Free holiday request form template
This free holiday request form template — printable PDF or editable Excel — captures the dates requested, how many working days that uses, the balance left afterwards, and the manager decision with a date, so approvals never get disputed later.
Free. No email address, no sign-up — the holiday request form downloads straight away.
The argument about holiday is almost never about whether someone can have the time off. It is about how many days they had left, and when they asked. A form with a balance box and a date received box settles both before they become a problem.
Ask for working days requested rather than calendar days. Someone requesting a Monday to Sunday off is using a different number of days depending on their contract, and writing the calendar span instead of the working days is the most common source of holiday accounting errors in small venues.
The manager section asks who is covering. A holiday that is approved without cover identified is a shift that will get dropped on someone at short notice, usually the same person every time. Naming the cover at approval time is the cheapest way to stop that pattern forming.
Holiday entitlement rules differ by country and by contract type, and part-time and casual staff often accrue differently. This form is a recording tool, not a calculator for your local statutory minimum — put your own entitlement figure in the balance boxes.
What's on the sheet
Form — one record per sheet · Portrait A4 · PDF, Excel and CSV
Header fields
Venue / site · Date received
Employee details
- ·Employee name
- ·Role / section
- ·Employment start date
- ·Holiday year runs from / to
Request
- ·First day of leave
- ·Last day of leave
- ·First day back at work
- ·Number of working days requested
- ·Type of leave (annual / unpaid / other)
- ·Employee signature
- ·Date submitted
Entitlement check
- ·Entitlement for this holiday year (days)
- ·Days already taken
- ·Days already approved but not yet taken
- ·Days remaining if this request is approved
Manager decision
- ·Approved / declined / partially approved
- ·If declined or changed, reason given
- ·Who is covering these shifts
- ·Manager name
- ·Manager signature
- ·Date decided
- ·Rota and payroll updated (Y/N)
What you get
- ✓Printable PDF, portrait A4, one request per sheet
- ✓Excel (.xlsx) version you can keep as a running holiday log
- ✓CSV version for import
- ✓Entitlement check block: allowance, taken, approved-not-taken, remaining
- ✓Date received field so clashing requests are settled by order of arrival
- ✓Cover and payroll-updated confirmation in the manager section
How to use it
- 1
Set a notice period for requests and write it on the blank copies you hand out.
- 2
The employee completes the request section, converting their dates into working days.
- 3
Whoever receives the form dates it immediately — first in, first considered is the only fair way to handle clashes.
- 4
Fill in the entitlement check from your holiday records before deciding anything.
- 5
Approve, decline or partially approve, name who is covering, and sign with a date.
- 6
Update the rota and payroll, tick the box to confirm you did, and give the employee a copy.
Questions
How much notice should staff give for a holiday request?
Many venues ask for twice the length of the leave — two weeks' notice for one week off — with a longer notice period over peak trading. Whatever you choose, write it on the form so the rule is visible rather than remembered differently by everyone.
Should I count calendar days or working days?
Working days. A request covering a full week uses a different number of days for a five-day contract than a three-day one, and counting calendar days is the most common cause of holiday balances drifting out of line.
Can a holiday request be declined?
Generally yes, on operational grounds, provided staff can still take their full entitlement across the holiday year and you follow whatever notice and refusal rules apply in your jurisdiction and contracts. Always write the reason on the form.
How do we handle two people asking for the same week?
Use the date received field and decide in order of arrival, subject to keeping the section covered. Having a written received date is what stops this becoming a fairness dispute.
Or stop printing it altogether
Rotahr does this check on a phone — timestamped, with the person who did it attached, reminders when one is due, and a PDF export when somebody asks for a month of records. Same job, no folder to search through.
Templates that go with it
Weekly staff rota
This is a free weekly staff rota template you can download as a printable PDF for the staff room wall or as an Excel sheet that adds up each person's hours for you — Monday to Sunday, one line per team member.
Shift swap request form
This free shift swap request form template — printable PDF or editable Excel — records both sides of a swap and the manager's approval, so a shift is never left uncovered because two people agreed something verbally.
Probation review form
This free probation review form template — printable PDF or editable Excel — scores a new starter against the things that actually matter on a hospitality floor, records agreed objectives, and captures a clear pass, extend or end decision with both signatures.
Free to print, copy and use in your venue — no attribution required. Written for an international audience: where a threshold is a widely used figure it is printed as one, but food safety and employment rules differ by country and change. Check yours before relying on this sheet.
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