An employee holiday planner is the forward view: not what each person has left, but who is off in which week, and whether the business can be short-handed then. It is the wall chart in the office, a column per person and a row per week, and the reason it is on the wall rather than in a drawer is that everyone needs to see it before they ask. This page is about setting the planner up for the leave year, the rules that go with it, and what the free tools and the paid wall chart on this site do for each part.
Set the staff holiday calendar up before anyone books
Put the leave year's dates on the planner first, then the bank holidays, then the weeks the business cannot spare anyone, if there are any. A staff holiday calendar that starts empty in April and fills as requests arrive lets the first person to ask take the week everyone wanted. Deciding the closed weeks and the maximum away at once in advance, and writing them in the policy, is what turns a planner from a record of what happened into a plan.
A work holiday planner needs a request rule
The statutory notice for a request is at least twice as long as the leave being taken, plus one day, unless the contract says otherwise, and the employer can refuse with notice as long as the leave. Most small employers set a simpler rule, first come first served with a cap on how many are away at once, and that rule belongs on the planner and in the policy so it is applied the same way to everyone. The policy template on this site has the line for it.
The office holiday planner and the balance are one record
The planner shows who is off; the balance shows what is left. A planner that does not take the booked week off the balance is how someone is shown twelve days left with five already on the chart. Keep them in one place: on the paid wall chart on this site, approving a request marks the chart and moves the balance in the same action, and the employee sees both.
Holiday planner template, on paper or on the wall
A printed planner template works for a small team on a single site: the year across, the names down, coloured squares. It fails when the team is on two sites, when a manager who is not in the office has to approve, or when the sheet is a photograph on someone's phone. The shape of the template is the same either way, and the wall chart on this site is that template with the arithmetic behind it, so the square and the balance can never disagree.
Questions people ask about employee holiday planner
What is an employee holiday planner?
The forward view of annual leave: who is off in which week across the whole team, so the employer can see clashes and short-handed weeks before approving a request. It sits alongside the per-person balance.
How much notice should an employee give for holiday?
The statutory default is at least twice as long as the leave being taken, plus one day, unless the contract sets a different rule. Write the rule in the policy and on the planner.
Can I refuse a holiday request?
Yes, with notice at least as long as the leave requested, and provided the person can still take their full entitlement in the leave year. Closed weeks and a cap on how many are away at once should be stated in advance.
Is there a free holiday planner template?
The policy template on this site states the rules a planner needs, free and with no account. The planner itself, the wall chart with every request and balance against the employee, is the paid plan.