Security guard schedule template (free Excel)

One row per officer per shift, across every event you cover: start, end, unpaid break, hours, who is confirmed, which posts are still open and what each shift costs at an hourly rate. Every shift checks the officer's license expiry against the shift date.

What is inside

  • 6 tabs: Instructions, Roster, Shifts, Coverage, Hours, Lists
  • 44 sample shifts for 12 officers over 5 events, ready to overwrite
  • Excel 2019 or later, Microsoft 365, Google Sheets
  • Free download, no email, no sign-up

Preview: the Shifts tab

Saturday of the sample festival weekend, as it appears in the file. Grey columns are formulas.

security-guard-schedule-template.xlsx
Sample shifts from the security guard schedule template
DateRoleStartEndBreak (min)HoursOfficerStatusLicense checkLabor cost
Sat, Nov 14Supervisor11:00 AM12:00 AM6012.00Darnell HayesConfirmedOK$240.00
Sat, Nov 14Crowd manager12:00 PM11:30 PM6010.50Carlos RiveraConfirmedOK$210.00
Sat, Nov 14Security officer12:00 PM11:30 PM6010.50Rosa MendezConfirmedOK$210.00
Sat, Nov 14Security officer12:00 PM11:30 PM6010.50Kevin WardConfirmedExpired on shift date$210.00
Sat, Nov 14Security officer12:00 PM11:30 PM6010.50Brandon LeeConfirmedOK$210.00
Sat, Nov 14Security officer12:00 PM11:30 PM6010.50(open post)Open$210.00
Sat, Nov 14Door staff1:00 PM11:00 PM309.50Aisha JohnsonConfirmedOK$190.00
Sat, Nov 14Door staff1:00 PM11:00 PM309.50Isaiah GrantConfirmedOK$190.00
Sat, Nov 14Steward1:00 PM11:00 PM309.50Tamika BrooksConfirmedOK$190.00
Sat, Nov 14Steward1:00 PM11:00 PM309.50Jordan FisherOfferedOK$190.00
Sat, Nov 14Bag check12:00 PM8:00 PM307.50Mei ChenConfirmedOK$150.00
11 shifts on Sat, Nov 14: 110.00 hours and $2,200.00 of labor at $20 an hour. One officer post is still Open, and Kevin Ward's guard license expired two days before the shift.
  • Coverage tab

    39 of the 44 posts in the sample are filled (89%), and the 5 short lines are flagged by name.

  • Hours tab

    Darnell Hayes reaches 41 hours in the week of November 9: 1 hour over 40, flagged before payroll.

  • Roster tab

    Each officer's next license expiry, the days left, and a status that turns amber 30 days out and red once expired.

What this security guard schedule template does

Most security companies schedule events on a grid of posts and a number of officers. It works until the Friday before a festival, when nobody can say which officers confirmed or whose guard license runs out next week. This template is built the other way round: one row per officer per shift. An unfilled post is a row with no name and the status Open, so it gets counted instead of forgotten.

Four tabs do the checking. Roster keeps each officer's licenses with expiry dates (amber within 30 days, red once expired). Shifts computes hours past midnight included, the labor cost at the hourly rate and a license check against the shift date. Coverage compares what the client ordered with who is confirmed. Hours adds every officer's shifts per workweek across all your clients and flags overtime before payroll.

The sample is a fictional Dallas event security company on a busy week: a home show, a high school playoff game, a three-day music festival, an arena concert and a black-tie gala. Pay is $20 an hour throughout, so every total is easy to check.

How to use the template, step by step

  1. 1

    Download it and open it where you work

    Excel 2019 or later and Microsoft 365 open the .xlsx as is. In Google Sheets, use File > Import > Upload with the .xlsx: formulas, dropdowns and colors come with it. The CSV holds the shift list alone.

  2. 2

    Replace the roster with your officers

    One row per officer on the Roster tab: primary role, phone, tier, city and up to two licenses or certificates with their expiry dates. These names feed the Officer dropdown on Shifts.

  3. 3

    Type the client's order on Coverage

    Date, event, role and how many officers the client ordered. The tab counts the Confirmed and Completed shifts for the same line and says Covered or Short.

  4. 4

    Add one row per officer per shift

    On Shifts: date, event, venue, role, start, end and the unpaid break in minutes. Hours and labor cost fill themselves, shifts past midnight included. A post nobody has yet is a row with an empty Officer and the status Open.

  5. 5

    Read the License check column

    Every shift compares the officer's earliest license expiry with the shift date: OK, Expired on shift date, No license on file or Not on the roster. Fix the red rows before you publish the schedule.

  6. 6

    Check the Hours tab before payroll

    Set the first day of your workweek. The tab adds every officer's shifts across all your clients and flags anyone over 40 hours in a week or over 8 hours in a day.

Scheduling habits from event security operations

Check licenses against the shift date, not today

A license that is valid today can expire before Saturday. The License check column compares each officer's expiry with the date of the shift itself, so a renewal that is late shows up on the right shift.

Never write "Officers x4"

A count in one cell hides who is missing. Four rows with four names, or three names and one Open row, show the gap at a glance and let Coverage count it.

Overtime is per officer, across clients

In the sample, Darnell Hayes supervises a playoff game and all three festival days: 41 hours in the Monday to Sunday week, with no single client seeing more than 34 of them. Only a sheet that adds every event per officer catches it.

Keep Offered apart from Confirmed

The gap between asked and confirmed is where no-shows start. Chase every Offered row two days out, and keep a short standby list for the posts that are hardest to replace, such as supervisors and door staff.

Sources

  1. Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA, U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
  2. Overtime FAQ, California Labor Commissioner's Office
  3. Security Guard Fact Sheet, California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services

The sample company, clients and officers are fictional; the $20 hourly pay rate is an example. Licensing, overtime and break rules differ by state: check with your state's licensing agency and labor department. Nothing here is legal advice.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

Is this security guard schedule template free?

Yes. Download the Excel file or the CSV without an email or an account and use it for your company. The sample officers, clients and phone numbers are fictional.

Does it work in Google Sheets?

Yes. In Google Sheets, go to File > Import > Upload and pick the .xlsx file: the tabs, formulas, dropdowns and colors come across.

How does the template check licenses?

Each officer can carry two licenses or certificates with expiry dates on the Roster tab. On every shift, the License check column compares the earliest of those dates with the shift date and flags an officer whose license runs out first. It only checks the dates you type: which license a post needs depends on your state.

How do I schedule a shift that ends after midnight?

Enter the real end time, for example 1:00 AM for a gala that closes after midnight. The hours formula wraps past midnight: 5:30 PM to 1:00 AM with a 30 minute unpaid break gives 7.00 hours.

How does the template count overtime?

The Hours tab adds each officer's Confirmed and Completed shifts per workweek, across every event and client, and shows the hours over 40. Federal law (the FLSA) requires time and a half over 40 hours in a workweek, and some states also count by the day. It is an estimate, not legal advice.

When should a security company move from a spreadsheet to software?

When the sheet stops being the problem: confirmations scattered across text threads, clients asking for updates, hours to check against who actually showed up. Staffli covers those parts for event security companies: licensed officers only, open posts filled without phone calls, clock-in on site and a client portal.

Related guides and tools

Contact

Tell us about your security company.

Share the events you cover, how many officers you deploy on a busy weekend and the tools you use today. We'll come back with a demo built around your operation.

Your data is stored securely and handled in compliance with applicable US and EU privacy regulations.

No newsletter. Only a direct, personalised response to your request.

Request a demo