choices.

Communicate. Encourage an open dialogue with your hourly workers. Is the system working for them as well? There may be mutually beneficial changes that are invisible from a management perspective. You don’t have to cede control of how the business is run, but giving employees more say in their working hours is a great way to cut down on the churn of shift staff.

Follow these steps and you’ll find that work schedule planning, even for hourly workers, is a much more manageable task.

Why legal compliance is key to successful work schedule planning

Smart scheduling is important for more than just your immediate business needs. There are swathes of legislation regarding how and when people work. The good news is that following these laws should mean staff stay with you longer and are more productive when they’re on the clock.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) pertains to hourly workers, which means that pay for hours worked must add up to the minimum wage for your company to be legally compliant. Always check your local state laws in this area, as currently 29 states have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage.

Non-compliance naturally comes with stiff penalties, so understanding and following the law is vital. Wading through the details can be hard, and details can be missed, so using employee scheduling software that automatically checks your schedules against national and local labor laws will give you peace of mind.

There’s one more thing you will need to be aware of when work schedule planning for hourly workers in sectors like retail and hospitality. You may see it referred to as predictive scheduling or “fair work week.” But over the past six years, multiple cities and states have enacted legislation aimed at reducing exploitation of people with practices such as “clopening.”

“Clopening” laws give your employees breathing room

When an employee is the last to close up at night and is also the first on shift the following day to open up, that’s clopening . It leads to stress, burnout, and high staff turnover . Under “fair work week” laws, businesses must adhere to minimum periods between shifts. In Philadelphia, for example, you must allow at least nine hours between shifts. But in Seattle, it is 10 hours, and in New York, the limit is 11 hours.

Predictive scheduling gives employees visibility on their upcoming workload

These laws also make it a legal requirement to use predictive scheduling, which means setting shifts for hourly employees at least two weeks in advance so that workers can better plan childcare and other quality of life essentials. So far, the states and cities that have enacted laws are San Francisco, Emeryville, and San Jose in California; Oregon; Seattle; Philadelphia; New York City; Chicago; and the District of Columbia. More predictive scheduling legislatio n will follow, so make sure you are up to speed on the rules specific to your location, as there are regional variations.

Slip up on a small detail, and you could face a big penalty. Seattle, for instance, has a $500 minimum penalty applicable on a per-employee and per-violation basis. Make a mistake that impacts 10 employees, and you’re looking at a five-figure fine. That’s why Workforce provides a labor compliance solution with up-to-date regional templates for workplace legislation, automatically checking that your schedules comply with the latest rules wherever you are.

When it comes to work schedule planning, expect the unexpected

Hourly work schedules may seem chaotic and prone to sudden change, but staffing management doesn’t need to be a headache. By accepting things will change and having a firm but flexible framework for the planning process, you can head off problems before they arise. Workforce can automate the most time-intensive parts of the process and make sure you follow the law in the process. The benefits to your business of a coherent and reliable scheduling system are higher productivity, greater worker retention, and better morale. And, of course, less stress for you.

Schedule, engage, and pay your staff in one system with Workforce.com.

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What Is a Work Plan? How to Make a Work Plan In 7 Steps

ProjectManager

Before you can accomplish your project goals, you need to plan how to reach them. A work plan creates a clear path project teams can follow to reach their desired goals and objectives. Along that path will be resources, constraints and other work management elements that need to be described in your work plan.

What Is a Work Plan?

As its name suggests, a work plan is an action plan that helps project teams achieve their goals. Work plans factor in key project planning elements such as tasks, milestones, deliverables, resources, budgetary requirements and a timeline to weave it all together.

The work plan won’t be written and initiated by a single person and it should be submitted to board members and stakeholders for approval. Once approved, you can continue building out the rest of your work plan.

how to plan a work schedule

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Work Plan Template

Use this free Work Plan Template for Word to manage your projects better.

Why Do You Need a Work Plan?

As we mentioned, your work plan acts as your roadmap for the entire project execution. Not only will it keep you and your team organized, but it’ll ensure that you get buy-in from key stakeholders, related departments, relevant accountability/risk leaders and more.

Additionally, it helps manage expectations on both the stakeholder level as well as on the managerial and team member level—everyone that starts off on the right foot has a better chance of landing on the right foot, too.

Work plans guide project teams in a similar way project plans do. However, there’s a big difference between these two important project management documents .

Work Plan vs. Project Plan

Work plans are not as comprehensive as project plans , which have a wider scope and involve more components. The main difference between them is that project plans are created from a high-level view and address every aspect of project management. On the other hand, work plans focus on helping project teams achieve smaller objectives.

If you build your work plan in project management software like ProjectManager , then it’s easy to continue to iterate on your plan and make improvements over time. You can use robust project planning tools such as Gantt charts, kanban boards, project dashboards and much more. Get started today for free.

screenshot of a work plan on a Gantt chart

How to Make a Work Plan in 7 Steps

While work plans might take many forms, here are some simple work planning steps you can follow to make one.

1. Set Goals & Objectives

Before anything, it’s important to write down the goals and objectives that’ll be achieved through your work plan. These will describe the purpose of your plan. It’s important to use SMART goals : create goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-related. This should help you start your plan off on the right foot.

Your goals might sound like your purpose, but they’re more specific in that they’re more long-term oriented — i.e., your team learned more about the process of launching a bug fix or how to respond more directly to customer or market feedback.

Similarly, your project objectives should be measurable. For example, the objective of this project after launch is to create an increase of xx% of active monthly subscribers, or a certain dollar amount in revenue generated.

2. Define the Scope of Your Work Plan

Once you’ve identified your work plan goals, you should use a work breakdown structure (WBS) to identify all the tasks that must be executed to achieve them, which is your project scope. By breaking down your project scope, you can start assembling a team, estimating costs, creating a budget and drafting a project schedule.

3. Estimate What Resources Are Needed

When you break down your project scope using a WBS, you can better estimate what resources are needed for each task in your work plan. Make sure to include different types of project resources, such as human resources, raw materials, machinery, subcontractors or anything else that you might need for the execution of your work plan.

4. Assign Roles & Responsibilities

Now, assemble a project team and clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each member. Communicate with them and make sure they understand what their job is and how they can collaborate with each other.

5. Estimate Costs & Create a Budget

Once you have a clear idea of what resources are needed for your work plan, it’s time to estimate their costs and create a budget . To do so, simply establish a measurement unit for your labor, materials and other resources to then assign a price to them.

6. Create a Project Schedule

There are different tools and techniques you can use to create a project schedule for your work plan. In fact, most project managers use Gantt charts, project calendars, kanban boards

7. List Any Risks, Constraints and Assumptions

Remember that your work plan is the action plan that’ll guide your project, so the more details you have about constraints and potential risks, the better your team will perform their tasks to produce deliverables and achieve the goals and objectives.

Maybe some of your team members take a few sick days during this period of time; maybe unexpected tasks have to be executed; maybe some of your tools crash that requires more money pulled from the budget. Whatever your project constraints may be, factor in anything that might feel like a risk that can lead to a full-blown constraint, which may affect the completion of deliverables or even the goals and objectives of your project.

Free Work Plan Template

Our work plan template can help you document the steps explained above. Be sure to constantly monitor your template and update it as changes occur in your planning process. Or, if you’re looking for more dynamic project planning tools, you can use Gantt charts.

Free work plan template in ProjectManager

A work plan template can help you organize your thoughts, but in order to create your action plan and execute it, you’ll need dynamic project management software to help you throughout the planning, execution and monitoring phases.

Work Plan Example

Here’s a basic example to better illustrate how a work plan works. Let’s imagine you’re a business owner who wants to increase your production output by 25 percent by acquiring new machinery and hiring more production employees. While this project doesn’t involve producing tangible deliverables , you’ll still need a work plan.

Goals & Objectives It’s important to define one primary goal and then some smaller, more specific objectives needed for the completion of that goal.

Main Work Plan Goal Increase production output by 25 percent.

Work Plan Objectives

  • Improve the company’s production capacity by acquiring new machinery
  • Fill skill gaps in the production planning team
  • Make sure machinery is well-maintained

Scope of the Work Plan Now, you should list individual activities that must be completed in order to achieve your goal and objectives. Here’s a simple breakdown of activities.

  • Inspect the production line
  • Perform preventive maintenance
  • Optimize plant layout
  • Acquire new machinery
  • Assess the current team
  • Hire new personnel

Resources/Roles & Responsibilities In this case, you’ll need a production manager, HR manager and maintenance team. They’re responsible for executing the tasks listed above.

Work Plan Budget Your budget should cover both the labor costs as well as the cost of the new equipment. Your labor costs will be the salaries of the production manager, HR manager and maintenance team. Make sure you estimate your project costs accurately before creating a budget.

Work Plan Schedule Define a timeframe for the analysis of your production line, the procurement of new machinery, preventive maintenance and hiring.

Risk, Assumptions & Constraints Think about any risks, assumptions or constraints that might affect your work plan. The best place to start is the triple constraint of time, budget and resources.

Creating a Work Plan With Project Management Software

To learn more about how project management tools such as Gantt charts , kanban boards and project dashboards can help you make the perfect work plan, watch the short video below. We’ll quickly show you all the ways that project planning software can improve your planning, execution and reporting—so you can make that work plan with confidence.

Project management training video (kkuo0lgcxf)

ProjectManager Can Help You With Your Work Plan

Getting every detail of a work plan sorted is no easy task—from managing your team to managing your stakeholders. It requires a delicate balance of understanding your project timeline, the tasks that make up the project scope, potential risks , balancing a budget and allocating resources. Not to mention, you’ll have to do this while keeping the customers’ ultimate needs and the project goals and objectives in mind.

With ProjectManager , our online Gantt charts let you schedule your entire project timeline, assign tasks, create dependencies and oversee tracking. Additionally, we have team collaboration features that allow your staff and managers to comment on tasks, attach necessary files, and interact with each other no matter where they’re located.

ProjectManager's team management features

ProjectManager also features resource management tools that let you balance the hours worked across your team. This helps ensure that your time, tools and resources are balanced no matter what.

Related Work Management Content

  • What Is Work Management? Creating a Work Management System
  • Best Work Management Software of 2024 for Remote Teams
  • What is a Statement of Work? Definition & Examples
  • Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Creating a work plan and don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered. With ProjectManager , you’ll get access to online software that helps you to better track your work plan from milestone to milestone. Start your free 30-day trial with ProjectManager  today.

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  • How to align your team with a work sche ...

How to align your team with a work schedule template (with examples)

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A work schedule is a way to document when your team members are working and what they are working on. This type of documentation might sound simple, but it’s essential for your team’s structure. By visualizing your team’s tasks in advance, you enable team collaboration and keep projects on track. 

Types of work schedules

Work schedules vary between industries, roles, and countries. A software engineer may work the night shift to keep systems running for daytime workers, and an operations manager may have extended shift schedules to watch over manufacturing. 

While your company may stick to a traditional full-time schedule, it can be helpful to familiarize yourself with other work schedule types. Your team members may appreciate flexibility with their day instead of sticking to a 9-to-5 schedule. But before making any changes to your team’s work schedule, make sure to check with your internal legal team. Always make sure to follow local and federal laws when assigning work schedules. 

[inline illustration] types of work schedules (infographic)

Some of the most common types of work schedules include:

A full-time schedule means your team members are working a traditional work week. For example, in the United States, a full time schedule means team members work 40 hours per week—traditionally from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Other countries, like France, might have other legal definitions of what “full time” means—so always check with your internal legal and HR teams if you haven’t already. 

If you use this work schedule, you’ll usually work at the same time as others on your team. This will make communication with partners or stakeholders easier. You can set up a full-time schedule for your team members by keeping deadlines and task start dates within these hours.  

Part–time team members work fewer than a full work week. You may have part-timers for roles that don’t require as much work, or because a team member doesn’t want to work full time. To set up part-time schedules, make a note of when these people are available to work and assign them tasks that they can work with others on during those allotted times. 

There are a variety of local and federal laws that govern what part time work schedules may be available in your area. When in doubt, check with your internal legal team to learn what part-time options are available for your team members, if any.

Remote/Flex

Many companies have adopted remote/flex-time schedules to give team members more freedom. Flexibility can reduce employee turnover, which results in reduced labor costs. A flex-time schedule might require core work hours of 10am to 2pm, while the other four hours are team members' choice. In this example, as long as each team member works eight hours per day, they’ve met their daily work requirement. 

Flex schedules aren’t available for every team, company, or country, but it may be a good solution to give your team the flexibility they need to get their best work done. If you do try this type of work schedule, ensure you schedule team gatherings like meetings and workshops within the core hours when you know everyone will be at work.

5-4/9 work schedule

The 5-4/9 work schedule is a creative way to adjust your team members’ full-time hours. In this setup, team members work 80 hours over two weeks, but they do so by working five nine-hour days during week one, and four nine-hour days during week two. This benefits the team members because they receive a three-day weekend every other week. This change to the team work schedule could improve work-life balance without disrupting communication with others in your industry. As with other work schedules, check local and federal guidelines before trying to implement this schedule.

2-2, 3-2, 2-3 work schedule

The 2-2, 3-2, 2-3 work schedule is more common for team members who work around the clock, but it could inspire your work schedule template. In this schedule, team members work in 12-hour shifts. They work two days on, followed by two days off. Then, they work three days on, followed by two days off. Next, they work two days on, followed by three days off, before the cycle continues. This schedule can switch between day shift cycles and night shift cycles. 

This type of cyclical work schedule is great for industries where team members need to be available around the clock. But before you move forward with this template, confirm with your internal legal team that this is in line with local and federal guidelines in your area. 

4/10 schedule

A simplified version of the schedule above is the 4/10. In this schedule, team members work in 10-hour shifts. Team members work four days of the week before having three days off. Your team members might appreciate this work schedule because it only adds two hours to their average workday, but it gives them three-day weekends every weekend. Similar to other adjusted work schedules, this template may not be available in your area, so check with your company before moving forward. 

Transform your work schedule into a living document

When you think of work schedules, does a traditional print out come to mind? If so, we’re not surprised. That’s because traditional work schedules are static documents that are typically printed out and posted somewhere in the office.

But writing your work schedule on paper comes with a whole host of problems. From losing the paper to not having enough space for edits, work schedule printouts don’t leave room for error. The point of a work schedule is to make things more clear—so if you’re getting lost among a sea of papers, something is amiss.

Instead, uplevel your work schedule by creating it in an online scheduling tool. You’ll be able to streamline team schedules, see who’s working when, and capture real-time data about the initiatives each team member is working on.

Managing your work schedule in an online view also takes it beyond just a simple list of team working hours. With a virtual tool, you can also manage project requirements and team member responsibilities in one place. Then, when you make adjustments, you can easily share those updates with team members in real-time so everyone is on the same page about who’s working when, and on what.

