Among a company's resources, its employees are one of the most important. It is through their efforts and productivity that a business can develop and generate money. And since these employees are fundamental, managers must deal with some basic needs and specific demands. One of them is vacation requests. 

And to help manage employees' vacation requests, many companies use a team vacation calendar or a specific vacation planner in programs such as Microsoft Office Excel. Any business must track vacation days to make sure all employees have their rights granted and that they can enjoy unused vacation days. 

And the best thing is that making an Excel vacation calendar is extremely easy. This means you don’t need to go for programs such as Google Calendar, Google Sheets, or other more complicated calendar software. The best solution is to open Microsoft Excel and work on your employee vacation calendar. We will show managers how soon.

Not using a vacation tracker or any vacation calendar is a problem and will make your company lose money. First, not answering the employees’ vacation requests will undoubtedly lead to a drop in productivity and, in worst cases, can make employees leave the company. This isn’t good because hiring and preparing a new employee can be expensive. That’s why things like an Excel calendar for vacation tracking are essential. 

Other solutions, such as remote work, are good alternatives, but, in the end, working remotely isn’t the same, and your employees will request their rest time or payment for such hours, which means more money spent at the end of the month. A vacation calendar is a great tool and will help you save these resources. You will also track other time off, such as sick leave and other staff members' time off.

There are several calendar software you can use to create a vacation calendar. The process for doing so may also change from one software to another and from company to company. Factors that can impact are the work journey, the number of teams, and the company’s employees. Let’s see a little more about team vacation calendar creation. 

Choosing Excel Vacation Calendar

With a vacation calendar, managers can control employee rotation and be able to manage things every time someone asks for a leave request.

An Excel vacation calendar will grant you all the freedom the already well-known Microsoft Office application is famous for. The HR manager will be free to manipulate all the cells the way it fits better for your business. 

Besides, many companies don’t have the money to buy expensive and complicated vacation tracker software. The office has excellent cost-effectiveness and can be used by several teams, managers, and processes inside the company. To complete, you can access pre-made templates with a few clicks.

Creating a Vacation Tracker Spreadsheet With Excel

Tracking absence numbers and scheduling employee vacation dates is easy. All you need to start creating your spreadsheets is to follow these simple steps.

• Open Excel.
• Go to File > New, and choose Available Templates.
• Find the Schedule option.
• Pick a business schedule and select the template that matches the company’s expectations.
• After choosing the template you want, you just need to click download, and there you go.

After that comes the traditional and manual work Excel worksheet traditionally demands. Whether you are using a template or creating a vacation calendar from scratch, you will need to fill it with the employees' names and all the vacation-related information. 

Some valuable data may include the last leave request, the number of requests made before, and the last registered vacation period. You can also use complementary software such as Slack, so all your employees have a specific channel to request vacations and to communicate with the HR manager.

Other Useful Information About Vacations and Off Days

Besides using an Excel spreadsheet or other software to manage vacations and control the employee workflow, there are several measures businesses can’t forget if the administrators want to keep a better track before they approve employee vacations. Let’s see some solutions that go beyond good vacation software.

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Create a Vacation Request Procedure

The first solution you can apply is to create a request procedure all the employees must fulfill before having their vacation demands analyzed by businesses. This will centralize all the requests in one place and help you manage and monitor all the possible absences before determining which will be approved.

Things you must be sure to demand on this procedure are deadlining for submitting a request, the exact number of days, and the period of absence, for example. Other information may be demanded, such as company events and holidays, which are good examples you may prefer to review before your HR department makes a decision. 

Make Your Absence Policy Clear

All employees must understand your vacation and time off policy. They must be aware of all the needs and company demands to access the procedure to make a request. Your managers can only approve the requests once the policy rules are fully respected. 

This solution is essential because it ensures employees are not apprehensive about asking for vacation or absences. They will also respect the company rules instead of supposing they can take a day off whenever they want. 

You can put a vacation policy in an employee handbook, so they have such information at any time. Another good idea may be to ask them to assign a document confirming they read the directory and know everything it contains. 

Prioritize Specific Requests on Your Vacation Calendar

As the business grows, many employees will start meeting the demands for a vacation period. You won’t be able to send them off together, which means that some will have their requests denied or postponed to keep a good workflow. Since you can’t send all the employees on vacation simultaneously, you need to look at some details about each person to decide which request will be prioritized.

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One way to decide is by considering the employee request date. This method will ensure that the employee who sent the request first will have the vacation approved, while others will have to run for days off at another moment. 

Another way is to consider seniority. In this case, if other measuring patterns match, you decide based on how much time each employee works in the company. You just need to consider that choosing this pattern may lead to problems with the most recent employees. To complete, you can also consider the last vacation period, sick leave, or day off request. In theory, those working more deserve to have the vacation approved first.

Plan Your Low and High Seasons

Another good way is to determine and even have on the handbook the low and high seasons of your office or department. That way, you can incentivize employees to go off during the low season and be present during the high season, when you will need them most. Of course, this won’t always be possible, but having these periods spread in a platform will help you organize vacation dates and keep everyone happy.

We passed through everything we had to discuss. Now, it is time for some templates you can download and make your business endeavors even easier. 

Absence Tracking Template (Excel)

You can get this free vacation calendar template here

Leave Tracker Template (Excel)

You can get this free vacation calendar template here

Employee Absence Schedule Template (Excel)

You can get this free Vacation Calendar template here

Since we are using Microsoft Office, specifically Excel, to make the vacation calendar of your company, it is also a great idea to point out a website where you can get MS Office keys for the best prices available in the market. This is RoyalCDKeys!

We offer you safe and working keys for MS Office, so you can take advantage of everything this incredible suite offers. The office is a must-have for any serious business and, with us, you can get it for prices you won’t find anywhere else. For example, see this direct comparison with Microsoft Store itself.

Apart from subscription plans, Microsoft offers three main packages for one-time purchases. They are  

• Microsoft Office Home and Student - $149,99
• Microsoft Office Home and Business - $249,99 
• Microsoft Office Professional Plus - $439,99

But, if you go for RoyalCDKeys, you will find keys such as these, with far better prices!

• Microsoft Office 2019 Professional Plus Key Retail Global
• Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus Key Retail Global

Now, you already know everything you need to create an awesome vacation calendar for your business. Some important tips you must be aware of during the process, the best programs, and the general importance of making such a track are examples. With all of that, you are ready to improve and make your company even more efficient!

If you want more articles about productivity-related themes, with tips, guides, and general information for you to take the competitive edge, check RoyalCDKeys. Besides our products, we offer the best content to help your business grow.