Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template for Google Sheets & Excel
A row per absence: who took it, the date, the leave type, the day count, and whether it is signed off - yes, no, or still pending. The Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template holds 16 records on one working sheet, totals the days and counts the entries in a strip above, and leaves the leave types as free text so your own categories work. How to Use sits on a second tab. Google Sheets or Excel, one file. No macros, no VBA, no sign-up.
The FinancialAha Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template is a one-sheet workbook for Google Sheets and Excel, with a How to Use guide on a second tab. It works as a Free Employee Leave Tracker Excel template and a Free Employee Leave Tracker Google Sheets template from the same download. This Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template records twelve absences with who took them, when, what kind and how many days. No macros, no VBA, no sign-up.
Inside the workbook
What's inside the FinancialAha Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template
The FinancialAha Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template runs on a single working sheet, with the instructions on a tab of their own. It works in both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets and here is what the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet holds.
01of 01
Leave
A row per absence: who took it, the date it started, what kind of leave it was, how many days it ran, and whether it was approved. A strip above totals the days across everything on the sheet and counts the entries.
One thing to be clear about, because the name suggests otherwise: this records leave taken, not leave remaining. There is no entitlement figure, no allowance per person and no accrual, so nothing here can tell you how many days someone has left. Neither build does that - what the Essentials build adds is more entries, a record of who approved each one, and a breakdown by type, not a balance.
Leave
Included guide
How to Use
A step-by-step guide on its own tab, covering how to replace the sample values. Because it ships inside the file, the instructions travel with the template wherever it is opened.
Works in both Google Sheets and Excel
Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet template for Google Sheets
Upload the Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template to Drive, right-click it, and choose "Open with Google Sheets". This Free Employee Leave Tracker Google Sheets template needs no conversion step and nothing gets rewritten on the way in - the day total recalculates exactly as it does in Excel. The whole Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet is small enough to open instantly.
Free Employee Leave Tracker Google Sheets template setup
A shared copy of the Free Employee Leave Tracker Google Sheets template suits a small team, since whoever approves a request can add the row themselves. Sheets version history covers an entry typed over, which matters on a record people may later disagree about.
Sharing the Free Employee Leave Tracker Google Sheet
The Free Employee Leave Tracker Google Sheet is filled in as requests are approved rather than on a schedule. A sheet per quarter suits a small team; beyond that a new copy or a larger build starts to make sense.
Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet template for Excel
The Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet Excel download is a plain .xlsx. Excel opens this Free Employee Leave Tracker Excel template directly, with no import step and no compatibility prompt, and the day total updates as rows are added. There are no macros and no VBA in the file, so it opens without a security warning.
Free Employee Leave Tracker Excel template setup
The same Free Employee Leave Tracker Excel template opens in Excel on Windows, Excel on Mac, and Excel for the web. It is also the identical file you would upload to Drive, so there is no separate Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet download to choose between.
The Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet Excel file carries no macros and no VBA, so Excel opens it without a trust prompt - which matters for a record that may be shared with an employee or kept for HR purposes.
Opening the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet Excel file
Nothing in the Free Employee Leave Tracker Excel template is version-specific, so this Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet Excel workbook behaves identically in Excel on Windows, Excel on Mac, and older builds.
The FinancialAha Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template records twelve absences with a total of days taken. The Essentials Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template for Google Sheets and Excel takes thirty, records who approved each request rather than only whether it was approved, adds a notes column, and reports the days by type alongside a count of how many distinct people appear - with a chart of leave by type. Neither build tracks entitlement or days remaining; both record what has been taken.
Notes on working in the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template
This records leave taken, not leave remaining. There is no entitlement, allowance or accrual in either build.
The type and approved columns are both free text. Nothing constrains either to a set of options.
The strip totals the days column beside a count of the rows filled in.
There are no money columns and no currency picker on this sheet.
Recording who signed a request off is what the Essentials build adds.
How the Employee Leave Tracker template works
The Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template records an absence per line: who took the leave, the date it started, what kind it was, how many days it ran, and whether it was approved or still pending. A strip above totals the days and counts the entries. One thing the name suggests but the file does not do - this records leave taken, not leave remaining. There is no entitlement figure, no allowance per person and no accrual, so nothing here can tell you how many days someone has left.