6 steps to create a work schedule template

[inline illustration] how to create a work schedule template (infographic)

A work schedule is a simple document that describes which team members are working when. But you can take this document beyond its core value by also adding information about what each team member will be working on when. Use these six steps to uplevel your work schedule template:

1. Align work schedules with your team

The first step in creating your work schedule template is to align on what your team's work schedule is. This step is a chance for you and your team to align on who will be working when. 

Tip: Always check with your HR and legal teams during this stage to ensure you're complying with local and federal guidelines about work schedules. For example, which team members are allowed to work overtime and which team members aren’t? 

2. Identify who’s working on what

Once you’ve aligned your team’s work schedules, you can take a comprehensive look at your to-do list . That way, you can create a big picture view of what needs to be done and what priorities others already have.

When you make your list, input the tasks you and your team need to complete into your online tool. You may want to start with a weekly or monthly task list; that way, you can make a habit of regularly updating this list. 

You should also include items that team members need to keep track of, like meetings, workshops, and performance reviews.  

Tip: When you make your list, input the tasks you and your team need to complete into your online tool. You can use a work breakdown structure to identify the required tasks for each of your projects. If you can’t think of everything, don’t worry. Team members can add to their work schedules once they view them online. They’ll have the best idea of what their daily schedule should include. 

3. Label tasks by deadline

In addition to capturing everything your team needs to work on in the coming days or weeks, ensure each initiative has an accompanying deadline. Without clear understanding of when work is due, your team won’t be able to effectively prioritize their tasks. 

Note that your deadlines may change as timelines adjust, and that’s ok. Clarifying task deadlines—even if they’re only rough deadlines—helps your team understand what they should be working on when. 

Tip: It’s okay if you’re unable to plan your work schedule months in advance. Aim to flesh out the details of one project at a time. Add those details into your project management tool to keep track of tasks, deadlines, and priorities. Then, if you need to make any changes, your virtual tool makes your work schedules flexible and easy to adjust.

4. Assign tasks to team members

Your work schedule gives you information about who’s working when. Combine that information with the deadlines and priorities of each task to figure out who needs to be working on what. In particular, seeing deadlines next to your tasks can help you determine how many people you need for each project, and when those people will be available. Use a RACI chart to outline what roles and responsibilities team members have for each project. 

As you assign team members to tasks, consider the following questions:

When are team members available?

How many hours does each team member have to work on this?

What days are team members available for work?

How can I align team member schedules with relevant work tasks?

Tip: Once you know your timeline and team, bring everyone together to nail down the project details. It’s often easier to identify team member strengths and find where people fit into a project when you observe their behaviors and receive feedback. 

5. Create start dates for tasks

Deadlines show team members when to complete tasks, but you’ll also need to map out task start dates. Team members need both start and end times for tasks so they can plan out the rest of their schedules. That way, they can make room for unexpected meetings, professional development, or personal to-dos.

Tip: An alternative to creating start dates for tasks is to assign hours to a project. This gives team members flexibility on task start dates, while still providing the needed structure. Estimated hours also set benchmarks for utilization rates . Once a team member completes a task, they'll clock the actual hours it took them and you'll compare this time to the time you assigned. 

6. Automate and change as needed

One of the best things about online work schedules is using built-in rules and automation . Work life can get busy—that’s no surprise—and there are a lot of moving parts in a work schedule. Use project management automation to track what your team is working on to prevent burnout and overwork.  

[Product UI] Workload management in Asana (Workload)

Some helpful ways to automate your work schedule include: 

Assigning hours to individual tasks

Moving work around when one team member is overloaded

Adjusting deadlines when projects get extended

Tip: You should now have a comprehensive task list with people assigned and task timeframes for each. At this point, you can make any necessary changes to your work schedule and ask team members for feedback. 

Ways to view your work schedule

When you use an online tool to create your work schedule, you’ll have options for how to view it. This is a benefit of using scheduling software because different visualization methods can show you things you may not have seen otherwise. 

For example, if you view your work schedule as a calendar, you may notice deadlines more easily. But if you view your work schedule as a Gantt chart, you’ll see project dependencies more clearly. 

[inline illustration] 4 ways to view work schedules (infographic)

Here are some ways to view your work schedule with Asana:

Gantt chart: A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that displays your work schedule. It’s a great visual tool to understand the tasks your team needs to complete over time, along with key milestones and dependencies.

Calendar view: With calendar view, you’ll have a clear idea of when tasks are due and how those tasks relate to other tasks or events happening in your day, week, or month. 

By list: When you view your work schedule as a to-do list, you’ll see every detail that accompanies each task. These items will show up in drop-downs menus for things such as priority, assignee, attached docs, deadlines, and notes. 

Kanban boards: Kanban boards organize tasks in your work schedule in columns. Traditionally, each column represents a work stage. Your Kanban board might have columns labeled, “to do,” “in progress,” and “done.” Individual tasks—which are represented as cards on the board—move through the columns until team members complete each task.

The different schedule views help you visualize team tasks and gain insight into your entire project. Some of these tools combine the benefits of scheduling with project management so you can view and work on projects as they progress through each stage.

Visualize team member work schedules with Asana

When you use a tool like Asana , you open up possibilities for your team. Your work schedule will be more than a simple list—it will be a living document that others can interact with, change as needed, and integrate with task management.

Putting your work schedule online will ensure you’re managing your team effectively while juggling other responsibilities. With the right structure in place, your team can accomplish their best work.

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A simple guide to work plans

Your work plan is a roadmap of your project—see how you can use it to organize tasks, people, budget, and timelines.

Elsie

Elise Dopson,   Contributer

  • project planning

You have an overall project plan, but how do you translate that into something real? How do you figure out which resources to use and when? How do you know if you’re on track? How do you keep your team focused on what matters?

Work planning helps you get organized, stay focused, and hit your targets so you can succeed. With it, you can create a visual roadmap that your whole team can follow.

In this guide, we’ll dive into what work planning is and show you how to create a work plan that tames your project chaos.

What is a work plan? 

A work plan is a roadmap that details exactly how a project will be completed. It’s an operational plan that helps you manage resources, milestones, budgets, and timescales. A work plan does this in a way that’s user-friendly and easy to share with stakeholders. 

Think of your work plan as an action plan that breaks down your project into smaller tasks. These tasks are then assigned to individual team members or resources. With a work plan, you can see who is working on what and feel confident that your project is on the right track.

Your work plan should include the following elements:

  • Purpose and background of the project
  • Goals and objectives
  • Level of effort
  • Roles and responsibilities
  • Risks, assumptions, and constraints

You can break your work plans down by day, week, month, or quarter. This gives you a better understanding of how they fit into your team members’ working days. 

Plan project work with the #1 rated resource management software

Float is the #1 rated  resource management software  on G2 for planning and scheduling your team’s work. Get a high-level and accurate view of who’s working on what, so you can assign tasks with confidence.

How to create an effective work plan

A detailed work plan is one of the strategic planning must-haves, but if it’s not already in your toolkit, don’t worry—you can have one set up in no time! Especially if you are using resource management software to gather data to build your plan of work. Here’s a walk-through of the planning process, from zero to awesome work plan (and you can use our free work plan templates to save even more time!).

1. Understand the project scope

Before you can create a work activity plan, you first need to understand the project as a whole. Review the project scope and make sure you’re comfortable with everything it involves. Study the timeline, milestones, deliverables, budget, and stakeholders. Read through the short-term and long-term goals to get an understanding of what success looks like. 

Check whether you can make the project a success with what you have or if you need to rethink one or more aspects. Consider any challenges or constraints that you might face while managing the project. This can include a lack of resources for that period of time or a scheduling conflict with another project. Pay close attention to your project budget . While there might be some wiggle room, you want to come in on or under budget. Set your budget and stick to it with the help of Float’s  resource scheduling  tools.

Within Float, you can  set a project budget  by hours per project, fee by project, or hourly fee. Plus, you can do the same for phases—which is ideal if you’re working on a large, multistage project. Knowing your budget and setting it within your  resource planning  software gives you the best chance of staying on target. 

Once you’re happy you can meet the project scope, you can start work planning. Think about the different tasks and teams involved, and consider how to build this into a fully-fledged project work plan. 

2. Understand your available resources

To make your project happen, you’ll need the right resources at the right time. That means you need to know exactly who you have available and when. 

The resources you need to consider will depend on the project you’re tackling. Your human resources list can include full-time and part-time staff members, contractors, freelancers, or agencies. Beyond people, your budget, software, and materials are all other resources to consider. 

With resource management software like Float, you can quickly and easily see and assign resources to projects. It’s a smarter approach to capacity management , so you don’t end up overscheduling people or falling behind because you need an extra pair of hands. Float can help you track and manage your team members’ time, set their days and work hours, account for public holidays and vacations, and see at a glance if they’re approaching overtime hours. 

how to plan a work schedule

Using a tool like Float helps set your project up for success. Right from the start, you’ll have an overview of your people, resources, and task schedule. This means you can handle challenges, conflicts, and capacity in a more strategic way. 

Get a live view of your resource availability to plan project work

Rated #1 on G2 for resource management, Float gives you the most accurate view of your team’s capacity so you can schedule work with confidence.

3. Break the project down into manageable tasks with deadlines

You can break every project down into tiny moving parts that take you one step closer to success. Here’s where you map these out to create a practical plan of work for your team to follow. 

Think about all the tasks you need to complete to reach your project goals. Take your overall goal or project outcome and identify the major components. Next, split each area of the project into smaller tasks that you could assign to an individual. Once you have a list of tasks, figure out the best order to work on them. For example, you might need competitor research done before you can work on an SEO strategy. Create a program evaluation review technique ( PERT ) chart to help you create an achievable roadmap for your project tasks. 

Assign each section of your new work plan to a department or team lead. This holds them accountable and gives them the responsibility to motivate their team. It also means that everyone knows exactly who is in charge of what, so you can streamline decision-making. 

4. Schedule tasks for your team

Every task needs someone assigned to it, or it’s likely never to get done. 

With tasks assigned to departments, it’s time to drill down further and make those individual tasks someone’s responsibility. Resource management software makes scheduling tasks to team members easy. In Float, all you need to do is click and drag on someone’s work schedule to create a new task. You can then name the task, assign a client and project, set hours, and assign your team members. 

Sometimes tasks are a solo affair, but not always—which is why you can  assign a task  to lots of people or a whole team with a few clicks. This is great if you need others to check in on progress or if you’re happy to delegate management. 

how to plan a work schedule

Assigning tasks is easy, but you can run into trouble trying to motivate others to complete them. Float offers email, push, and Slack  notifications  so your team can personalize how they receive their schedule. You can also map schedules to a user’s time zone, making it ideal for distributed teams. This personalized approach means your team members are more likely to stay engaged and get things done on time. 

5. Check-in as the project work plan progresses

Any good plan only works if it’s followed. Be proactive and check in with your team members as the project moves along to identify issues before they become a major problem. Make it part of your daily routine to check in on your team’s progress. Review your plan of work to get a quick overview of whether tasks are being completed as expected or not, then follow up with individuals if you need to. 

Float’s  people reports  are a great resource for reviewing progress. You can check in on budget spend, hours worked, overtime, time off, and more to reassure you that things are on track.

Here's a quick video on how to monitor the progress of your plan in Float.

Why is a work plan valuable? 

Any great work plan should help you stay on time, on budget, and on schedule. It’s a  resource management  tool that gives project managers a strategic overview of what’s happening daily. 

That’s not the only upside to outlining a work activity plan, though. Creating a project work plan also gives you better, more useful ways to: 

  • Identify resource/scheduling conflicts or challenges as they arise
  • Help your team stay focused and organized on their workload
  • Look after your team members’ workloads to avoid overscheduling or burnout
  • Identify where a project might go over budget before it happens
  • Report on progress to stakeholders 
  • Unite your team to work toward a common goal to deliver a successful project in the right time frame

While  project planning  can help you plan and assign tasks, work planning takes it a step further. It gives you a more powerful, strategic way to understand and optimize your resources for both small and large projects. Your work plan outlinebecomes an invaluable document that helps you plan projects and track progress across many projects at once. 

3 downloadable work plan templates

Below are three work plan templates available for free download. These templates are provided in both document and spreadsheet formats, allowing you to choose the one that suits you best.

Simple work plan template

A simple work plan outlines the tasks, timeline, and resources needed for a project. It's useful for organizing small projects, like team initiatives, offering clarity on responsibilities and deadlines. Its advantages include easy implementation, clear task delegation, and efficient tracking of progress.

how to plan a work schedule

➡️  Make a copy in Google Sheets

➡️  Download to your computer from File > Download

Detailed work plan template

This template is more comprehensive than the simple work planning template. It's ideal for complex projects like product development or event planning, ensuring thorough planning and execution.

how to plan a work schedule

Work plan example (document)

This work plan doc provides the details of the execution plan to the readers, most likely team members responsible for carrying out the work.

how to plan a work schedule

➡️  Make a copy in Google Docs

Join 4,000+ of the world’s top teams who plan their work with Float

Float is the #1 rated resource management software on G2 for scheduling and tracking your team’s time. Get a high-level, accurate, and live view of your team’s capacity to plan work with confidence.

Seven bonus tips to help you stick to your work plan

Introducing a new way of working always comes with a few obstacles. From tackling a lack of engagement to making the most of useful features, here are some tips to help guide you toward work-planning success. 

1. Have staff members communicate when things are behind schedule

Life isn’t perfect. Sometimes things happen that cause a project to fall behind schedule. What matters is creating a work environment where your team members tell you as soon as they realize it’s an issue.

Have your team members check in with any challenges at your standup meetings. Ask them to be proactive about keeping you updated. Encourage your teams to request a call or meeting if they need to bring something to your attention. 

These unscheduled calls or meets can be tricky if you’re working across different time zones. Use Float’s status feature to share where team members are working from and when they’re available. If you’re using Slack, you can  sync your scheduled status , allowing you to schedule the conversation without leaving the app. 

2. Plan around dependencies

There are some actions you can’t take without something else happening first. Plan around these dependencies to help you create the best route toward your goals.

Make sure you have a good knowledge of the order your team members need to complete tasks. As an alternative, check in with the department lead to confirm that the order of tasks makes sense. If it doesn’t, you’re likely to fall behind or run into scheduling conflicts.

Plan where tasks sit on your project timeline based on their dependencies. For example, plan your new feature testing well before publishing a new blog post about it. Check progress on your first task, too, so you know whether to delay the launch, which, in turn, would delay the publicity.

how to plan a work schedule

Planning around these links between tasks makes the whole process smoother for you and your project team. Take time to identify and account for linked tasks now to avoid conflicts later on.

3. Have staff track their time

With so many tasks to complete, you need to know where your team is spending their effort in real time. The only problem? Time estimates are notoriously nuanced. Sometimes we get predicted hours right, with work going as expected. Other times the actual hours worked end up being different from what we have planned for. 

Ask your team to track their time against tasks so you're able to see how this compares to your predictions. The  time tracking  feature in Float gives your team pre-filled timesheets based on their scheduled tasks. This means when the estimated time is correct, it's easy to log your hours with a click. 

