A rotating schedule helps balance work hours and manage shifts for teams or employees efficiently. Excel offers a flexible platform to create an automated and customized schedule according to your needs. This step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of creating your own rotating schedule in Excel.
Templates
Creating a Rotating Schedule
Set Up Titles and Label Key Components –
Begin by structuring your worksheet with clear titles and labels. Leaving a row and a column empty at the top and left corners provides space for customizations and keeps the template neat.
- Start your schedule from cell B2.
- In cell B2, mention the company/project name or any heading that reflects the rotating schedule. Merge multiple cells if necessary to make the title prominent.
- Label cell B6 as “Teams/Employees” for listing employees or teams.
- In the second row, create a cell labeled “Starting Date:” next to the title. In the adjacent cell, enter the starting date of the schedule and format it as a date.
Automate Your Rotating Schedule Calendar –
Create an automated calendar that reflects the days and dates starting from the specified starting date. Using a starting date will help automate your rotating schedule for any month of any year, ensuring accuracy and saving time when updating the schedule. Displaying both days and dates adds clarity.
- In the cell next to “Teams/Employees” (e.g., C7), type
=AE2(assuming AC2 contains the starting date). - In the next cell (e.g., D6), type
=C7+1to populate the following date by adding one more day. For example, if C7 is reflecting the starting date, then D7 will reflect the very next day. - Drag the formula across the row to cover 30 or 31 days.
- Select these cells, right-click, choose Format Cells > Custom, and type
dto display the day of the month. Doing this will format the cells we just populated with dates and display only dates in digits. - For displaying the day name, use the formula
=C7in C6. Drag it across the row and format the cells withdddto show the first three letters of the day name.
Create the Settings Sheet –
In this step we will create a Settings Sheet; in this sheet you can define the teams or employees, shifts, shift start/end times, and working hours so we can use them in the main template sheet without typing them manually.
- In the Settings Sheet, title the first column as “Teams/Employees” or anything you prefer to list the names of all teams or employees. Now list all the names of teams or employees below this heading.
- Next to define shifts, leave one or two columns empty and label the next column as “Shifts” along with columns “Starts,” “Ends,” and “Paid Hours.” These would be the main headings of our Shifts Section in the Settings Sheet.
- Below the “Shifts” heading, list all the shift names you want to include in your rotating schedule. For example, in this case, we are using the names “1st,” “2nd,” and “3rd.”
- Format the “Starts” and “Ends” columns as time by selecting the cells, right-click to open the menu, and select Format Cells > Time > AM/PM.
- Next in Paid Hours cells, use the formula
=MOD(F5-E5,1)*24to calculate paid hours in the “Hours” column. In this formula, the cell E5 refers to shift start time and F5 refers to shift end time.
Reflect Shifts in the Main Template –
Reflect the shifts in the main template sheet along with their time duration. To do that, we can reflect the shift’s names in the cells we left empty—in our case, row 4—to reflect the shift names along with the duration of start and end times.
- Select the column below the date headers (e.g., B4), type
=and navigate to the Settings Sheet to select the first shift name. Press Enter. This will reflect the actual name of the shift that’s in our settings, and upon changing it there, it will automatically reflect the new name in the main template. - Merge a few cells to create enough space for the name, and in the next cell, enter
=again. This time, click on the starting time of the same shift. Merge a few cells to accommodate the starting time, and in the following cell, type – or any separator you prefer to display between the start and end times. Then, repeat the process to display the ending time of the same shift in the next cell. - Repeat for additional shifts, leaving gaps between rows as needed.
Automate Team/Employee Cells –
Now that we have successfully reflected our shifts in the main template from the settings sheet, it’s time to include our list of teams or team members. We will use data validation to create a dropdown list for selecting team members or employees.
- Select the cells under the “Teams/Employees” header you created in the template sheet. You can select as many cells as required to accommodate your rotating schedule. Then, navigate to the Data tab > Data Validation > and choose List from the dropdown in the popup.
- Next, go to your settings list and select all the listed team members or teams. Press Enter to confirm your selection.
- Once done, each cell will display a dropdown menu with the employee or team names you entered in the Settings sheet.
Automate the Schedule Chart –
To schedule different shifts for employees or teams, follow these steps to populate the shift names in the chart below the dates:
- Select the cells in the schedule chart under the dates and adjacent to employee names.
- Navigate to Data > Data Validation, choose “List,” and select the shift names from the Settings Sheet.
- This will create dropdown menus in all the empty cells in the chart area, allowing you to easily assign shifts to employees or teams by selecting the desired shift name.
Apply Conditional Formatting to Differentiate Shifts –
In this step, we’ll give each shift a specific color so we can easily identify the shifts when assigning them to teams or employees.
- To apply conditional formatting, first select the shift names listed right after the title section, then select all the cells under the dates until the last row of Teams/Employees.
- Navigate to Home Tab > Conditional Formatting > New Rule… > Style > Classic > Only format cells that contain. In the provided field, type the exact name of the 1st shift defined in the Settings Sheet. Choose the “Format with” option, and apply a customized format. Assign a specific color to the cells wherever the value matches the shift name (e.g., “1st”). In our schedule, we will change its background color if the cell matches “1st” (shift name).
- Repeat these steps for the 2nd and 3rd shifts by selecting their respective shift names and applying unique background colors.
- Apply the same formatting to the Settings Sheet for consistency by selecting the shift names. This makes it easier to recognize and ensures cohesive formatting throughout the rotating schedule.
Format Your Template –
Now that we have created a functional rotating schedule template, it’s time to adjust the overall formatting.
- Add clear borders and apply background colors to titles and headers for better visibility.
- Avoid adding background color to the chart area since each cell’s background color will automatically adjust based on the selected shift.
- Format the Settings Sheet neatly, ensuring it is visually organized and easy to navigate.
- Save the template file and tailor it to meet the specific requirements of your rotating schedule.
Tips
- Use the “Freeze Panes” option to keep headers visible while scrolling through large schedules.
- Create a pool of backup employees or “on-call” slots to handle unexpected absences or peak times.
- Add transition days when shifting employees between night and morning shifts to prevent fatigue and maintain productivity.
Important
- Avoid using a background color for the chart area that is similar to any of the shifts’ colors, as this can cause confusion when assigning them.
- Ensure that team names and shifts in the dropdown lists do not have duplicates, which could cause confusion when assigning tasks.
FAQs
A rotating shift is a work schedule where employees alternate between different shifts, such as day, evening, and night shifts, over a set period. This type of schedule helps distribute workloads efficiently and align with operational requirements across various timeframes.
In a rotating shift system, employees are assigned to different shifts based on a predetermined schedule. For example, an employee may work the morning shift for one week, the evening shift the next, and the night shift after that. The cycle continues to provide fair workload distribution and maintain operational efficiency.
You can add more rows to the Settings Sheet for additional shifts and update the dropdown lists in the main template with your additional shifts in validation data.
