FREE EMPLOYEE SCHEDULE TEMPLATE
Free employee schedule template for a small crew
A weekly work schedule in Word, PDF and Excel — crew by day, jobs underneath — with a filled-in example, how to build a week that holds, and what the law says about notice.
Word, PDF and Excel · Free · No email, no sign-up
The short answer
An employee schedule says who works when, and for a trade, on which job. One grid — crew members down the side, the days across the top, a shift or the word Off in each cell — a list of the week's jobs with their address, crew and start time, and a line of notes. Posted before the week starts, where everyone can see it.
With one employee it feels unnecessary. It isn't: the schedule is where you discover on Thursday that the ceiling needs a longer day, decide whether that's overtime you'll pay for or a Friday you'll shift, and tell Jordan on Wednesday instead of Thursday at 3.
Plan the week against the quotes you've won, write it on Thursday for the week after, and text the crew when it's posted. Then let the timesheet record what really happened.
FREE TEMPLATE · WORD, PDF AND EXCEL
The weekly crew schedule, ready to post
Who works when, and on which job: a crew-by-day grid, a jobs list under it, and a notes line for the crew. Free in Word, PDF and as a spreadsheet — no email address, no sign-up.
Template · replace the [brackets]
WEEKLY CREW SCHEDULE
Who works when, and on which job. Write the shift as a time range (7–3:30) or the word Off; the Hours column is the week's total for that person.
1. Who works when
| Crew member | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Name] | ||||||||
| [Name] | ||||||||
| [Name] | ||||||||
| [Name] | ||||||||
| [Name] | ||||||||
| [Name] |
2. Jobs this week
| Job | Address | Crew | Start | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
3. Notes for the crew
[Shift times include a 30-minute unpaid lunch. If you can't make a shift, text [name] by 6 pm the day before. Changes to this schedule will be texted to everyone on it.]
The spreadsheet is a standard .xlsx: open it in Excel, Numbers or LibreOffice, or upload it to Google Sheets (File → Import) — the totals are formulas and work themselves out.
A fuller schedule starts with being found
Start your website — fill next week's grid
Add what you do, your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line, with a page for each service and town you list. The empty cells on a schedule are the jobs you haven't been found for yet.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
WORKED EXAMPLE
The same schedule, filled in
Harbor Coat Painting, a fictional business, the week of the Ocean Ave repaint: the owner and the new hire on the same job Monday to Friday, a Saturday estimate for the owner, and a long Thursday that's what pushes the week past 40. Jordan Reyes's row is the week on the timesheet example — the schedule is the plan, the timesheet is what happened.
Example · fictional business
WEEKLY CREW SCHEDULE
Two people, one job, and the Saturday estimate that fills next month. Jordan's row is the same week as the timesheet example.
1. Who works when
| Crew member | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Okafor (owner) | 7–3:30 Ocean Ave | 7–4 Ocean Ave | 7–3:30 Ocean Ave | 7–5:30 Ocean Ave | 7–3 Ocean Ave | Estimates 9–12 | Off | 45.0 |
| Jordan Reyes | 7–3:30 Ocean Ave | 7–4 Ocean Ave | 7–3:30 Ocean Ave | 7–5:30 Ocean Ave | 7–3 Ocean Ave | Off | Off | 42.0 |
2. Jobs this week
| Job | Address | Crew | Start | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior repaint | 42 Ocean Ave, Portland | Sam + Jordan | Mon 7:00 | Living room, hallway, two bedrooms. Walls Mon–Wed, trim and ceiling Thu, touch-ups Fri. |
| Exterior estimate | 118 Pine St, Portland | Sam | Sat 9:00 | Bring the color deck. Quote by Tuesday. |
3. Notes for the crew
Shift times include a 30-minute unpaid lunch. Jordan: Thursday runs late for the ceiling — that's what pushes the week past 40, and it's on the timesheet. Can't make a shift? Text Sam by 6 pm the day before.
Every detail is an example. The owner's hours are on the sheet for planning, not pay — an owner isn't an employee of their own sole proprietorship.
LINE BY LINE
What goes on a work schedule
Every part of the template, and what to write in it.
| The line | What to put there |
|---|---|
| Business, week of, posted, questions | Which week (the Monday), when you posted it, and who to call about it. The posted date is your record of how much notice the crew got. |
| Crew member rows | One row per person, including you. Shift as a time range — 7–3:30 — or Off. Write the job in the cell too (7–3:30 Ocean Ave) so a two-job day is obvious. |
| The Hours column | The week's total per person, so you see overtime coming before it happens: a 42 in Jordan's row on Thursday is a decision, not a surprise on payday. |
| Jobs this week | Every job with its address, crew, start time and a note — what's being done each day, what to bring, when the quote promised it'd be finished. |
| Notes for the crew | The standing rules: lunch is 30 minutes unpaid, text by 6 pm if you can't make a shift, changes go out by text. Short, and the same every week. |
| Days off and part-timers | Write Off, not a blank — a blank is a question. For a part-timer, write the agreed days on the row and leave the others Off. |
STEP BY STEP
How to make an employee schedule
Twenty minutes on Thursday, for the week after.
List the jobs you've won
From the accepted quotes: address, how many crew-days each needs, and the date you promised. Those are the blocks you're placing.
Place the jobs on the days
Biggest job first. Give each job the crew it needs and the days in a row — one job split across a week costs you two extra setups.
Fill each person's row
Shift times and the job per day. Keep the start time the same every day if you can; a crew that knows it's 7:00 is a crew that's there at 7:00.