Plus, when the actual hours worked were more or less, your team can simply adjust how many hours the task took and hit Log . Project managers can track their spend in real-time to monitor progress and compare their estimates vs. actuals for next time. 

how to plan a work schedule

When a task takes longer or you identify a delay earlier in the process, your project can stall. Tracking your time from the start means you can spot these delays early before they can impact your final timeline. 

Time tracking  gives you a measurable way to understand how your resources are being used. Make this a key part of your work process so you're strategic about resource allocation . 

Did you know?

You can get a live view of your project progress by tracking your team's actual hours worked in Float. Compare your estimated vs. logged hours to monitor progress in real-time and create more accurate future work plans.

4. Allow space in your work plan for the unexpected

Team availability can change at the last minute, clients can shift project scopes, and sometimes, you don't fully know what you're dealing with until a project is in flight. Make sure there's room in your work plan to tackle any unforeseen issues without throwing the whole schedule off. 

Even the best of us can't operate like machines, so it's a great idea to give everyone breathing space between tasks. Don't overschedule your team members—instead, space things out more than you think you might need. You can always adjust your schedule if you find they're getting through things in good time. 

It's also wise to give your team members enough space between stages of the project or dependencies. If you're relying on one person to complete the first stage, schedule the second stage to begin a week or two after. That way, there's time to play catch up if you need to, and you won't impact the final timeline too much. 

The sweet spot recommended for  resource utilization  is 70 to 80% of a team member's scheduled time.

5. Give allocations to placeholder roles

We don't always have our whole team ready when a project kicks off. If you need someone to fill a role but haven't hired them yet, account for this. Schedule these tasks using a  placeholder role so you don't forget about them. 

It's easy to miss something if one of your team members isn't responsible for it yet. Forgetting about a whole area of a project can be disastrous, so make sure these tasks get assigned. While your new user won't have a name yet, their presence will be visible on the work plan—helping the rest of your team stay organized. 

how to plan a work schedule

Assigning tasks to a placeholder role also has another benefit. It means that when a new person joins your team, things are all ready to go. You can then update the work plan to feature their name and details, and it's as if they've always been there—no last-minute scheduling of tasks and hours to fit them in. 

6. Set budgets

One of the hardest aspects of any project is staying within budget. There's always a problem that crops up or an exciting opportunity you hadn't considered.

Within Float, it's easy to set up your budget for a project. You can set this in hours or by dollar value—whichever makes the most sense for your project or business plan. Use this in combination with milestones for larger projects to make it easy to view progress by stage. Once you've set your budget up, you can check your progress against it.

how to plan a work schedule

With budget tracking and time tracking, you have a powerful way to see exactly what's happening. You can estimate project costs and find out whether you're likely to overspend (and by what date) and take action to fix it. The same goes for if you're under budget, so you can commit more resources to your project.

how to plan a work schedule

7. Adjust your work plan when you need to

Your work plan doesn't need to be set in stone. Don't get into the habit of making changes every day, but don't be afraid to step in and extend a deadline or re-prioritize tasks if you need to.

The right resource management platform gives you a streamlined way to make adjustments and communicate them. After all, if your team doesn't know that a deadline has changed, you're going to run into problems.

how to plan a work schedule

With a tool like Float, it's easy to make these changes in moments. You can click and drag to adjust hours, change the users on a project, or create new tasks. Once you've made updates, team members will receive notifications on Slack or via email.

Type "@" followed by a person's name on any allocation note to mention and notify them. Depending on the person's settings, they will receive a notification via email, Slack, or mobile push.

Work planning with Float in action: Buzzfeed

Buzzfeed is one of the biggest media companies on the planet. It’s a company that moves fast, with hundreds of projects going out the door at any given time. With so many moving parts, everyone needs to know exactly what’s happening to hit deadlines. 

Working on 100 to 200 video projects at a time means the post-production team needs to be super organized. Team members fill in a project form, which coordinators review and load into Float. Then the magic happens.

“It’s in Float that we start creating and assigning the editing tasks and resources to get the project delivered. We add information like the project due date and budget so that at a high level we can see what our resource capacity and availability is to schedule the right team for the job.”- Leah Zeis, Sr. Director, Production Operations at BuzzFeed.

It doesn’t stop there, though. The team uses Float daily to add new tasks, reassign resources, and make changes based on the most relevant information. Thanks to Float, the team can see who has capacity and where projects can fit into the schedule. 

how to plan a work schedule

Curious about how Buzzfeed uses Float to power such a resource-heavy team? Dive into the details with our full  case study .

A better way to manage your work plan

The work planning process doesn't have to be complicated, though. With the right resource management platform, you can build your work plan faster and make it easy to manage.

With Float, you can see at a glance what your team is working on. It's easy to update deadlines, reassign tasks, and move new projects into a gap in your schedule. You can track your budget and make strategic decisions based on real-time data and knowledge. It's the smarter way to do work planning!

Ready to revolutionize your approach to work planning? Jump on board and manage your work plans with Float, the #1 tool for resource management. 

Start your free trial .

Workload planning in Float

Plan your project work with the #1 resource management software

More than 4,000 teams choose Float for their work and resource planning.

Related reads

How to create a successful resource management plan [guide for project managers], a simple guide to workload management in projects (2024) , capacity planning strategies (+ expert tips on doing it).

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How To Create The Perfect Work Schedule For Your Team

  • Employee Management , Scheduling

The perfect work schedule is something many managers strive for. Unfortunately, few actually achieve it. This is despite the fact that technology makes it easier than ever to streamline the process and get it right the first time.

Whether you use  online scheduling apps , have your own tools like Excel, or rely on the pen-and-paper method, there are some important points to keep in mind. These points range from building shifts around your best employees to planning for the worst to using the best tools for the job. This article will discuss 10 tips for creating the perfect work schedule for your team.

What Exactly Is A Perfect Work Schedule Anyway?

Before we can begin creating the perfect work schedule, it’s worth considering what the ideal finished product will look like. Let’s go over some of the things your business’s work schedule should do.

Features Your Work Schedule Should Include

First and foremost, your work schedule needs to ensure that each shift is staffed appropriately for each position. You may not need a bartender at all for weekday lunch shifts, but perhaps you need three people behind the bar on Friday and Saturday nights. Alway get the numbers right.

In order to do this, be aware of events—either local or national—that might cause an unusual spike in customers. Sporting events, concerts, festivals, and theater performances are all things to make note of. Also, keep an eye on the reservation list. Weeknights might normally be slow, but you don’t want to get caught off-guard the one time there are several large party reservations on a Tuesday.

The second requirement of your work schedule is that it must be completely free of errors. It probably seems like we’re stating the obvious, but making a work schedule is not a simple process. It’s much easier to make a mistake than it is to make a perfect work schedule. Here are the three most common scheduling errors:

  • Double-scheduling an employee. Say you have an employee who works some shifts as a host and others as a busser. Make sure staff members like this aren’t scheduled twice during the same time slot.
  • Scheduling staff for the wrong position. No matter how amazing a line cook is at their job, it doesn’t mean they know how to work the grill. Don’t schedule an employee for a position that they haven’t been trained to do.
  • Under- or over-scheduling employees. Be sure you’re not giving a part-time employee too many shifts. These team members might have other commitments outside of work that they can’t miss. Similarly, full-time staff need to be given enough shifts to meet their financial obligations. However, avoid giving a single employee too many shifts in any given week. This helps keep labor costs down, as you won’t have to pay out more money for overtime.

If you can steer clear of these three common mistakes, you’re on the right track. But what else needs to be done to make the perfect work schedule? Simply stated, the perfect work schedule is one that keeps you and your staff happy while maximizing efficiency and profits. So how is this holy grail of work schedules created? Start with the 10 tips listed below.

1. Know Your Team

Knowing your team is perhaps the most basic part of creating a work schedule. So basic, in fact, that you may be wondering why we even bothered mentioning it. We bring it up for the simple fact that many managers do a substandard job of really knowing their employees. Some even skip this step completely. All they’re concerned with is making sure there are enough people to cover every shift. So why is knowing your team so important? Because it allows you to make choices to further the success of the business rather than just getting enough servers for the lunch rush.

Really knowing your team members gives you the freedom and the flexibility to mix and match skills, strengths, weaknesses, and personality types (just to name a few) to create the perfect shift for any situation. To make this process easier, we recommend making a list that includes:

  • The employee’s name
  • Relevant skills
  • Certifications
  • Full- or part-time status
  • Overtime restrictions
  • Personality type (e.g., outgoing, friendly, introverted, etc.)
  • Other notes that you may find useful (e.g., efficient, can handle a large crowd, meticulous, etc.)

That way, when you’re trying to put together the schedule, you can refer to your list to find the right employee to fill a hole in an otherwise great shift rather than trying to rely on your memory. Then, as you learn more about your employees, add to the list so you’ve got a complete picture of each and every team member. Even a basic list of your employee’s traits and skills can make the next step infinitely easier.

2. Build Shifts Around Your Best Employees

Employees working a shift schedule at a restaurant

We all know who our best employees are. If you don’t, it’s time to make a list like we mentioned above. Consider traits like efficiency, personableness, experience, and how well they work with others. Once you have your list, build shifts around the employees best suited for that particular time.

This serves two purposes:

  • First, it ensures that the employee(s) most suited to each shift are working then. So, for example, the most efficient employees work during the biggest rush (lunch) while the more personable employees work when customers are more likely to linger (dinner). That isn’t to say that you don’t want some semblance of efficiency and personableness on every shift, but an employee who is more likely to stand around and chat with a customer for five minutes probably isn’t the first choice for the midday rush.
  • The second purpose served by building shifts around your best employees is that you know you have a core of experience on which other employees can rely. An experienced employee can quickly improve the quality of a shift because other, less experienced, employees watch, learn, and rise to the higher standards. This is true for brand-new employees who are still in training, as well as recent hires who have made it through training but are still learning the ropes. Mixing some of your best employees with some of your newer employees is a great way to create stability across all shifts.

3. Establish A Team-Wide Communication Method

People eating at a restaurant where their is a good employee work schedule

If you haven’t already, set up this team-wide communication method right away. With most people using smartphones these days, your best bet is to choose a method that makes use of this omni-present technology. Texting is one such method. Instant messaging is another.

Example of work schedule communication

Another great option is an app like Sling . Sling is a tool made specifically for restaurants so it takes all the guesswork out of this important step. Apps like Sling couple powerful scheduling tools with equally powerful communications tools. This allows you to improve internal communication through chatting and the sharing of messages, photos, videos, and links. In addition, you can communicate with a specific individual, a group, or all employees at the same time. These and other communication features make apps like Sling your best bet for team-wide communication.

4. Get The Schedule Out Quickly

The release of a new work schedule is always a nervous time for employees. Most will run to their own personal calendars to start planning their personal lives and to see if there are any major conflicts. Your employees need that time to adjust. On top of that, you need to give plenty of time for those conflicts, and the changes they bring, to be resolved. That’s why it’s so important to get the schedule out as quickly as possible.

We recommend finalizing and distributing the schedule at least two weeks before the end of the current schedule. This gives your employees plenty of time to:

  • Schedule and reschedule personal commitments
  • Trade shifts
  • Find a substitute
  • Talk to you about the days and times they work

The quickest way to distribute your schedule is with a cloud-based app. These apps allow you to produce one document, post it online, and grant access so your employees can view the schedule twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. That’s much faster than trying to hand out a printed copy to each and every team member. And as an added time-saving bonus, when you make changes to the online document, they are instantaneously visible to everyone involved. This makes resolving conflicts and making substitutions so much easier. It also cuts down on the confusion of having multiple copies of the schedule floating around. ADD_THIS_TEXT

5. Honor Work Preferences And Time-Off Requests As Much As Possible

At the most basic, honoring work preferences and time-off requests builds goodwill, increases employee satisfaction, and helps you retain good workers. It’s a pretty important part of the scheduling process, to say the least. It can also be an incredibly time-consuming part of the scheduling process.

But you can cut down on the time it takes to process all this information by keeping your employees’ work preferences and time-off requests in one place. It doesn’t matter if it’s a manilla folder, a quick note on your phone, or a document on your computer. What does matter is that you refer to the information often when creating your schedule.

One of the most efficient ways to do this is to use a cloud-based master document similar to the document you used to create and distribute your schedule. You can give your employees permission to add to this document and then ask them to submit their work and time-off preferences in this one location. It’s very much like having a time-off request box mounted on the wall in the break room, only this “box” is accessible anytime, anywhere.

After you establish how your employees submit their work preferences and time-off requests, it’s essential that you set up some rules to govern the process. You should address things like when employees can and can’t request time off, how far in advance the request needs to be made, and anything that is specific to your business. For example, because of the way your schedule is built, employees may only be able to take time off in blocks of five days or less. That should certainly be outlined in rules.

You’ll then need to set the rules that determine how you decide between overlapping requests that can become more and more common as holidays approach. You can tailor the rubric for settling time-off conflicts to fit each particular situation, but you should always consider things like seniority, reason for the request, what’s best for the business, and when the request was submitted. Establishing rules like these serves to make the resolution process transparent and clear to your employees. You can explain to employee A the specific reasons why you let employee B have the time off (seniority and employee B got her request in first), rather than letting employee A think there was some sort of favoritism involved. This keeps everyone happy, keeps everything running smoothly, and helps avoid conflicts between all parties involved.

6. Get Employees To Do Some Of The Work Scheduling

The thing about scheduling that most managers forget is that they don’t have to do all the heavy lifting on their own. Providing your employees with the opportunity to do some of the scheduling themselves is a great way to:

  • Take some of the burden
  • Keep them engaged in their work.

Consider scheduling one or two of your best employees for each shift as a way to start. Then give everyone access to this incomplete schedule and allow them to fill in when they want to work.

If you want to try this method of scheduling, allow changes for a set period of time (maybe two days) then close the schedule to outside alteration. Finally, go through and make changes according to what each shift needs. When everything is finished to your satisfaction, make the schedule available to everyone again.

If you’ve been scheduling everything right from the get-go, you might consider trying this new method for a few months to see how it works. Scheduling apps like Sling make this easy. You create a common document online and then give everyone access to that document for a few days. When it’s time to finalize the schedule, close the document, make your changes, and then reopen it for viewing. It’s just that easy.

7. Let Employees Find Their Own Substitutes

Giving your employees the responsibility to find a substitute to cover their shift when they can’t work is another way you can reduce your own workload. Instead of having the employee call you to say they won’t be coming in today, the employee can send out a notification informing everyone that he’s sick and that he needs a substitute. The team-wide communication network mentioned earlier in the article is the cornerstone of this process.

Other employees who are willing to work can respond equally as fast. Something that might have taken an hour or more and countless phone calls on your part, can now be concluded in a matter of minutes. That said, you should always have guidelines in place to make sure things don’t get out of hand and negatively affect your business. First, make sure that everyone knows that all trades, replacements, and substitutions have to be approved by you, the manager, and that nothing is final until you give it your go ahead. Inform all team members that this provision is in place so that each shift gets the right mix of skills.

