Free Employee Leave Tracker (Excel)
What's in the free leave tracker
The template is one Log sheet with 200 rows. Each row captures an employee, a date, a leave type from a dropdown, the number of days, and a notes field — so every kind of time off ends up in the same place instead of scattered across separate trackers.
The dropdown keeps entries consistent: everyone picks from the same seven leave types instead of typing free text that reads differently row to row.
Automatic totals by leave type
A summary table totals days off across the whole log, broken out by type, using SUMIF formulas that read the Log automatically. You get PTO days, vacation days, sick days, personal days, plus an all-leave grand total — PTO, vacation, sick and personal each get their own automatic total, without a single manual add-up.
That's the view most managers actually need before payroll or a performance conversation: not just how many days someone took, but what kind.
Built for US leave types
Most leave tracker templates you'll find online use UK terms — annual leave, bank holiday, statutory leave — that don't map cleanly onto how US small businesses run PTO, sick time and personal days. This tracker's seven categories (PTO, Vacation, Sick, Personal, Holiday, Unpaid, Other) match how US employers actually classify time off.
If your business already separates sick and personal from general PTO, this is the tracker that reflects that structure without renaming columns yourself.
Leave tracker vs. attendance tracker
This template tracks planned time off — PTO, vacation, sick days and the like. It's a different tool from an attendance tracker, which logs who showed up each day (present, absent, late) rather than what kind of leave someone took. If you're looking for a daily presence log instead of a leave log, see the free employee attendance tracker.
Some searches for 'employee absence tracker' land here and some land there — if you want both daily attendance and planned leave in one view, you'll need to use the two templates side by side.
How to use it
- Log each leave event: employee, date, leave type from the dropdown, number of days and notes.
- Let the summary table total days off by type across the log automatically.
- Use the same seven types (PTO, Vacation, Sick, Personal, Holiday, Unpaid, Other) so totals stay consistent.
- Check the totals sheet before payroll or a performance conversation.
Download the free Free Employee Leave Tracker (Excel)
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PTO & Leave Tracker — with Automatic Accrual
For accrual calculated automatically instead of totals you log manually, the paid PTO & Leave Tracker ($19) runs three policies with real accrual math for up to 30 employees.
See the full versionTracking PTO for a whole team?
Logging leave by hand works until requests start piling up. LeaveSheet tracks every leave type as a web app your whole team can use, for $1.50 per employee per month.
See LeaveSheet — $1.50/employee/moFrequently asked questions
Can I use this leave tracker in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload it to Google Drive and open it with File > Save as Google Sheets. The dropdown and SUMIF totals keep working.
Is this template really free?
Yes. You give an email address to download it, and then it's yours to use with no further cost.
What leave types does it track?
PTO, Vacation, Sick, Personal, Holiday, Unpaid and Other, all selected from a dropdown so entries stay consistent.
Is 200 rows enough for a small team?
It covers most small teams for a full year of logging. If you fill it up, copy the formulas down into new rows.
How is this different from an attendance tracker?
This template logs planned leave by type. An attendance tracker logs daily presence (present, absent, late, holiday) instead — see the free employee attendance tracker for that.