Template

Employee list: spreadsheet template

A lean master-data list: staff number, name, start date, position, weekly hours. Deliberately without the fields you should not keep in a spreadsheet. Free, no sign-up.

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No email, no registration. The download starts immediately. · Excel file (.xlsx), opens in LibreOffice Calc too · 10 columns · 40 prepared rows

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employee-list-template.xlsx
Preview of the Employee list template: column headers, example row and calculated columns.
#ABCDEF
1Employee list
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3Staff no.Last nameFirst nameStart dateEnd datePosition
40001DoeAlex01.09.2026Dispatcher
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Employee list

Only the fields an overview list actually needs.

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How to use it

  1. One row per person; leavers get an end date rather than being deleted.

  2. Keep the staff number aligned with your payroll. Otherwise the list does not help you reconcile.

  3. Store the file where only people with HR responsibility can reach it.

  4. Agree a fixed deadline at which you remove leavers from the list.

When the spreadsheet stops being enough

Gemploy is HR software from Hamburg. Free for up to and including 10 active users, with no time limit.

Honestly

Where this template runs into limits

An employee list is a collection of personal data. That brings duties a file does not fulfil on its own:

Access is hard to limit

Whoever can see the folder can see the whole list. Restricting it to individual columns or to one's own area is practically unenforceable in a shared file, yet the GDPR requires access to be limited to what is necessary.

Deletion deadlines do not run themselves

Personnel data may be kept only as long as it is needed or a retention period applies. A spreadsheet reminds nobody; old rows tend to sit there for years.

No special categories in the sheet

Health data, disability status, religion or trade-union membership are special categories under Art. 9 GDPR. The template deliberately provides no columns for them. Such details do not belong in a generally accessible list.

Record of processing activities

Small companies too must generally document the processing of employee data under Art. 30 GDPR. The file itself is not that record.

As of: 2026-08-18 · All information without warranty. This page is not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Which fields belong in an employee list?

Only what you need for the purpose at hand: identification, employment relationship and reachability at work. Everything else belongs in the personnel file with tighter access, not in an overview list.

How long may I keep data on people who have left?

As long as a concrete purpose or a statutory retention period requires, and those periods differ considerably by document. For the overview list itself there is usually no reason to keep leavers permanently.

May I record dates of birth?

If you have a concrete purpose, such as youth employment protection or payroll matching. For a plain overview list a date of birth is usually not necessary, which is why the column is kept optional.