Another good guideline to have is that all replacements, trades, and substitutions should be someone who has done the job before, and can still do it with a reasonable degree of efficiency. You don’t want a busboy subbing for a cook or a cook subbing for a server.

Requiring that they find their own substitutes is a great way to instill a sense of maturity and thoughtfulness in your employees. In addition, it helps employees feel engaged in the business and think about what is involved in the scheduling process. By showing your employees what is involved in creating a work schedule and finding substitutes, you can create a sense that the schedule is not something to be changed willy-nilly. If they are scheduled and they are able, they need to work.

8. Create An Availability Chart

Inside of a restaurant with a good work schedule

Emergencies will come up. It’s inevitable. But rather than leaving it all to chance, an availability chart can act as your “plan B”. The simplest version is just a list of each employee and what days and times they’re available to work. They may not be scheduled for all those days and times and, so, might be willing to pick up an extra shift here or there. The more complicated version is another full schedule listing available employees who can come in during each and every shift.

Think of your availability chart like the second string on a basketball team. If someone can’t “play”, you’ve got a number of choices who would be willing to come off the bench. Ultimately, this simplifies the substitute process by taking the thought out of it. It can also reduce the stress involved when the need for a last-minute substitute arises.

9. Have A Backup For Your Backup

The poet Robert Burns once wrote about the schemes of mice and men and how they so often go awry. It’s where we get the saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men…” to refer to the fact that no matter how carefully a thing is planned, something may still go wrong. If you’ve been a manager for any length of time, you’re well acquainted with this fact of life. So even though you’ve got your availability chart that outlines employees who are available to work on short notice, you may need a backup to this backup, or a plan C to your plan B.

That’s why we recommend setting up a list of trusted and reliable part-time workers you can contact when all your other options have failed. These workers may be former employees who left on good terms or prospective employees who interviewed but didn’t get hired. You may think these people would never be willing to come in on such short notice, but you never know until you ask. Former employees may look forward to working with your team again, and prospective employees may jump at the chance to get a toe in the door.

10. Use The Best Tool For The Job

If you’ve ever tried to drive a nail with a screwdriver, you know the importance of using the best tools for the job at hand. Creating a work schedule is no different. The right tools can make the job easier and quicker to complete.

Even tools meant for other purposes (like Word or Excel) can streamline the scheduling process when compared to the age-old pen-and-paper method. And now, with cloud computing penetrating every corner of the business world, free online versions of Word and Excel (e.g., Google Docs and Sheets) make the process even simpler.

So while you may already be using one or the other of these apps, is it really the best fit for the job? Is there a better tool available? For restaurants, there are tools available that are specifically tailored to the restaurant industry. Apps like Sling contain powerful features that help make building your schedule easier than ever before.

Because Sling is created specifically for restaurant scheduling, there is no complicated formatting necessary to get the schedule looking the way you want it. There’s no endless searching for a template that doesn’t quite work . There’s no trying to figure out a way to do something with a program that is made for some other purpose. All you have to do is focus on making the best schedule possible.

Then, during the scheduling process, Sling can notify you when you’ve double booked an employee. It can notify you when you’ve forgotten a time-off request. It can even offer suggestions to help you create the perfect schedule. When the schedule is complete, Sling can send automated notifications to remind your employees that the schedule is available, that changes have been made, or that they have a shift coming up. Indeed, Sling can provide everything the savvy manager needs to create the perfect work schedule in no time. It’s like having your very own personal assistant who does nothing but help the scheduling process go easier. And best of all, Sling is free to use.

The Best Way To Create A Work Schedule

An app like Sling truly is the best solution for creating the perfect work schedule for your team. It can help you execute all of the tips above as well as provide easy ways to assign and track tasks, create social media pages, and much, much more. Yes, managing a restaurant, or any business for that matter, will always be hard work. Fortunately, Sling can make at least one part of that job easier. Overall, it can reduce the time you spend on scheduling issues and making sure employees are where they are supposed to be at the proper time. So don’t wait. Try Sling today for free.

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This content is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, HR, or any other professional advice. Please contact an attorney or other professional for specific advice.

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How to make a work schedule.

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Before you start..

It is important to have a good understanding of what types of work schedules exist, which one(s) fit your business, and why having a well-structured and effective employee schedule is important. Creating a work schedule should not be underestimated or taken lightly, as it can significantly impact the success of your business.

What is a Work Schedule?

A work schedule is a predetermined set of hours, days, and weeks in which a person is expected to be available to work. It outlines the specific times and dates that an employee is expected to work and includes details such as start and end times, breaks, and days off.

Types of Work Schedules.

Work schedules can vary widely depending on the industry, type of work, and employer. Some common types of work schedules include:

Fixed Work Schedule

Rotating work schedule, flexible work schedule, fluctuating work schedule.

Fixed schedules typically involve working the same set of hours and days each week, such as Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm. This type of work schedule is mainly used in offices.

Rotating schedules involve working different shifts or days of the week on a regular basis, such as working mornings one week and evenings the next. This type of work schedule is mainly used in healthcare and other industries that require staffing on all or large parts of the day.

Flexible schedules allow employees to adjust their work hours or days according to their personal preferences and often goes hand-in-hand with working from home or part-time. This type of work schedule is a more modern variant that has been increasingly used in office jobs since the pandemic.

A fluctuating work schedule is a type of work schedule that varies from week to week based on the employer's business needs. It typically involves working a set number of hours per week but with varying days and times of work. This type of work schedule is mainly used in industries like hospitality.

Choosing your work schedule type.

Once you understand the different types of work schedules, it is important to choose one that best suits your company's needs. When making this decision, it is a good idea to consider factors such as your industry, your employees' preferences, and any legal or regulatory requirements. For example, a fixed schedule may be appropriate for an office job or retail store with standard business hours and predictable demand, while a rotating schedule may be necessary for a hospital with 24/7 staffing needs. A flexible schedule may be beneficial for companies that want to boost their employees' work-life balance, while a fluctuating schedule may be ideal for seasonal businesses that need staffing based on demand, such as the hospitality industry. It is a good idea to involve your employees in choosing the type of work schedule by gathering feedback and testing with different types of schedules. Ultimately, choosing the right type of work schedule can help your company operate more efficiently, increase employee satisfaction, and ultimately lead to greater success. In fact, the type of work schedule you choose has a big impact on how well structured and effectively you can work with it.

Why a structured work schedule is important.

A well-structured work schedule ensures that there is enough available staff to meet demand and perform the tasks to be completed. Having this in place will help to make expectations for your staff clear and avoids misunderstandings. This, in turn will have a positive impact on employee satisfaction and retention, as your team is able to tailor their work to their personal lives - and not the other way around. A common issue that loads of companies struggle with is determining the amount of staff they need. On one hand, if you do not have enough staff available to meet demand, you will encounter various problems. Not only will the workload be (too) high, which causes stress and fatigue. But productivity and therefore quality of work will suffer. This often leads to scheduling employees who are unavailable anyway, which increases the amount absences and no-shows.

how to plan a work schedule

On the other hand, scheduling too many employees can lead to unnecessary costs for your company. A poorly structured work schedule can also lead to employee burnout, as employees may be overworked or not have enough time off. To create an effective work schedule, it is important to consider various aspects of your business. Consider the expected crowds on each day, peak times, and weather conditions. It is also important to keep costs and revenue side by side to ensure that your labor rate remains balanced. One thing is certain - with a well-organized work schedule, everyone in the company wins. Employees enjoy a high level of flexibility, which has a positive impact on their morale and performance. This in turn is reflected in the company's bottom line, as customers are better served and productivity is higher, which ultimately leads to greater success. Which equals, you guessed it, a happy boss.

How to make a Work Schedule.

Before you start creating your employee schedule, it is a good idea to be sure to be well aware of all of the points mentioned above. For example, are you aware of the type of work schedule you will use, does it fit your company's needs, and are you able to ensure that your work schedule is structured effectively? If so, awesome - let's get started! When creating the work schedule, there are a number of points to consider. These include the needs of your team, expected crowds, your costs, etc. To help you with this, we have created a step-by-step plan that you can go through when creating the work schedule.

Step-by-step Plan.

  • Gather your team's availability

Determine expected crowds

Draft a schedule with (unassigned) shifts based on nr. 2

Determine if you can meet your required staffing needs based on nr. 1-3

Ensure a good mix of more experienced and less experienced workers

Complete the schedule and share it with your team

Keep track of working hours and schedule changes

Gather your team's availability.

Ask your team to share their availability for an agreed-upon period so you have a clear record of who can work when. You can use a scheduling tool to ensure that everyone can easily access and update their availability (see the image below).

how to plan a work schedule

Determine expected crowds.

Map out expected (daily) crowds to ensure that you do not under or over-schedule staff. Consider factors such as seasonality, special events and other factors that may affect demand.

Draft a schedule with (unassigned) shifts.

Based on the gathered information, you can create a work schedule for a period of your choice. Define the required number of staff per day and time period and process it in the work schedule. We recommend including roles in the work schedule (chef, front of house, bar) considering not everyone can perform the same tasks. Note: Keep in mind that local laws and regulations may require the work schedule to be available a certain number of weeks in advance.

Determine if you can meet your required staffing needs.

Now that you have both the availability of your team and the outline for the work schedule, you can determine whether all the shifts can be assigned to your staff without any issues. In case you're not able to cover all shifts, there can be different reasons for this. It can always happen, that by chance, a lot of people request the same day off - this is something you can simply not avoid. But if you are structurally unable to cover all shifts, you may be short of staff. If this is the case, you still have to come up with a solution to cover all your shifts. You can discuss with your team whether there is really no one who can pick up a particular shift or you can possibly hire a temp. Tip: Instead of manually checking whether you have enough staff available to meet required staffing levels, you can do this automatically with Workfeed .

Automatic Scheduling with Workfeed

Ensure a good mix of experienced and less experienced workers..

Before you finish the schedule, make sure to double check if it has a good mix of more experienced and less experienced workers on any given day and time. This will help you balance the workload and ensure that the team is always learning and improving.

Complete the schedule and share it with your team.

Once you've completed the schedule, share it with your team. Make sure to have a good way to distribute it so everyone can easily see the latest version of the schedule at any given time.

Keep track of working hours and schedule changes.

When the work schedule has started, the work does not stop. Firstly, the working hours of your staff will have to be recorded - preferably error free. The easiest way to do this is by using a time tracking tool like Workfeed to do it for you.  Not only does it automate timesheets, but it also allows your team to see their own hours and expected salary. Moreover, it allows you to give your team the flexibility and freedom to swap shifts as well. Making sure you have a happy team, as little administrative work as possible, and a work schedule which is always up to date.

how to plan a work schedule

Different Employee Scheduling Methods.

There are different methods you can use to create work schedules. And the question you should ask yourself is - do I want to work more manually and offline, or would I like to automate lots of tasks and be able to access everything digitally?

Employee Scheduling on Paper or in Excel.

Pen and paper and Excel are fairly simple and low-cost solutions for employee scheduling. Both options are easy to get started with and don't requite too much knowledge. However, both methods are also super limiting, time-consuming and prone to errors.

Employee Scheduling Software/Apps.

Unlike Paper and Excel, employee scheduling software/apps seems to be a relatively expensive option. However, it allows you to work a lot more efficient - saving you not only time, but also a lot of money. Not only can it automate a lot of tasks, it also reduces the amount of errors.

How to make a Work Schedule in Excel

How to create a work schedule for your restaurant, what is the best employee scheduling method, excel templates, free work schedule excel template, free timesheet excel template, other free excel templates.

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How to Create a Work Schedule: An In-Depth Guide

  • March 18, 2022

how to plan a work schedule

Staff scheduling is one of the most important factors in shift-based businesses. How you schedule shifts for staff not only affects your business operations but also influences employee satisfaction.

Many small business owners are the chief cook and bottle washer of their company. You’re in charge of everything, both the important and the menial. And good chances are you have to create work schedules for employees, too.

Creating effective work schedules can be overwhelming and time-consuming. In this guide, we’ll help you set up an effective scheduling system so you don’t waste time in the mundane anymore.

What is an employee work schedule?

An employee work schedule is the hours and days per week that each employee is expected to be at work. It tells employees about when and where they need to go to work, and how much time they need to complete the tasks of their role.

Besides, employee work schedules also affect:

  • How you pay your staff
  • What benefits you should offer
  • How you stay compliant with the laws
  • How you can engage and retain staff and keep them responsible

Creating good work schedules means you schedule the right workers to the right shifts based on expertise, skills, availability, and other requirements. Your schedules can be adjusted flexibly in case of emergencies.

But how do you know if you’ve created good work schedules?

Characteristics of a good work schedule

Easy to understand and access.

A good work schedule should do its main job—providing shift information for employees. Your staff should understand right away what shifts and tasks they need to work on.

Work schedules should also be accessible. When someone forgets if they’ve got shifts tomorrow, they should be able to check that information right away.

A good schedule shouldn’t be rigid and set in stone. Your shift schedule may change due to various reasons: local events, festivals, peak seasons, fluctuating demand, emergencies, no-call-no-shows, job abandonment , you name it. So make sure you can adjust your schedules without too much sweat.

To maintain that flexibility, you can:

  • Integrate planned and unplanned overtime hours into your schedules
  • Hire temporary workers and contract workers to substitute in emergency situations
  • Allow staff to select open shifts and swap shifts

Provide continuous coverage

For businesses that operate 24/7, finding coverage for breaks, shift changes, closing and opening times, etc. is important. Without coverage for those periods, the production process is interrupted and you’re not making the best use of the equipment.

To provide continuous coverage during those transition times, you can:

  • Hire relief staff to substitute for the main staff
  • Schedule fewer staff
  • Staff who work nearby the equipment alert the main operating staff in case there’s a problem

Match business demand and labor resources

Planning more shifts means you have to hire more people and labor costs will increase. Planning fewer shifts means you miss the opportunities to produce more and make profits. That’s why your shift schedules should match your business demand and labor resources.

Start figuring out your business situation and priorities, then adjust your shift planning accordingly. This allows you to schedule the right number of staff for each shift and avoid scheduling problems.

Decent payroll and work policies

Irregular schedules can’t have the same payroll and work policies as standard 9-5, Mon-to-Fri schedules.

If your business runs on irregular shifts, you need to adjust your company policies, bearing these aspects in mind:

  • Pay fairly based on the work hours, work conditions, and workload
  • Pay for specific time off or provide income replacement
  • Comply with the laws
  • Compensate for irregular work hours (overtime, night shifts, on-call shifts, weekends, etc.)

Made with employees in mind

A common mistake among business owners is creating work schedules to meet the needs of their business rather than the people who work in it. Because your staff are the ones following those schedules, keeping them happy and engaged should be your priority.

When people are unhappy, performance drops and resentment builds up, making engagement and retention a huge headache.

