A company vacation calendar answers the question the wall chart used to: who is off next week, and is anyone left to cover the phone. For a small team it is one view, a month or a year at a time, with each person's approved days marked and the holidays the business closes for already on it. A staff vacation planner is the same calendar used before the year starts, when the manager sets the cover rule, blocks the weeks nobody can take, and lets the team book around each other. The vacation schedule template on this site sizes the year's off days, cover and carryover; the subscription keeps the calendar and every approval on it.
One calendar, every approved day on it
The calendar shows approved vacation only, not requests still waiting, so what it shows can be relied on; pending requests sit in their own list. Company holidays and closures are on it from the start of the year, so nobody books around a day the business is shut anyway. Each person's days are marked with the type, vacation, sick, unpaid, because the cover question and the balance question are different for each.
The cover rule per role
A team of eight cannot have three drivers off at once, and a front desk needs one person every day it is open. Write the rule per role, one off per role or a minimum on duty, and let the calendar show the days where a new request would break it. The rule is the manager's to set and to override; the calendar's job is to show the consequence before the answer, not to refuse on its own.
Planning the year before it starts
The staff vacation planner is the calendar opened in December: block the weeks the business cannot spare anyone, mark the closures, then let people put their weeks in with the cover rule visible. Most collisions are avoided when everyone can see the calendar while they plan. What is booked is approved once, recorded, and carried into the year's balances.
Questions people ask about company vacation calendar
What should a company vacation calendar show?
Approved days per person by type, company holidays and closures, and the cover rule per role; pending requests are listed separately so the calendar can be relied on.
How many people can be off at once?
Whatever the cover rule per role allows; a small team usually sets one off per role or a minimum on duty, and the calendar shows where a request would break it.
Is a staff vacation planner different from the calendar?
It is the same calendar used ahead of the year, with blocked weeks and closures set first so the team books around them.