Are you already thinking about how to make 2026 the most organized and stress-free year yet? We’ve got you covered with our comprehensive and free holiday planner template.
As experts in optimizing team schedules and maximizing productivity, we know the importance of having a solid plan in place. This template isn’t just another boring spreadsheet – it’s a well-organized tool that will help you manage holidays, track time off requests, and maintain team productivity with ease.
So, let’s get your 2025 planning off to an epic start!
How to Use Our Free Holiday Planner Template?
Our template contains 4 core elements:
- A yearly calendar, divided into 12 straightforward timelines by month.
- A section with time off categories is located above the calendar.
- List of employees.
- A column for total leave time (which is calculated using the COUNTA function).
Here’s how these elements will help you build a perfect leave schedule for your team in Excel:
Step 1: Build a color code system
Think up some bespoke leave categories and assign each of them a unique color and letter indication (we made a separate section at the top of the calendar for this purpose).
For instance:
- The letter V and the color green may indicate long-term vacation.
- L and yellow may stand for casual short-term leave.
However, you are free to create any other time off types that make sense to you. And if you need some inspiration, be sure to check out this post.
Pro tip:
To keep track of pending vs. approved leave requests, discern between them by using disparate colors and letters as well.
As an option, you can differentiate them by different brightness levels – instruct your employees to apply dimmer colors for new leave requests and change them to full-bodied colors once approved.
Step 2: Make a full list of employees
Add as many new rows to the designated area of the document, but don’t forget to configure the COUNTA formula for each of them. Otherwise, you will have to calculate the total leave time for corresponding employees manually.
To avoid that, simply copy a “Total leave time” cell that we already configured for you and paste it into the ones you added. After this, all the calculations will be performed automatically.
Step 3: Start scheduling
Possibly the best way to go about this task is to let employees mark off the necessary vacation dates with the right colors and letters themselves:
- It will take some explanation on how to use the template on your part (or you can simply share this post with your team to save yourself some time).
- Plus, you will need to review all the scheduled time off to make sure no overlapping leave requests are there.
But in the end, providing employees with full access to the document will boost process efficiency and help to avoid double work.
That’s it!
By following these 3 simple steps, you can create an ideal vacation schedule that will make everyone happy and keep your business running like a well-oiled machine.
And if this isn’t convincing enough for you, just keep reading! Below we described the main benefits of effective vacation scheduling + gave some tips on how to make it effective.
Advantages of Our Complimentary Holiday Planner Template
- Accessibility: Our template is designed with user-friendliness in mind, allowing you to quickly access everyone’s holiday schedules. By uploading it to a cloud platform, you can effortlessly keep track of your team’s availability at any time.
- Centralized Repository for Leave Information: Tired of juggling numerous email threads to manage time off? Our complimentary holiday planner template eliminates that hassle by consolidating all leave requests into one organized document.
- Customization: Recognizing that holiday scheduling varies from one organization to another, our template offers customizable features. You can adjust it to align perfectly with your company’s specific requirements and your team’s distinctive approach to planning holidays.
- Enhanced Time Management: Understanding upcoming staff absences allows for more effective time management, enabling you to strategically plan for both work responsibilities and leisure activities. A transparent holiday schedule empowers you to manage resources efficiently, alleviating stress and contributing to overall success for both individuals and the organization as a whole.
There Are a Few Downsides, Though…
While free holiday planner templates help to save time and are generally convenient to use in small teams that don’t have to handle large amounts of time-off data, they have a couple of drawbacks as compared to automated leave scheduling solutions:
- Manual madness. Using an Excel sheet, you have to manually enter data, double-check dates, and ensure nothing overlaps. One small mistake, and you could accidentally approve overlapping leaves or forget someone’s holiday, causing chaos in scheduling.
- Limited accessibility offline. Want to access your Excel file on the go? If it’s not saved in a cloud storage service, you might be stuck.
- No real-time updates. With Excel, there’s no real-time feedback on who’s off and when. You might have to wait for someone to update the file or make a few phone calls to ensure you’re not missing any details.
- Lack of integration. Excel is a standalone tool. It doesn’t easily integrate with other systems like payroll, project management tools, or communication platforms. In the end, this could result in repetitive data entry in case you need to see and manage your time off data elsewhere.
Take Vacation Scheduling One Step Further
If you still feel like organizing time off is a logistical nightmare and you need a vacation from scheduling employee vacations, we have a perfect solution for you – actiPLANS. It automates the process to a large degree and takes all the stress out of vacation management.
Here’s how it works:
- Flexible PTO settings. Set up and customize your PTO accrual rules according to your company’s policies. Whether you prefer monthly accruals, annual allocations, or any other method, our system adapts to your needs. This flexibility ensures that your leave management process aligns perfectly with your business goals and fairness standards.
- Visual leave schedules. See who’s in and who’s out at a glance to plan team projects or cover shifts effortlessly. No more spreadsheets or guesswork – just clear, concise scheduling that everyone can understand and use.
- Employee self-service. Your team members can request time off, check their leave balances, and view their leave history anytime, anywhere. This convenience boosts employee satisfaction and minimizes interruptions for HR professionals.
- Automated leave request approval. You can activate automatic leave approval for some leave types or individual employees or streamline the process entirely to free up valuable time for managers and HR teams.
- Automated email notifications. From leave request submissions to approvals and rejections, actiPLANS keeps everyone in the loop. These timely notifications help maintain transparency and ensure that no detail falls through the cracks.
- Detailed time off reports. Analyze leave patterns, identify trends, and make informed decisions. Use comprehensive time off data for payroll, forecasting, or strategic planning and enhance your resource management results with its help.
Not convinced if leave automation will work better than a free holiday planner template? Check it out in action yourself!
Sign up for a free 30-day trial here.
Best Practices for Managing Employee Vacation Requests
- Inform your employees well in advance about their vacation entitlements and the procedure for submitting requests. Clear communication helps them plan their time off effectively and avoids any last-minute surprises that could disrupt both their personal plans and workplace operations.
- Whenever possible, be open to accommodating your employees’ preferred vacation dates. Flexibility fosters a positive work environment and demonstrates that you value their personal needs.
- When multiple employees request vacation simultaneously, consider implementing a staggered approach to their days off. This ensures that essential functions continue to operate smoothly and that there is always someone available to handle responsibilities, minimizing disruptions to productivity.
- Keep a detailed record of when employees are taking vacations. Regularly review this information to anticipate staffing needs and make necessary adjustments in advance.
- Actively promote the importance of taking vacations. Encourage your staff to step away from work to recharge and rejuvenate. Research shows that employees who take regular breaks return with renewed energy and focus, ultimately leading to increased productivity and creativity in their roles.
- Consider using specialized vacation scheduling software to streamline the entire process for both management and employees. Automation reduces administrative burdens, minimizes errors, and enhances overall efficiency in managing time off.
Besides effortless holiday management, actiPLANS allows for employee location tracking, shift scheduling, or project activity planning on an intuitive visual timeline.
Conclusion
As you gear up for a productive 2026, our Free Holiday Planner Template will simplify your leave planning process and help to turn your team’s dream holidays into reality with a little bit of strategic foresight.
But why stop there?
Take your holiday planning game to the next level with actiPLANS. It will empower you to organize employees’ leave time seamlessly while streamlining your overall workflow and giving you more time for what truly matters.
So, dive in and experience the benefits of actiPLANS today.