A work schedule made with employees in mind should include these factors:

  • Predictability: Last-minute changes should be minimized so that employees can better arrange their lives.
  • Breaks and time off: Adequate breaks and time off allow employees to wind down and come back to work feeling more productive.
  • Compensation: Rotating shifts, night shifts , long shifts, etc. are untractive to workers because they have negative impacts on mental and physical well-being. Without decent compensation, it might be hard for you to find and retain good staff.

But why bother yourself with so many details? Don’t you just need to fill open shifts with some staff?

Here’s why.

By creating effective work schedules, you’ll avoid scheduling problems and get more long-term benefits.

Common scheduling problems you’ll want to avoid

Word of mouth and scattered post-it notes.

These channels of communication are quick and easy, but the risk of staff forgetting what you say or losing the notes is high.

In other words, “Can you cover John’s shift on Friday?” may mean that your staff doesn’t remember to go to work on Friday. Without written documents and proper reminders, it’s easy to get messed up.

You need to set up a system where staff can view their assigned shifts and tasks so that they don’t forget any important work information.

And you can’t remember everything, either. So you need to set up another system for staff to send in forms, requests, and feedback, so you don’t miss any of them.

Overstaffing and understaffing

Overstaffing means you schedule more staff for a shift than necessary. For example, the morning shift only needs 4 staff to run well, and you schedule 7 staff for that shift. You have to pay more for the 3 extra staff (that you don’t need).

Understaffing means you schedule fewer staff for a shift compared to the shift demand. For example, the evening shift needs 7 staff to run well, and you only schedule 4 staff for that shift. This leads to staff feeling overwhelmed, slow service, and dissatisfied customers.

Scheduling the wrong staff

Scheduling a server to a bartender position is certainly a big problem. While some roles can be replaced by anyone, others require qualified and experienced employees. You don’t want to jeopardize your business because of this silly mistake.

Double-scheduling

Double-scheduling happens when you schedule an employee to be the waiter and the host in one shift. What if it’s a busy night? It’s surely difficult to both wait tables and bolt to the door to welcome guests.

Overscheduling and underscheduling staff

Overscheduling means you schedule too many shifts for certain staff. Underscheduling is the opposite—you schedule too few shifts for staff. Both cases cause big trouble to employee morale , as they’re either exhausted due to overworking or feel you favor certain people.

So, that’s the trouble of having ineffective work schedules. How about the benefits of creating good ones?

Benefits of creating effective work schedules

Reduces time on admin tasks.

Creating schedules and dealing with schedule changes is a time-consuming process. If you adopt the best practices for scheduling, you can save time and focus more on important tasks instead.

Increases employee engagement and morale, reduces turnover

Even though employee satisfaction is influenced by many factors, having clarity in work schedules is a big part of employee engagement and retention. According to a study from Snagajob , schedule is among the top 5 important factors when workers decide to take a job.

Small acts such as last-minute changes or scheduling someone while they’re on vacation may make staff feel you disrespect their work-life balance and preferences. Unhappy staff means lower productivity and higher turnover. On the other hand, engaged and satisfied staff are more likely to stay.

How can you engage your staff and retain them? Schedules that are clear, accessible, and predictable are the first step to doing so.

Stays compliant

Depending on where you are, you have to pay attention to laws regarding minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, employment standards, and more.

For example, if your business is in Delaware, you have to pay the minimum wage rate of $10.50 per hour (2022).

A disorganized scheduling system may lead to more unplanned overtime, incorrect payroll, or losing important records. A proper scheduling process makes sure you take those laws into account and stay compliant.

Manages your labor resources and labor costs better

With a good scheduling system in place, you know exactly who’s working, who isn’t, and even who’s late. Having a thorough overview of your staff’s time and attendance , you can avoid costly scheduling problems and control labor costs better.

Increases customer satisfaction

When you schedule the right people and the right number of people for each shift, your business can serve customers better. There’s no delay or obstacle in the workflow. Staff members are happier and more productive.

The right people are those who have the skill sets, flexibility, and morale required for each shift. The right number of people means the shifts are fully-staffed; no more, no less.

Let’s dive a little deeper into the actual process of creating work schedules. First, let’s examine different types of work schedules to see which one(s) will suit your business.

What are the different types of work schedules?

There are many types of work schedules. To choose a suitable schedule type for your business, you need to consider:

  • The nature and demand of the industry you’re in
  • The costs that go with the schedule type you’ve chosen
  • Your business demand and resources: the hours you need to stay open, peak hours, slow days, labor resources, budget, etc.
  • Your employees: their needs and preferences, how they can adapt to your business hours, how you can support them (provide nap areas or sleeping bags, for example)

If you’re not so sure, you can experiment with different schedule types and see what works best.

Below are the most common types of work schedules:

Full-time schedules

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn’t provide a definition for “full-time” or “part-time”. A full-time schedule often includes 30-40 hours of work per week, depending on how your business defines it.

Full-time employees often have a fixed number of work hours or workdays every week. The most common hours is from 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays, with a 1-hour break for lunch.

Most full-time employees receive salary and benefits such as paid time off , health insurance, etc.

Part-time schedules

As there’s no legal definition for part-time employees , most part-time workers have fewer work hours compared to full-time employees. In other words, they work fewer than 30-40 hours per week.

Part-time positions have more flexibility as their schedules often change on a weekly basis. That’s why part-time schedules are suitable for students and people who can’t work full time.

Part-time workers often receive wages based on the hours they work and don’t often get benefits.

Example: A part-time waiter may work on Tuesday from 8 am to 12 pm, Thursday from 12 pm to 4 pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm. He works 16 hours per week.

Fixed schedules

Fixed schedules mean the work hours and workdays are the same every week. Both full-time and part-time schedules can be fixed. Candidates and managers often discuss and agree on the working time at the beginning of the employment.

  • A fixed full-time schedule: Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm, every week.
  • A fixed part-time schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday—from 12 pm to 4 pm, every week.

Flexible schedules

In contrast to fixed schedules, flexible schedules mean the work hours change every week.

Flex workers often have a minimum of work hours per week. They select time frames when they’re available and employers will schedule them accordingly.

Some businesses allow employees to work a certain number of hours at the workplace, and then finish their work remotely. Some let staff arrive at work and leave work within certain time frames, rather than on fixed hours.

  • An employee works from Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 4 pm this week; and works on weekends from 8 am to 12 pm the following week.
  • Employees can arrive at work at anytime between 8 am and 9 am, and leave between 5 pm and 6 pm.

Split shift schedules

A split shift is a long shift split into 2 shifts, and workers have an unpaid break between the two. Workers aren’t very fond of split shifts because they work as full-time employees, but they don’t get a paid break.

Split shifts are quite common in healthcare, customer service, food and beverage, and transportation.

Example: A nurse works the first shift from 8 am to 12 pm, then clocks out and has lunch from 12 pm to 1 pm, then clocks in the second shift from 1 pm to 5 pm.

Rotating shift schedules

Employees work day shifts for a few days, work night shifts for a few days, then take some days off. Staff keep rotating between day shifts, night shifts, and days off, hence the name rotating shifts.

Rotating schedules are common in industries and businesses that operate 24/7, such as hospitality, healthcare, retail, logistics, etc.

There are actually many variations of rotating schedules, from Pitman and Dupont to 24-48 and 2-2, 3-2, 2-3 shift schedules. Each one has its pros and cons, and businesses have to adjust depending on their needs.

Read more: Rotating Schedule: Benefits & Challenges? How to Create One?

On-call schedules and standby schedules

On-call and standby schedules are mostly used in emergency and healthcare businesses.

Both on-call and standby staff are available to work outside of their normal shifts if called. Standby staff may not be able to use their waiting time for personal purposes, and may be required to stay on the premise during standby hours. On-call staff are less restricted during waiting time. They can go home and go back to work if called, or work from home if their jobs allow.

There might be a slight difference between on-call and standby schedules in some states, while in others, on-call and standby staff are similar. This can affect your scheduling practices and payroll, so make sure to refer to your local laws before implementing these schedule types.

Example: An employee works their normal shifts from 5 pm to 9 pm, and is on call from 9 pm to 12 am. This means they’re available to work from 9 pm to 12 am if the manager contacts them.

Compressed schedules

This type of schedule compresses work hours into fewer days so that employees have more days off. The 9/80 work schedule is a common variation of compressed schedules.

Example: Instead of working 5 eight-hour days, an employee works 8 nine-hour days, 1 eight-hour day, and has 1 more day off every 2 weeks.

A normal full-time schedule: 5 days x 8 hours = 40 hours x 2 weeks = 80 hours → 2 days off every 2 weeks

A rotating schedule: 8 days x 9 hours + 1 day x 8 hour = 80 hours → 3 days off every 2 weeks

Other common variations of compressed schedules you may see:

  • 5/4/9 work schedule
  • 10/40 work schedule

Read more: 9/80 Work Schedule: Pros and Cons? Should You Use It for Your Business?

Seasonal schedules

Seasonal schedules are used for employees who work for a temporary period of time.

This schedule type is common in retail and hospitality industries where demand fluctuates , and in areas where weather conditions aren’t stable.

  • Stores hire seasonal workers to deal with the high volume of customers during Christmas.
  • A ski resort hires more staff during winter months.

After deciding on suitable types of schedules for your business, how do you create good work schedules? Here’s a step-by-step process for doing exactly that:

How to create effective work schedules

Understand your business resources.

Evaluate what you have and can afford is the first step to building effective work schedules.

Analyze your financial and labor resources, as well as your payroll budget, by asking questions such as:

  • How much can I pay each staff per week?
  • How many employees are currently working at my business?
  • Do I have to hire more? Do I need full-time employees or contractors?
  • What are other costs associated with each type of schedules and employees?
  • How is my business demand during peak seasons, holidays, and busy times?

If your business operations depend on certain equipment, you can also plan the equipment in your work schedule to ensure there are enough staff and equipment for the shifts.

Identify the demand and needs of each shift

Some shifts are naturally busier than others. Analyze when your business is busy and when it’s slow using your sales history and past experience. If you’re new, you can observe and make adjustments on the go.

The general rule is to schedule more staff for busier time and fewer for deserted hours. But many variables can affect your staffing needs. How many staff do you need per shift? Is there a supervisor/leader role needed, or do staff work independently? How do you determine labor demand for each location if your business has multiple branches?

For example: Your coffee shop needs 4 people for a normal shift—a cashier, a barista, a server, and a dishwasher. On busy days, you may need to hire 7-8 people to meet the shift demand.

You may expect a higher volume of customers during peak seasons, local events, and holidays, so remember to check the calendar of your location .

Decide on the types of shifts

If your business already runs on a specific type of shift, skip this step.

If you haven’t chosen one or many types of shifts to run on, it’s time to do so. Besides considering your business resources, positions required, opening hours, you should also think about:

  • Does this type of shift allow more flexiblility in scheduling?
  • Can staff choose open shifts?
  • Can staff easily swap shifts and find shift substitutes?
  • Some shifts may face more time-off requests . Can I manage them? How?

Collect employee information, availability, and preferences

Scheduling staff is not just about filling shifts with the right number of staff. It’s better to mix and match staff whose strengths, skill sets, and personalities complement each other. For example, you can mix introverts with extroverts, senior staff with new hires, etc.

To do so, you need adequate information about each of your staff. (In fact, some regions require employers to record certain information of employees.)

Use a spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets, a note-taking app, a document on your computer, an employee scheduling app , or whatever suits your business, to collect these pieces of information:

  • Staff’s name
  • Certifications, qualifications
  • Preferred types of shifts (opening shift, closing shift, swing shift)
  • Preferred number of work hours per day
  • Preferred days of work per week
  • Full-time/Part-time
  • Availability
  • Overtime restrictions
  • Personality types (introverted, sociable, etc.)
  • Contact information
  • Other notes that can be considered in the scheduling process (hard-working, good at upselling, etc.)

Keep all this information in a place where you can reference quickly during the scheduling process.

Putting staff availability in a big spreadsheet or table also gives you an overview of your labor resources and hiring needs. You may notice days when many staff are available and days when there are none, and then make hiring decisions accordingly.

You can also share the availability spreadsheet with employees so that they can update their own availability and find shift replacements. This gives hourly workers more control over their work schedules as they change their availability quite often.

Research local, federal, and state laws

To avoid costly fines and unwanted lawsuits, you need to stay compliant. Make sure you research and thoroughly understand the local, federal, and state laws related to labor, safety, and employment.

You cant start with these aspects:

  • Laws related to the type of work schedule you’ve chosen
  • Maximum hours of work per week for each type of employees (full-time, part-time, etc.)
  • Payroll and benefits
  • Recordkeeping

Create policies related to shift scheduling

Setting up policies regarding scheduling and attendance helps staff understand what they’re expected to do and to avoid. You also know what steps to take when facing no-call, no-shows, tardiness, etc.

Some points you should include in your policies:

  • Attendance rules
  • Employees can only swap with coworkers 24 hours before the shift to avoid last-minute changes
  • What steps employees can take to call in sick, request leaves, select open shifts, or find replacements
  • What requirements needed to trade shifts; for instance, experienced workers can’t swap with new hires, or only staff with specific training and certifications can operate certain machines.

Related posts:

How to Create Attendance Policy for Your Small Business

How to Develop a Shift Swap Policy That Works

How to Create a PTO Policy: A Guide for Business Owners & Managers

Create a scheduling system

Basically, an effective scheduling system consists of 4 main components:

  • A work schedule maker: for scheduling shifts and notifying staff of new schedules
  • A communication channel: for notifying staff of new schedules, sending announcements, discussing shift-related issues, communicating with team members
  • A system for managing time-off and shift-swap requests: for dealing with leaves, time off, shift trading, and also recordkeeping
  • A system for managing time and attendance: for tracking staff work hours and attendance, creating timesheets for accurate payroll

Let’s go through each component.

Select a work schedule maker

Business owners use many different tools to make work schedules: Google Sheets, Excel, scheduling apps, papers, whiteboards, and more. Each comes with its own pros and cons.

Manual methods such as paper and spreadsheets are easy to get started, but they become too much of a hassle over time, so we don’t recommend them.

You should opt for digital and cloud-based solutions instead for easy accessibility and adjustments. We’ll compare the 3 most used solutions (Excel, Google Sheets, and scheduling apps) later in this guide.

Set up a communication channel

Shift-based businesses tend to face changes and unexpected situations. You’ll need a fast communication channel to keep up with those changes and keep everyone updated.

This channel should be a place to talk about:

  • Work schedule issues
  • Work updates and events
  • Time-off and leave requests
  • Chit chat and fun stuff
  • Sharing resources that help your staff improve their skills (articles, courses, videos, etc.)
  • Files, documents, photos, etc.
  • Anything, really

Common choices include messaging apps such as Slack, Messenger, Viber, or WhatsApp. Some businesses use Facebook groups and create threads to discuss work.

If you decide to use any of the apps mentioned above, you now have to jump back and forth between 2 different apps. This can be a hassle for those looking to keep their workflow simple and minimal.

Tip: Use Camelo to: • Manage work schedules and message team members in one app. • Chat privately, or chat in channels created for specific purposes.