Total the hours and check for overtime
Add each row. Over 40 under the federal rule, or over 8 in a day in a state that counts days: decide now whether to pay it or move a job.
Add the jobs list and the notes
Addresses, start times, what to bring, the standing rules. The crew reads this from a phone in the van — keep it short.
Post it, text it, keep it
Print it for the shop wall, text a photo to everyone on it, and file it with the timesheets — schedules are among the records the US rules say to keep two years.
Notice, overtime and the law on schedules
Notice. In the US there's no federal rule on how much notice a work schedule needs. Oregon requires large retail, hospitality and food-service employers — 500 or more employees worldwide — to post written schedules 14 days ahead and pay for last-minute changes, and some cities have rules of their own for big employers; a trade crew of two is nowhere near those thresholds, but a week's notice is still the habit that keeps good people. Check your state's rules or ask an employment lawyer.
Overtime starts on the schedule. In the US, federal law (the Fair Labor Standards Act) pays non-exempt employees at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek — a fixed, recurring seven days — and it does not require overtime for weekends or holidays as such, or for a long day inside a 40-hour week. A few states count the day too: California pays time and a half past 8 hours in a day (double past 12; on a seventh straight day of work, time and a half for the first 8 hours and double after that), Alaska past 8 hours in a day for employers with four or more employees, and Colorado past 12 hours in a day. Each week stands alone — hours can't be averaged across two weeks. The schedule is where you see a 42-hour week before it's worked — which is the moment to decide whether to pay it or shift a job. In the UK there is no legal overtime rate — the contract sets it, average pay must stay above the National Minimum Wage, and most workers can't be made to average more than 48 hours a week. In Australia the award or registered agreement for the trade sets when overtime starts and what it pays. Check your state's rules or ask an employment lawyer.
Keep the schedules. In the US, work and time schedules are among the records an employer keeps for two years, with the timesheets they're checked against. Check your state's rules or ask an employment lawyer.
Shift schedule, work schedule, roster — same sheet. A shift schedule for a shop with set shifts (open, mid, close) is this grid with the shift name in the cell instead of the job; a roster is the same word in Australia and the UK. Pair it with the timesheet template so the plan and the record sit side by side, and with the profit and loss statement at the end of the month — a full schedule is next month's income line.
Employee schedules: common questions
Yes. The weekly crew schedule downloads free as a Word document, a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet (which Google Sheets imports) — no email address, no sign-up.
In the US there's no federal rule on how much notice a work schedule needs. Oregon requires large retail, hospitality and food-service employers — 500 or more employees worldwide — to post written schedules 14 days ahead and pay for last-minute changes, and some cities have rules of their own for big employers; a trade crew of two is nowhere near those thresholds, but a week's notice is still the habit that keeps good people. Check your state's rules or ask an employment lawyer.
Total each person's row before you post. In the US, federal law (the Fair Labor Standards Act) pays non-exempt employees at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek — a fixed, recurring seven days — and it does not require overtime for weekends or holidays as such, or for a long day inside a 40-hour week. A few states count the day too: California pays time and a half past 8 hours in a day (double past 12; on a seventh straight day of work, time and a half for the first 8 hours and double after that), Alaska past 8 hours in a day for employers with four or more employees, and Colorado past 12 hours in a day. Each week stands alone — hours can't be averaged across two weeks. If a row shows 42, move a half-day to the following week or to the other crew member — or pay it, knowingly. Check your state's rules or ask an employment lawyer.
A work schedule says who works which days and hours; a shift schedule divides the day into fixed shifts (open, mid, close) and assigns people to them. For a trade crew the work schedule with the job in each cell is the useful one; for a shop or a salon, write the shift name in the cell instead.
Yes, for planning — the crew needs to know when you're on the job and when you're out quoting. Your hours aren't paid hours in the overtime sense (an owner isn't an employee of their own sole proprietorship), so the Hours column on your row is information, not payroll.
Text everyone on the schedule, then update the posted copy. Write the standing rule in the notes — changes go out by text, call-outs by 6 pm the day before — so nobody argues about how they should have been told.
No. Zarla builds your website and runs quotes, invoices and inquiries from one dashboard; the schedule lives on this sheet or in scheduling software. The accepted quotes in the quoting tool are the list of jobs you're scheduling.
Sources
Read October 26, 2026.
- Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries — Predictive scheduling — retail, hospitality and food-service employers with 500 or more employees worldwide; written schedules 14 days ahead; pay for changes
- US Department of Labor — Overtime Pay (FLSA) — time and a half past 40 hours in a workweek
- US Department of Labor — Fact Sheet #23, Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA — the fixed workweek; no averaging across weeks (revised October 2019)
- US Department of Labor — Fact Sheet #21, Recordkeeping Requirements Under the FLSA — work and time schedules kept two years (revised July 2008)
- California Department of Industrial Relations — Overtime FAQ — daily overtime past 8 hours
- Alaska Department of Labor — Wage and Hour FAQ — daily overtime past 8 hours, employers with four or more employees
- Colorado Department of Labor and Employment — COMPS Order — overtime past 12 hours in a day
- GOV.UK — Maximum weekly working hours — the 48-hour average
- GOV.UK — Overtime: your rights — no legal overtime rate in the UK
- Fair Work Ombudsman (Australia) — Overtime pay — set by the award or agreement (updated August 10, 2026)
Fill the schedule, not just the week
Add what you do, your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line — with quotes, invoices and your inquiries in the same dashboard.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.