When this template helps
01
A small team needs absences written down somewhere other than a manager memory.
02
You want a total of days taken across a quarter without an HR system.
03
Someone has queried a past absence and you need a record of it.
04
You want a file you own rather than a per-employee subscription.
Tips to get the most out of it
Consistent spelling in the type column is what makes a later sort or filter work, since nothing enforces it.
A start date and a day count, rather than a date range, is what keeps a part-week absence honest.
The approved column takes whatever word you use - the samples run yes and pending - so one vocabulary across the sheet keeps it readable.
Common mistakes to avoid
Expecting a remaining-days figure. Neither build carries an entitlement to count down from.
Spelling a leave type two ways. They become two categories to anything you sort or filter later.
Recording a date range in the days column. It expects a number of days, not a span.
Leaving the approved column blank and relying on memory. That is the entry that gets disputed.
How to Use the Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template
1
Name the employee
Who the absence belongs to, one row per request.
2
Date the absence
When the leave started.
3
Set type and days
What kind of leave it was and how long it ran.
4
Mark it approved
A yes or no against each record, with the total above.
We use Claude AI to draft each template, after a deep research. Then our team steps in. We refine the layout, stress-test every formula, fix edge cases, and polish the design until it feels like something we would actually use ourselves. The AI gets us 80% there. The last 20% is all human judgment.
Excel
Sheets
No signup
Download instantly, no email required
Formula-driven
All calculations update automatically
Dual compatible
Works in Excel and Google Sheets
Sample data included
See the template in action right away
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the free and Essentials Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template?
Free is a single-sheet starter template with sample data and a How to Use guide. Essentials ($19) is the fuller build - more capacity, more detail, and more worked out for you rather than typed. This template has no Ultimate build. What each tier holds differs by template - the comparison table on every template page lists it exactly.
Which Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template should I download?
Upgrade to Essentials if you want a dashboard with charts, more categories, larger capacity, and a more polished spreadsheet for ongoing use. The Free version is a good fit for one-off planning or trying out the layout.
Can I upgrade the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template later?
Essentials is a one-time $19 purchase with no subscription. It typically adds a full dashboard, 30-50% more categories or rows than the Free version, and richer formulas. Most buyers upgrade after using the Free version for a few weeks and hitting its limits.
Is the FinancialAha Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template a Google Sheets template?
Yes. Upload the file to Drive and choose "Open with Google Sheets". Nothing needs rewriting in the Free Employee Leave Tracker Google Sheets template, and a shared copy lets whoever approves a request add the row themselves.
Is the FinancialAha Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template an Excel template?
Yes. The download is a plain .xlsx, so the Free Employee Leave Tracker Excel template opens directly in Excel with no import step. There are no macros and no VBA, which matters for a record that may be shared with an employee.
Will the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet Excel file open in older versions of Excel?
Yes. The Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet Excel workbook ships as a plain .xlsx, so it opens identically in current Excel and in builds that predate dynamic arrays.
Does the FinancialAha Free Employee Leave Tracker Spreadsheet Template show days remaining?
No, and neither build does. There is no entitlement figure, no allowance per person and no accrual - both record leave taken. What the Essentials build adds is more records, who approved each one, and a breakdown by type.
How many records does the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet hold?
Sixteen, with twelve filled in the sample - which suits a small team over a quarter. The Essentials build takes thirty. For a seventeenth here, right-click a row inside the table and choose Insert; the total expands to include it.
Can I use my own leave types in the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet?
Yes, the type column is free text. Consistent spelling is what makes a later sort or filter work.
Is the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template safe to download?
Yes. No macros, no sign-up, no tracking. The file is a plain .xlsx that opens directly in Excel or Google Sheets.
How do I open the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template in Google Sheets?
Upload the .xlsx file to Google Drive, then open it with Google Sheets. All formulas and formatting will be preserved.
Can I use the Free Employee Leave Tracker spreadsheet template for commercial work?
All free templates are released under CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution). You can use, modify, and share them freely - including for commercial purposes - as long as you credit FinancialAha.com. They are provided as-is and do not constitute financial advice.