Create a system for managing time-off and shift-swap requests

Businesses need a system for time-off and shift-swap requests because it:

  • Employees know where to submit their requests, as well as how they can do so.
  • Employers don’t miss any requests.
  • Employers can view, approve, or deny the requests easily.
  • Employees can check if their requests have been approved or not.
  • Employers can organize and store forms/requests for recordkeeping.

When creating this system, you should make these pieces of information clear to employees:

  • Steps to request time off or shift swaps
  • Forms or documents employees need to submit
  • How you decide to approve or deny requests
  • How employees can contact you to discuss their requests

Some businesses allow employees to find replacements and swap shifts by themselves. This type of flexibility can save you some time and energy. To make sure swapped employees are eligible for the shifts, you can let employees request your approval before swapping.

Integrate your scheduling system with your attendance and payroll system

The total work hours of each employee are calculated based on the time they clock in and clock out of every shift.

If someone asks for a day off, you’ll need to adjust your scheduling accordingly. If someone is late for 15 minutes, that will be counted into their timesheet. And their timesheet determines how you pay them.

So it’s important to keep your systems of attendance, scheduling, and payroll in check. Develop procedures that are consistent and accurate to minimize errors. Try to automate certain steps so that the results can be as precise as possible.

Tip: Use Camelo to: • Create and adjust work schedules • Manage all approval requests • Communicate with team members • Track work hours and export timesheets for payroll

Create a backup plan for emergencies

The problem of shift schedules is that changes happen regularly and unexpectedly. Staff may forget their shifts or not show up. Family emergencies may occur and staff can’t go to work. To handle these incidents, you should always have a backup plan in place.

If you’ve collected employees’ information in the previous step, use the availability spreadsheet and contact information to find suitable replacements.

It’s also important to create a list of standby and on-call employees, consisting of contingent workers, part-time staff, and staff looking for overtime opportunities. They’ll be available during on-call hours, so you can call them in cases of emergencies.

Assign shifts

Now that you have enough information and tools necessary for scheduling, you can start assigning shifts to employees.

If you schedule digitally, you can use the split screen mode to view multiple sheets/apps at the same time. You can also print out necessary documents such as the availability sheet and keep them next to you for reference when scheduling.

If you schedule on papers, remember to keep them in a folder for easy organization and avoid losing important documents.

Once you’ve finished, you can save the schedule as a template for making recurring schedules in the future.

Distribute the schedule

Some businesses stick schedules on a wall or a whiteboard in the workplace. Some send work schedules via group chats or emails. Others use scheduling apps to notify employees of new schedules.

Each distribution method has its pros and cons. Paper or whiteboard schedules aren’t always accessible to everyone. Emails and group messages easily drift away. Scheduling apps aren’t always free.

You need to evaluate your budget, needs, and how much time you spend on distribution to decide on a suitable distribution method.

Paper or group messages can be enough for small businesses with few employees. Larger businesses may need some automated digital solutions to keep the scheduling process organized.

However, if you want to avoid clutters of papers and many versions of the same schedule, you should consider using scheduling apps.

Schedule distribution can be the most time-consuming part of the scheduling process if you use manual methods such as papers or spreadsheets. An automated app makes distribution, redistribution, and keeping track of schedule versions easier: • You don’t have to resend the schedules manually every time you update them. • Every staff can access the most up-to-date schedule version with the devices and time they have.

Store the work schedules

Depending on where you are, there might be laws requiring you to keep payroll and employee records for a certain amount of time. For example, if your business is in the US, you need to keep payroll records for at least 3 years .

Set up a system where you can store work schedules neatly and find necessary documents quickly. You can use boxes, physical folders, computer folders, cloud storage, etc.

Then use methods such as color-coding, alphabetical and chronological sorting so that you know exactly where to find the documents you need.

The most convenient way to store work schedules is using cloud-based apps such as Google Drive, Google Sheets, Dropbox, or scheduling software. You can save physical storage space, access the files anywhere you are. You can sort the files in different ways and quickly retrieve any file you need.

Review and revise

By reviewing and revising your work schedules over time, you can create schedules that are more effective and accurate.

It’s important to review schedules in the past and spot patterns to see what works well and what doesn’t.

Some patterns you may want to look for:

  • Who’s more likely to work at which time frame
  • Increased leave requests during certain periods
  • How often your staff swap shifts and why
  • Which shifts need more/fewer staff

Then make changes and experiment to find out what works best for your business.

Now that you know how beneficial it is to have a proper scheduling process and how you can create one, here are some best practices you can apply.

Best practices for effective employee scheduling

Be clear in the recruiment and training process.

The recruitment process is all about finding suitable people for your business, so everything you’re looking for from a candidate should be clear.

State your expectations and requirements in your job descriptions , interviews, and conversations.

  • Are you looking for a full-time position or simply a seasonal worker?
  • What types of schedules your business is applying?
  • Do employees have to work on weekends?
  • What is your business opening hours?

This way you’ll attract only those who can match what you need and avoid wasting time of both sides.

Once you’ve hired new employees, it’s important to communicate scheduling rules and policies to them. This is to avoid “I didn’t know anything about this rule!”.

Distribute the schedule as soon as possible

Even though changes may happen all the time, waiting until the last minute to send out schedules is unprofessional and inconsiderate. Last-minute changes mess with employees’ obligations, classes, sleep patterns, and more.

You should release the new schedule at least 2 weeks in advance. This allows your workers to arrange their appointments, personal matters, and life events. They have enough time to swap shifts or find substitutes in case they want some time off. Distributing the schedule in advance also gives more time for adjustments and redistribution.

You can also publish the schedule on a fixed day of the week so that employees know exactly when they’ll receive their schedule.

Make sure employees know which version of the schedule is the final one

Changes have become an inevitable part of staff scheduling, especially in businesses that run on shifts. Every time you make changes, you have to send out multiple versions of one schedule. How can you keep track of the versions? How can your staff know which one is the final version?

Some business owners deal with this by setting naming rules or sending a reminder message to staff before the shifts. There’s a lot of back and forth involved to get this problem solved.

Tips: Automated scheduling apps automatically notify employees of every schedule update, so your employees always know which version is the final one.

Allow some flexibility in the scheduling process

Many businesses adopt flexible scheduling—letting employees choose their own shifts and work hours. Employees can select open shifts when they want more hours, or trade shifts with each other if they aren’t available for work.

This method saves you some time because you don’t have to do everything yourself. But to avoid staff swapping with someone who’s not suitable, you need to set some requirements for each shift.

As staff members have more ownership over the work schedules, unwanted circumstances—like someone unintentionally deleting someone else’s shifts—can happen. So make sure you can keep track of changes and avoid those difficult situations.

With an online scheduling app, you can: • Set shift requirements so that only qualified staff can take those shifts. • Turn on shift trade request feature so that every request will need your approval.

Rotate shifts when necessary

Rotating shifts enable businesses to open 24/7 and give equal work opportunities to everyone. Employees don’t have to wonder why someone always works during daytime, or why someone always gets the night shifts with extra pay and benefits.

Read: Rotating Schedule: Benefits & Challenges? How to Create One? [Templates Included]

Schedule so that every shift has at least one excellent employee

The presence of an excellent employee in each shift has 2 big benefits:

  • There’s always an efficient staff in each shift.
  • There’s always someone who’s experienced to help new hires or less experienced employees. They can observe and learn from this staff.

If you decide to apply this practice, you may want to be careful. Avoid acts of favoritism and unfairness as they can backfire on you. Your goal should be to help every staff become that excellent employee instead of letting one employee carry all the work.

Make sure the schedule is easy to read and accessible

An easy-to-read and accessible schedule keeps everyone pleasant and updated.

What’s an easy-to-read schedule? It should be organized neatly to avoid confusion. When looking at it, staff should know immediately:

  • The starting and ending time of their shifts
  • The location of their shifts
  • Where to ask for time off

You can color-code columns, rows, staff’s names, important information to make them stand out.

What’s an accessible schedule? Your employees can access it wherever they are and with the devices they have (especially phones).

Seek feedback from your staff

As your staff are directly affected by your scheduling process and system, don’t forget to seek feedback from them. They may notice things that you can’t.

Ask them about busy times, slow times, and when to schedule more/fewer staff. Ask them about what already works and what should be changed. Then make the right adjustments.

Types of employee scheduling tools: Excel, Google Sheets & Scheduling Software

Because Excel and Google Sheets aren’t specifically made for employee scheduling, it’s unfair to compare them to scheduling software. But as these are the most common choices of business owners, we’re trying to provide a closer look into the basic differences between the options.

  • Providers of these options may change their pricing or add new features.
  • Different scheduling apps have different features, pricing, and limitations. We’re trying to compare scheduling apps in general.

Employee work schedule FAQs

What are the best ways to create employee work schedules.

Cloud-based and automated scheduling apps. They not only make the scheduling process easier, but also solve common scheduling problems. This option may be free but come with limited features. You can try out the free version, and then decide if opting for a paid plan is worth it.

Another effective way is to use a combination of a cloud-based spreadsheet app, a calendar app, and a chat app. For example, Google Sheets + Google Calendar + Facebook Messenger. This option is free completely, but you’ll have to jump between many apps to get the job done. So it works, but we don’t consider it efficient.

How long should it take to create a work schedule?

The scheduling process , the tools you use, and schedule adjustments may influence the total hours needed for scheduling.

If you’re using manual methods such as pen and paper or a custom spreadsheet, you have to enter most data by yourself, which is time-consuming.

In fact, many managers don’t even know how much time they actually spend on scheduling. Knowing the real number can provide insights into how you can manage your time better .

You can keep track of the time you spend on scheduling, making adjustments, and distributing schedules by using a time-tracking app like RescueTime . Or simply observe yourself for one week and jot down how you use your time on a piece of paper.

If you’re spending over 5 hours every week on scheduling, you may need to look for a better alternative. Scheduling tasks can be automated using affordable digital solutions, giving you back plenty of time for more important matters.

How can I notify my staff of sudden and big schedule changes?

Sometimes, you may realize that your business should run on night shifts or rotating shifts. Or some staff may decide to abandon their jobs in one day (this sucks, but it happens). This is when you need to make the big and sudden changes.

To avoid dissatisfaction and resentment among your staff, try these steps below:

  • Organize a team meeting or 1-on-1 conversations
  • Explain why you make the changes
  • Ask if employees are OK with the changes and discuss solutions if there are conflicts
  • Provide guidance and tips on how employees can maintain their well-being and work-life balance
  • Provide tools, resources, accommodations, and support for staff so that they can cope with the changes better

Should I delegate the scheduling task to someone else?

If your business has lower-level managers, you can delegate this task to them. They understand the demand of each shift, the nature and resources of your business, and are close to workers.

But if you’re like most small business owners out there, chances are you have to do the scheduling work yourself. In this case, you can seek assistance from scheduling software without having to find a specific person to help with shift planning.

You can let your staff help a bit with scheduling by letting them choose open shifts, trade shifts, or find their own substitutes.

Why shouldn’t I use spreadsheets for employee scheduling?

  • They lack features made for employee scheduling : Spreadsheet programs aren’t designed for employee scheduling . They simply provide a space and tools for you to create work schedules on your own. You have to enter work hours manually. You can’t group staff by location, availability, skill sets unless you have advanced knowledge of spreadsheet programs.
  • It’s time-consuming to create, update, and maintain schedules : You may spend hours on formatting, customizing, updating, and distributing the schedules. Yes, even when you’re a tech-savvy person. We understand the fun of tweaking your own stuff, but you don’t have all the time in the world.
  • They don’t automatically give insights unless you know how to work with functions and formulas : Scheduling data helps you measure the effectiveness of your scheduling methods and how you manage your workforce. Based on specific numbers, you can see if your business is overstaffed or understaffed, compare costs with revenue and calculate ROI, and adjust your practices.

Why do some businesses choose scheduling software instead of spreadsheets?

Businesses switch to scheduling software because they can:

  • Send work schedules to staff and notify them of changes quickly
  • Track staff’s work hours and attendance accurately
  • Let staff view their schedules from their own devices, wherever they are
  • Put important information—schedules, work hour records, work messages, announcements, etc.—into one place for easier management
  • Have more control over labor costs

Experiment to find the right scheduling system

Employee scheduling can be complicated if you haven’t figured out an efficient system for your business yet.

We recommend you examine closely what you have and can afford, then experiment. One step at a time, and you’ll find the right tools, procedures, and systems for your business.

If you want a central system to create work schedules, track employee work hours and attendance, and chat with staff, give the Camelo scheduling app a try. Experience premium features for 30 days, and if you’re not sure whether to upgrade, there’s a free plan, too.

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how to plan a work schedule

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Work schedule planning: The essential guide for managers

  • June 2, 2021

Planning work schedules for employees can be a time-consuming process. Planning schedules for hourly workers in Australia can be even more frustrating, like trying to solve a never-ending jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces are constantly changing. It doesn’t have to be so bad. If hourly schedules are the bane of your life, follow these suggestions to make them less of a chore.

What to consider before work schedule planning

As with any complex process, don’t just jump in and start filling in shifts. The more time and energy you devote to preparation, the smoother the end process becomes.

Monitor and map your demand

You’d be shocked how many Australian businesses fail to take into account the basic need to track customer demand when work schedule planning for your hourly employees. Step back and take stock of how your business works on a day-to-day, week-by-week, and month-by-month basis, and let that guide your planning. What are your busiest and quietest periods? Are you in a sector of the Australian market where demand is seasonal? These aren’t questions to be asked once, but something you should query regularly. Patterns change, and it’s all too easy to find yourself overstaffed or understaffed because you didn’t notice in time.

Use past performance to predict your staffing needs

There are several ways you can predict your future staffing requirements based on past performance.

  • Staffing Ratio: Looking at your typical staffing ratio can offer a rough guide to working out how many new hires are needed and in which areas. For example, if you generally have 10 workers to every manager, then deviations can tell you if you need more managers, less staff, or some other variation.
  • Statistical Regression: For Australian businesses where income is closely tied to staffing, such as call centers, using a statistical regression model allows you to track when your most profitable periods were and see what the staff levels were for those periods, helping you find the most efficient size for your workforce.
  • The Delphi Method: For larger companies, this approach involves convening a panel of senior managers and external consultants to pool their insights and offer a roadmap for future staffing needs.

If all of this sounds intimidating, or if you have a new or small business where such data is limited, don’t worry. There are workforce management tools that can automatically provide this analysis for you:

Tanda Predictive analytics

Tanda will automatically generate labor analytics for your business so you can easily identify and deal with inefficiencies

Prepare a clear and concise paid time off policy

You can head off many work schedule planning issues early on by making sure your paid time off (PTO) policy is robust, clear, and up to date. Employees who know what time they are entitled to are empowered to make meaningful decisions about their schedule.

Your PTO policy should include details on the following:

  • The types of time off covered: Sick leave, vacations, personal/bereavement days, national holidays.
  • How PTO is accrued based on hours worked and how many days workers are eligible for.
  • How PTO can be used. For example, is it taken in units of an hour or less, or as full or half days?
  • How much notice is needed to book time off and are there any blackout periods during which time off cannot be taken, such as key retail periods.

