Public holiday and leave calendar planner

What the public holiday and leave calendar planner does

Public holidays change what is possible on a given week. List each holiday or company closure with its date and the workbook shows the day of the week, whether it falls on a weekday or the weekend and how many weekday holidays you have in the year, so you can plan leave, cover and deadlines.

Who it is for

HR officers, managers and small business owners who plan staffing and deadlines around public holidays.

How to use the workbook

1. List each public holiday or company closure with its date.
2. Read the day of the week and whether it is a weekday or weekend.
3. Use the count of weekday holidays when you plan leave and cover.
4. Add school holidays or inventory days as extra rows if they affect your business.
5. Save a copy under a new name for each month or year, so earlier records stay as they were.

What is inside

• Day of the week worked out from each date
• Weekday or weekend flag
• Count of holidays and weekday holidays
• Room for company closures and special days
• Simple layout you can print

The workbook has these sheets: Instructions, Calendar. The main table has the columns Date; Holiday or closure; Day of the week; Weekday or weekend. Yellow cells are for you to fill in and grey cells calculate by themselves, so leave the grey cells alone. The example rows show how it works; type over them with your own entries.

Tips for getting it right

• Check the official list each year, since dates can change.
• Plan payroll cut-off dates around holidays that fall near month end.
• Remember that work on a public holiday may be paid at a higher rate.
• Share the finished calendar with staff at the start of the year.

Why keep this record

Staff records go wrong in small, repeated ways: a figure typed twice, a deadline forgotten, a promise that nobody wrote down. A tidy workbook that everyone uses the same way removes most of those problems. It also gives you something to show an employee, an auditor or a labour officer when a question comes up months later, and it makes the next payroll quicker because the facts are already in one place.

Questions people ask

Do I need to know Excel formulas? No. Type into the yellow cells and the rest is worked out for you. The formulas are visible if you want to see how a figure is reached.

Can I add rows or change the layout? You can add your own columns to the right and your own notes. If you insert rows inside a table, copy the grey formula cells down so the new rows calculate too.

Will it work on my phone or in Google Sheets? Yes for viewing and typing, but dropdown lists and the charts look best in desktop Excel or LibreOffice.

Keeping it safe and up to date

Payroll records are personal data and tax records at once, so keep the file somewhere only the people who need it can open, and keep each month's copy for at least five years. Statutory rates such as NSSF limits and the Housing Levy change, so check the Rates sheet against the official source before you rely on a figure.

Read how to run payroll for a small business for the wider picture. Free calculators that go with it: Overtime pay calculator. See more payroll templates or ask us for a custom one.

The workbook works in Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets. It is a tool to help you work out and record figures, not tax, legal or accounting advice, and it is not affiliated with the Kenya Revenue Authority. If something does not work as described, contact us and we will put it right.

Related guides, calculators and templates

• Free calculator: Overtime Pay Calculator
• Guide: What to check in an employment contract before you sign
• Guide: Sick, maternity and paternity leave in Kenya: your rights and pay
• Guide: Overtime pay rules and tax in Kenya
• Another template: Annual leave planner and register
• Another template: Overtime and leave tracker
• Another template: Overtime cost and approval tracker

Need something different? Request a custom template, browse all guides or see every Excel template.