The exact contents of a PTO policy will vary from one business to another. But as a rule of thumb, the Society for Human Resource Management says that most current policies offer between 15 and 20 days of PTO per year, plus any company-observed holidays.

Don’t assume that because you implement such a policy that workers will use it. A 2018 study for the Annual Review of Sociology revealed that many workers were afraid of repercussions to their job if they took full advantage of flexible working hours. It’s not enough to have more equitable scheduling ; you have to reassure your employees that they should take advantage of it.

Your work schedule planning checklist

Once you have done your top-level preparation, you’re ready to start work schedule planning for your hourly workers. Use this checklist to make sure you don’t overlook anything important.

Identify your needs. You’ve already laid the groundwork for this in the preparation process above. It’s the basic question at the heart of all workplace schedules: How many people do you need where and when? Don’t be tempted to guess. The Workforce Business Intelligence Board’s 2020 HR State of the Industry Survey found that only 21.1 percent of organizations have used workforce analytics.

Choose the right people. Employees aren’t generic widgets used to plug gaps. The more you know about your employees’ strengths and experience, the greater your ability to not just drop them into a schedule but plan well-balanced shifts that run smoothly.

Cross-reference your resources. Scheduling isn’t just about people; it’s about making sure they have what they need when they need it. For example, when are deliveries made? Who signs them in? Who moves the stock and how? Miss this step and your schedule falls apart when staff members have to leave one task to deal with another.

Check against safety regulations. Don’t assume this is only an issue for construction workers and similar manual jobs. Even a low-risk workplace should have trained first aid personnel on each shift. Check the Safe Work guidelines to see how many you need.

Fill out the shifts. An obvious step, but one that still requires strategic thought. You can take a top-down approach in which the manager sets the schedule, or a bottom-up process in which employees can request open shifts. Workers who have more control over their working life are happier and more loyal. So, if your business model allows it, a hybrid of the two will likely yield best results. Let Tanda’s analytics guide you. Working in the dark on staffing management makes for bad business.

Be prepared. No-shows and last-minute changes will happen. It’s frustrating, but you can minimise disruption by keeping a standby list of dependable part-time workers or employees looking for overtime to deal with these problems. Always do so in consultation and with prior agreement with these workers—nobody wants to have their evening plans ruined by a demand to come into work, and it may even be illegal to do so.

Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Whenever the natural break in your shift cycle falls, audit the performance of your scheduling over that period. Are there still crunch points with not enough staff or regular periods of over-staffing? Scheduling is not the sort of job that is ever finished. It will always be in flux to some degree, so use a tool like Tanda to automatically collate the data you need to make informed choices.

Communicate. Encourage an open dialogue with your hourly workers. Is the system working for them as well? There may be mutually beneficial changes that are invisible from a management perspective. You don’t have to cede control of how the business is run, but giving employees more say in their working hours is a great way to cut down on the churn of shift staff.

Follow these steps and you’ll find that work schedule planning, even for hourly workers, is a much more manageable task.

Why legal compliance is key to successful work schedule planning

Smart scheduling is important for more than just your immediate business needs. There are swathes of legislation regarding how and when people work. The good news is that following these laws should mean staff stay with you longer and are more productive when they’re on the clock.

Non-compliance naturally comes with stiff penalties, so understanding and following the law is vital. Wading through the details can be hard, and details can be missed, so using employee scheduling software that automatically checks your schedules against the relevant industry awards will give you peace of mind.

You can quickly assign templated award rules in Tanda. The system will then automatically warn you if your staff schedules are ever in breach of labor laws.

There’s one more thing you will need to be aware of when work schedule planning for hourly workers in industries like retail and hospitality. Tanda’s key alerts feature keeps track of your staff during the day of operations. If an employee works in a way that breaches an award rule such as maximum overtime, or even maximum working hours on a visa, the system will alert the shift manager. This helps managers stay on top of their compliance obligations without becoming burdensome.

When it comes to work schedule planning, expect the unexpected

Hourly work schedules may seem chaotic and prone to sudden change, but staffing management doesn’t need to be a headache. By accepting things will change and having a firm but flexible framework for the planning process, you can head off problems before they arise. Tanda can automate the most time-intensive parts of the process and make sure you follow the law in the process. The benefits to your business of a coherent and reliable scheduling system are higher productivity, greater worker retention, and better morale. And, of course, less stress for you.

Harry Spicer

Fair Work warns businesses: learn law changes and comply

Common pay issues this christmas, fair work hands out record number of fines, launches landmark legal case.

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how to plan a work schedule

10 Best Planner Apps To Organize Work Better (2022)

Jitesh Patil

Looking for the best planner apps to organize your schedule? This article compares the top apps for planning your day, week, month, or more.

But why do you need a planning app?

Juggling priorities, both on the personal and work front, can be tough.

Thankfully, today you have a number of software options to set a schedule and get work done. Plus, these applications are available for a variety of platforms — web, desktop, and mobile. 

How do you find the best scheduling and work management app?

That’s what this article is about. We look at the best apps for planning your work and life. Each app in this article serves specific planning needs. So by the end of this article, you’ll find one that meets your requirements.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Ready to dive in? Let’s start.

What are the best planner apps in 2022?

1. toggl plan.

Toggl Plan is the overall best planner app for businesses and teams .

With Toggl Plan, you can plan and track your team’s schedule using simple drag-and-drop timelines. But if you prefer Kanban boards to manage your tasks, Toggl Plan has them too.

Toggl Plan's drag and drop timelines make it the best planner app for individual projects and team.

You can also set color-coded milestones on the Project timeline . Optionally, you can share important milestones across other plans. 

You’ll also be able to collaborate with your team by attaching files and checklists and adding comments to your tasks.

Best of all, managers can see their entire team’s plan in one place. This helps them identify scheduling bottlenecks and balance team workloads thus preventing overwork and burnout.

Rebalance your team's workloads with simple drag and drop.

Key features

  • Plan project or work schedules (including time off) using simple drag-and-drop timelines.
  • Get a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual overview of the timeline
  • Share a read-only view of Project timelines with external users
  • Visualize your entire team’s schedule in one place to avoid overwork and burnout.
  • Track tasks visually on Kanban task boards.
  • Add color-coded milestones which are optionally visible across timelines.
  • In-app and email notifications when something changes in your schedule.
  • Integrates with Apple, Google, and Outlook calendars.

Online, iOS, and Android

Price plans

  • Forever free plan for solo users
  • Team plan at $9 per user per month: Comes with Team timelines and integration with Toggl Track for time tracking
  • Business plan at $15 per user per month: Comes with SSO, guest users, and data export for reporting

Try Toggl Plan for free .

If you’re looking for a free task planner app with a calendar view , Trello should be number one on your list.

Everything in Trello revolves around its Kanban board. You can drag and drop a task across columns to change its status and trigger automation workflows.

Trello boards make it simple to manage your tasks

You can attach files, labels, and checklists to tasks and collaborate with your teammates using comments. But that’s not all. Trello’s task functionality is easily extended to suit your workflows using add-ons (aka powerups).

One such add-on is the calendar view with which you can visualize your plans and scheduled tasks on a calendar.

Trello's calendar view makes it the best planning app scheduling tasks.

  • Plan and track tasks with simple to-do, in-progress, done, or a custom workflow
  • Visualize task schedules on a calendar view
  • Visualize tasks on timelines and maps (premium feature)
  • Integrates with thousands of other productivity apps
  • Automate task works with if/then logic

Online, Windows, iOS, and Android

Trello price plans

  • Forever free plan with unlimited tasks and up to 10 task boards
  • Standard plan : comes at $5 per user per month with custom task fields and guests on single boards.
  • Premium plan : comes at $10 per user per month with dashboard, timeline, and workspace calendar views
  • Enterprise plan : comes at $17.50 per user per month with multi-board guests, single sign-on, and unlimited workspaces

If you were to build a list of personal daily planner apps , Any.do would be at the top.

Any.do is the best daily planner app across devices

With Any.do, you can visualize your daily plans as a simple to-do list. You’ll see your to-do items segmented by when they are due — today, tomorrow, or someday later.

For each planned task, you can set reminders too.

A planner app isn’t complete without a calendar or a timeline view. Any.do comes with a simple calendar view with which you can filter tasks for a specific date.

In addition to to-do lists, you can also capture notes and file documents.

  • Capture and organize to-do items into lists
  • Set one-time, repeating, or location-based reminders for to-do items
  • Visualize daily plans using the calendar widgets on your phone
  • Add grocery items to automatically add them to relevant category lists
  • Re-schedule tasks for the day or week with a single tap

iOS, and Android

Any.do price plans

  • Forever free plan with unlimited to-do items and lists
  • Premium plan : $5.99 per month with advanced reminders, recurring tasks, and customizable color themes

4. TickTick

TickTick is the most versatile work planning app for capturing tasks .

TickTick is a versatile work planning app with location-based reminders

You can capture tasks using voice commands, by sending emails to TickTick as well as via Apple’s Siri app. While capturing tasks, TickTicks natural language processing automatically schedules tasks and creates reminders for a specific time or location.

  • Capture tasks via email or voice input
  • Organize tasks into lists and folders
  • Prioritize and labels tasks
  • Visualize tasks on a daily, weekly, or monthly calendar
  • Pomodoro timer and white noise for distraction-free work (premium feature)
  • Online, Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android
  • Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Gmail, and Outlook

Pricing options

  • Free version : limited calendar functionality
  • Premium version : $27.99 per year with full calendar features, progress tracker, Pomodoro timer, and white noise

Todoist is a work organizer and planning app for teams .

Todoist is a work planning app for individuals and teams

With Todoist, you can capture tasks for your personal and professional commitments. Once added, you can organize tasks into projects and subtasks.

You can also prioritize tasks, add projects as favorites for quick access, and set reminders for critical tasks.

Todoist also allows you to delegate tasks to your team and visualize everyone’s work on a Kanban board.

  • Quickly capture and schedule tasks using natural language processing
  • Organize tasks into projects and subtasks
  • Share files and discuss tasks with your team
  • See your team’s activity by project or team member
  • Visualize the productivity of your team over time

Online, macOS, iOS, Android, and Windows

  • Free forever : for 5 projects with up to 5 collaborators per project
  • Pro plan : $4 per user per month for 300 projects, up to 25 collaborators per project, and reminders
  • Business plan : $6 per user per month for 500 projects, 50 team members per project, and team billing 

Twobird turns your email inbox into a work planning tool .

Twobird turns your email inbox into a work planning tool

It works with Google and Microsoft email apps including Gmail, Google Workspace, and Outlook. 

Twobird smartly categorizes your emails by priority. Plus, it sets reminders for emails that can be tackled later. In addition, you also get smart notifications to avoid distractions.

  • Integrate with Google and Microsoft email
  • Prioritize emails and set reminders automatically
  • Get smart notifications for distraction-free work
  • Unsubscribe from unwanted emails quickly
  • Add notes to email conversations

Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android

Twobird is free to use for now and plans to offer premium plans in the future. 

7. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is one of the best online calendar apps out there. It provides one of the best overviews of your work, meetings, and daily agenda. 

Google Calendar is one of the best online calendar apps

Scheduling remote meetings with Google Calendar is a breeze. It automatically takes care of the participant’s time zones. Plus, with integrations for Zoom or Google Meet, you can hop into the meeting right from the notification.

  • Create events with smart suggestions for titles, people, and places
  • Automatically add events to calendars from flight or hotel booking emails in Gmail
  • Day, week, and month views to visualize your schedule
  • Free for personal use
  • Google Workspace subscription for business at $6 per user per month

8. Things 3

If you’re looking for a daily planner app for iPhone or iPad, look no further.

Things is the best planner app for iOS and iPad

Things 3 is an award-winning daily task planning app built specifically for iOS. It also works on desktop Mac devices.

To-do items in Things are organized into projects and areas. Areas represent each sphere in your life such as work, family, finance, etc.

  • Organize to-do items into projects and areas
  • Plan and visualize your daily and upcoming schedules
  • Set reminders 
  • Repeat tasks automatically on a set schedule
  • Integrates with Apple calendar and shows your events alongside tasks
  • Create to-do items via email

All iOS devices including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iWatch

  • iPhone and iWatch version : $9.99
  • iPad version : $19.99
  • Mac version : $49.99

9. Day by Day Organizer

Day by Day is one of the popular planning apps for Android devices.

It integrates Google Calendar and Google Tasks in one Android app. That way you get the best of both worlds — a powerful calendar with simple task management.  

DaybyDay Organizer is a planner app for Android

Day by Day keeps your Calendar and Tasks in sync. You can see all your events and tasks in one simple list. Also, you can plan and track tasks for a specific day, week, or month.

  • See events and tasks in one list
  • Keep your Google Calendar and Google Tasks in sync
  • Birthday reminder
  • Capture tasks and events with voice input
  • Agenda planner view
  • Free version with Google Calendar and Tasks synchronization
  • Premium version at $4.99 with recurring tasks, subtasks, and task priorities

10. Habitica

Habitica is one of the best daily routine planner apps that helps you form habits

Habitica is a gamified daily habit tracker app for individuals.

It gamifies your daily routine and encourages you to form habits and become more productive. Every time you perform a routine task on time, you get in-game rewards as well as praise from the community.

Habitica is useful as a student planner app to form study habits. Or as a fitness planner to stay healthy with daily exercise habits.

Best features

  • Track and manage habits, to-do lists, and daily goals
  • Get in-game rewards as you check off your tasks and goals
  • Battle with your online friends using these rewards to earn real-world rewards

Habitica pricing options

  • Free version to track your goals and habits publicly
  • Premium version at $9 per month + $3 per user per month for private group plans

What is the best planner app for your needs?

There are a lot of options when it comes to planning apps. You get apps for personal and professional use as well as individual and team use. 

So how do you choose the best planner for your needs? Think about it from these angles:

  • Does the app meet your/your team’s needs?
  • Does it make you more productive when planning your work?
  • Do you like working with the app?
  • Does it fit your budget?
  • Can it integrate with your existing work management system?

These questions will help you decide on the best planning app for your needs.

Most online tools, including Toggl Plan, have a free trial or a forever free plan. Use this opportunity to try out the planning software, along with your team before you decide on the tool of your choice. 

FAQs about planning apps

A planner app is a work management tool that combines scheduling and task management. It captures, organizes, and schedules work tasks using a timeline or a calendar.

A planner helps you and your team get work done by bringing clarity, accountability, and transparency to work. In addition, planners like Toggl Plan help you avoid scheduling conflicts as well as prevent your team from getting overworked and burned out. In addition, here are nine planner ideas to organize your work

There are many types of planner apps depending on the end-users — personal and professional work planners, paper and digital planners, team project planners, etc. In addition, certain types of planners are designed for specific use cases. For example, financial planners, student planners, health and fitness planners, etc.

First, identify the work you need to get done in a specific period. For example, a month, a week, or a day. Second, schedule tasks and projects using a timeline or a calendar while avoiding scheduling conflicts with other work plans, team members, and time off. And third, ensure that everyone’s workload is reasonable.

Google does not have a daily planner app. However, you can combine Google Calendar and Google Tasks to plan your daily work items. In addition, you also get Google Keep which helps you organize your notes and to-do lists as well as get location-based reminders.

Jitesh Patil

Jitesh is an SEO and content specialist. He manages content projects at Toggl and loves sharing actionable tips to deliver projects profitably.

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How Do You Use a Weekly Schedule Planner?

Using a weekly agenda is one of the easiest methods for time and task management. It helps to stay organized and keep track of all projects and responsibilities.

A weekly calendar can have many different forms and applications:

  • Class schedule template for teachers and students to keep a record of homework assignments, daily class schedule, and class times.
  • A planner for those who want to improve productivity, keep track of task lists, and establish a daily routine.
  • The work schedule for employees, usually in the form of timesheets , for keeping track of employee shifts and create a coherent shift schedule.
  • Professional planner templates for creatives and agencies responsible for organizing events.
  • Agenda for conferences or meetings .
  • A simple template for household chores.
  • Traditional calendars with sections organized in a monthly order with a daily planner; or traditional digital calendar templates.
  • Appointment schedule for logging upcoming events, personal or whole family appointments.

The weekly schedule template is easy to use. It has a simple structure of a table divided into three or more columns — the name of a task, day of the week, and duration of the task with due dates.

You can use it to record the progress of work, track time , make notes of important events, plan and schedule meetings and add any information you need to organize time.

You simply enter all the information in the columns and adjust it to your preferences. You can personalize it in many ways. It may look like a calendar or more like an advanced table. It’s a flexible system that can have many configurations.

👉 Check also our  daily schedule templates

How Do You Make a Weekly Schedule Template?

Creating a printable weekly schedule is not difficult. You can either do it yourself in  graphic design software  or use the one-page free templates available online. A convenient planner template is a good way to save time and plan ahead.

The easiest way to create a free weekly schedule template is to use Word and Excel . You can do it by creating columns for different entries, depending on what you want to use your template for. It should include the date and name of the tasks. You can make it for a five day week or Sunday through Monday.

But you can also add such items as project , team members who work with you on a project , appointments and people you meet with, time spent on a task, personal information, and anything you need.

In other words, you can personalize your weekly calendar as you wish. It can be a simple weekly schedule or a complex, creative template.

On the other hand, if you don’t want to spend time creating a weekly planner, you can choose one of the templates prepared by other people. Such templates are fully compatible with Word and Microsoft Excel, and most other tools.

👉 Read also about  the 4 day work week .

What Are The Best Calendar Schedule Templates?

On the internet, you can find a broad array of free planner templates. To help you find the best weekly planner template, we’ve prepared a comprehensive list. Here, you can find free blank weekly schedules for everyone:

  • Professionals working in various industries.
  • Students and academics who need a class schedule template.
  • Employees who need a simple and transparent college schedule to plan work week.
  • Project managers and leaders who need to plan ahead the entire week for all team members.
  • Freelancers to have a work calendar for personal use.
  • Field workers.
  • People who want to improve productivity.
  • Those who need a simple weekly planner for personal use.

There are different options for a weekly planner suitable for everyone, even for the picky ones. Take a look at our list of the best free weekly planner templates and choose the one you like most!

1) TimeCamp – FREE automatic weekly schedule

Using a schedule template is an effective form of time management. But counting the time necessary to spend on particular tasks isn’t. Especially, if you bill your clients by hours. That’s where  automatic time tracking software comes in handy.

timesheet timecamp

With TimeCamp you can automate and optimize work. Thanks to precise time tracking you know exactly how much time you have to dedicate to every task and project.

It’s also a good employee schedule tool that helps to plan the work of the entire team. You can see how and when people work, you can manage attendance and make sure things are going the right way.

TimeCamp is an automated  time tracker  that offers many advanced features that are helpful in organizing time and work:

  • Automatic time tracking  (also records websites/apps usage and other activities for easier timesheet filling). The feature assigns time entries to specific tasks. Stop using a  time tracking spreadsheet  and save time on tracking.
  • Timesheets with approvals (and the ability to export timesheets to Excel and Google spreadsheet); you can also download and print your reports.
  • Built-in and customizable templates of performance reports.
  • Project tree structure with advanced time categorization (tags and notes).
  • Billable and non-billable  rates.
  • Budgeting and invoicing to help you collaborate with clients.
  • Monitoring productive and unproductive activities.
  • Integrations  with the most popular productivity apps, communication software. project management software,  CRM , and many, many more
  • GPS feature (suitable for field workers).
  • A free plan for unlimited users
  • Project, tasks, subtasks, and tags allow you to easily follow your to-do list for every week.
  • Available for desktop or mobile device so you can access it from any place in the world.

2) Calendarpedia

Calendarpedia weekly schedule template

Calendarpedia is a website with weekly calendars, planners, templates, schedule layouts and dates of all public holidays. It’s a fantastic resource of calendars of all types – yearly, monthly, weekly, weekly schedules, split year calendars, school and academic calendars, and many, many more .

Each weekly template is fully customizable. Every week is on an individual, separately printable page – one for every whole and partial week of a given year. You can use the templates for personal and business needs.

Also, you can find weekly schedule templates designed specifically for Australia, Canada, or the UK. They include all the dates of holidays, Christian and religion-related festivals, and other special days.

On Calendarpedia you will find every type of template you need to organize your work and time to better coordinate week.

Weekly schedule templates available for :

  • Microsoft Word format
  • Libre Office
  • Google Docs
  • Compatible with Microsoft Office mobile for iPad/iOS, Android, and Windows 10 mobile

3) Microsoft Schedule Templates

Microsoft weekly schedule template

If you’re looking for a weekly planner template straight from Microsoft , make sure to check their  depository of free templates . It’s a good solution for avid users of Microsoft.

These planners can be easily adjusted to your needs — you can change colors, the setup, and add as many entries to the week view as you want. It’s most suitable for simple weekly planning for homework of a college student, chores, and straightforward workload management.

Additionally, Microsoft offers thousands of various templates to print in categories such as  business cards, calendars, invoices, agendas, business plans, financial management, memos, and many more. 

Together with the printable weekly schedule templates, it can create a database of all the important information that will help you plan even the most complicated projects and manage them in a transparent way.

Microsoft Word offers simple solutions while Excel lets you create advanced formulas that are helpful for analytics and problem-solving.

Weekly templates available to print for :

  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Compatible with Google Docs, OpenOffice, LibreOffice

4) Creative Templates from Canva

Canva weekly schedule template

If you’re more of  a creative person , especially a girl, a businesswoman or simply like original solutions, you will definitely find something interesting in Canva’s collection of over 1K templates.

Canva offers a selection of customizable, stylish weekly schedule planners to print that’ll get you motivated. You can choose from a variety of schedule layouts for different purposes – you can use them to plan a meal, meetings, business agenda, weekly work schedule and anything you like.

Canva’s templates perfectly fit in just one page and the daily agenda lets you see your plans and goals at a glance with transparent layouts.

To use weekly schedules, you need to sign up for Canva.

5) OnPlanners – Printable Weekly Planner Templates

OnPlanners weekly shcedule template

OnPlanners is a website with thousands of free planners. Every printable template has different planning pages and layouts. You can customize them as you want, download them, and print. What’s more, they have all the important elements a good  weekly schedule  template should have, such as  goals, reminders, events, priorities, and weekly to-do lists .

If you need more than a weekly timetable, you can look around the website to find something of interest. There are numerous weekly calendars, monthly planners, and many more. Check all agenda layouts and choose your favorite!

6) Pinterest – printable weekly planner

Pinterest weekly schedule template

You can find everything on Pinterest , beginning from funny memes to a weekly planner.

They are available in different layouts and you can choose from all the categories. You can find bullet journals, minimalist templates, hourly templates, a weekly planner in the form of a whiteboard, templates for work, family, and students, weekly schedule templates for employees, simple and complex planners, vertical work schedules, timesheets for Excel, black and white or colorful planners.

Everything you want in any type of format. There’s plenty to choose from!

7) Weekly Schedule Template for Google Docs

Google Docs weekly planner

Google Docs offers calendar templates for those who prefer to plan work and tasks online. It’s best if you get a template from an external website rather than directly from Google, since the options are limited. There are plenty of choices available on the internet. Just search for schedule layouts for Google Docs.

Also, in G Suite Marketplace you can find many useful  add-ons to tweak your template .

If you prefer, you can  create your own calendar in Google Docs . It’s an analog process to creating a template in Microsoft Word and Excel. You can later download your free weekly schedule template and use it in Word or Excel.

Google Docs templates are also compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, Libre Office, and OpenOffice. You can easily print them.

8) Weekly Calendar Templates from Smartsheeet

Smartsheet weekly template

Smartsheet , a project management tool, created 15 free weekly templates to help you assign tasks to appropriate time periods. These are simple solutions that allow you to keep track of anything you want – tasks, projects, and appointments. You can also create a to-do list, and set and monitor goals.

They fit on one page so you get a transparent view of your weekly agenda or make a weekly summary of the work week.

Smartsheets templates are available for Excel, Word, and PDF format, for Google Docs, and directly in the Smartsheet app. You can easily pick a weekly planner for your company to print.

9) Findmyshift – employee schedule template

findmyshift weekly schedule template

If you need an employee schedule template, you may find Findmyshift solution suitable. It’s a simple weekly planner for teams that managers can customize and print.

You can see the schedule in employee view or facility view. This template also offers  smallish features to customize it  — add employees, invite guests, add a message to the notice board to communicate with employees and colleagues, add time off and requests, send messages, and even see reports for budget, hours, time off, shifts, and more.

You can also set more detailed options in settings. Additionally, you can upload your template, customize it, and print it for your team.

To Wrap It Up

A calendar or weekly time schedule is a great form of time management. It helps you stay perfectly organized during the entire week, from Monday to Sunday. You can also use it as a reporting system that’ll help you monitor work progress and run errands.

Or you can choose an  automatic schedule planner  to save time and money and prepare a perfect weekly time plan with notes with your personalized work calendar. We hope our guide helped you find your favorite way to create a weekly time management schedule.

Happy planning!

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How To Plan for the Unexpected During Your Workweek

Posted: January 9, 2024 | Last updated: January 9, 2024

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Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on FlexJobs.com .

It seems like no matter how well you plan your week out, you get derailed at some point.

You’ve taken a look at your daily schedule, revisited your lists, and learned how to set boundaries. Still, something always seems to pop up and throw your workweek off-kilter.

The reality is that whether you work remotely or not, you have to manage the unexpected during your workweek. But the good news is that a few scheduling adjustments can help you work around them.

For most of us, once we’ve been balancing work and personal schedules for a while, we recognize the value in building a routine and mastering time management.

But we don’t always recognize that we need a cushion to avoid getting derailed and frustrated when faced with the unexpected.

There’s a lot that’s outside of your control, so consider some ways you can add some structured flexibility to your workweek to overcome unexpected obstacles with ease.

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1. Expect the Unexpected

A typical planning error is assuming you only need to make time for what’s on your to-do list . But new tasks of which you aren’t yet aware may present themselves despite your best-laid plans.

When you approach each workday expecting interruptions — from technical glitches to household emergencies — you’ll be less thrown off when they happen.

It might sound oversimplified, but plan to be surprised daily. You’ll preempt the panic.

Consider the role of an ER nurse. They have routine tasks, but they know that at any moment something vital could pop up that takes priority. While your surprises likely aren’t life-and-death scenarios, you can use the same philosophy.

Anticipating unexpected tasks and events throughout your day can help you regain a feeling of control.

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2. Build a Cushion

Practically speaking, you can take that anticipation a step further. It helps to do more than just expect to be surprised.

When you make specific accommodations for inevitable monkey wrenches, you’ll give yourself the time you need for both your expected and unexpected deliverables.

To do this, block out unscheduled time daily. That way, you’ll have the time to handle life’s little curveballs already built into your schedule.

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3. Add a Buffer

In addition to your cushion of extra time, which you can use as a catchall to catch up when you fall behind, it also helps to be proactive on the front end.

Schedule more time than you think you’ll need to complete each of your tasks. Play around with how much extra time to add so you don’t feel like you’re continually scrambling.

For example, if you need to write a report, create a realistic estimate — maybe two hours is what you anticipate. Then, schedule three hours for that project on your calendar.

That way, you’ll have ample time to complete it, and perhaps extra time in the end.

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4. Have a Running To-Do List

That’s not to say you should start underperforming. But instead of cramming your schedule, make a realistic plan of what you can accomplish with your buffers built in.

Then, create a running to-do list with rotating priorities.

If you finish your tasks and have free time during those shorter periods, start knocking out the next item on your list.

Suddenly, you’ll go from not getting anything done to doing more than you had hoped. This change in mindset can be incredibly impactful for you.

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5. Create Office Hours

If you share a space with others, they will inevitably want to talk with you throughout the day.

While you need to build boundaries that facilitate your ability to work, consider if there’s a way to move your schedule around so you have time for others to come in and chat each day.

For example, if you have kids, can you schedule less intensive tasks in the afternoon after they get home from school? Maybe they want to sit with you and do their homework or color quietly.

If you’ve completed your heavy-focus tasks earlier in the day, can you let them know your office is open for peaceful companionship for an hour each afternoon?

One of the best things about working remotely is that you can often find a way to make your own work-life rules.

<p>Are you intentionally scheduling time to get organized? If not, you might always be playing catch-up because you don’t have a solid plan.</p> <p>Ensure that you start your workday with a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished.</p> <p>Rather than sitting down and getting straight to work, set aside five to 10 minutes each morning to create your list.</p>

6. Schedule Time for Schedule Management

Are you intentionally scheduling time to get organized? If not, you might always be playing catch-up because you don’t have a solid plan.

Ensure that you start your workday with a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished.

Rather than sitting down and getting straight to work, set aside five to 10 minutes each morning to create your list.

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7. Work With Your Rhythms

Schedule the tasks that require the most attention during your most productive times .

If you need help determining where your energy is derailing, take a week to audit your time. Set a reminder on your phone to log your plan each hour.

Note the task you’re tackling and how long you think it will take. Then, after the hour is up, check to see if you were on target with your predictions.

You can see where your planning and tasking are misaligned when your task isn’t completed during the anticipated time frame.

Then, you can set yourself up for success by setting aside time to create a more realistic daily plan.

Rather than choosing the most enjoyable tasks, you can schedule tasks that require more energy during your peak energy periods.

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Expecting the Unexpected During Your Workweek

No matter how well you plan, there will always be events you didn’t anticipate. The water heater starts leaking, or the internet goes out.

But having a buffer of time built in and a running to-do list can help you quickly get back on track instead of being completely knocked off course.

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how to plan a work schedule

The College Football Playoff will introduce a 12-team playoff bracket for the 2024-25 season, expanding from the current four-team format.

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COMMENTS

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