Sickness Record Excel - Free Template

1. Open the Sickness Records tab, shown in image 1, and review the sample rows before replacing them with your organization’s administrative records.
2. Enter one incident per row, including Record ID, Employee Name, Employee ID, Department, Manager, Work Location, and the first and last days absent.
3. Complete Expected Workdays in Period, then select Leave Type, Paid Status, Doctor’s Note Required, and Documentation Received from the available lists.
4. Enter the Return-to-Work Date and administrative Notes. Do not type over the calculated Workdays Absent, Absence Rate, or Status cells.
5. Use the filter arrows on row 2 to review records by department, leave type, paid status, or documentation flag.
6. Open the Summary Dashboard in image 2, set the Reporting Period Start and End dates, and review the KPI values, department summary, leave-type lookup, and charts.
7. Read the Instructions tab in image 3 before sharing the workbook, particularly the privacy guidance and the warning not to enter protected health information.

For Office Managers And HR Coordinators

An office manager at a contractor, nonprofit, or growing LLC can use the Sickness Records tab during each payroll or attendance review. The sheet separates the employee’s name and Employee ID from the absence dates, department, manager, and work location, so you can follow up without searching through email threads.

Image 1 shows the complete 18-column entry layout, from Record ID through Notes. The sample includes James Carter’s two-day absence from 01/08/2026 through 01/09/2026, with New York as the work location and Sales as the department. The workbook calculates the business-day result rather than requiring you to count weekdays manually.

For Department Managers

A manager can filter the records for one team and check whether an incident is Open, Closed, or Scheduled. A future absence is marked Scheduled, an absence whose last day has passed is marked Closed, and an absence that has started but has not ended is marked Open according to the workbook’s date formula.

The dashboard is useful at a weekly operations meeting or during a monthly attendance review. It lists Sales, Operations, Finance, HR, Customer Support, and IT in the department summary, with record count, total days absent, average days per record, and absence rate. The sample reporting period runs from 01/01/2026 to 07/31/2026, so adjust those dates before using the summary for another period.

For Payroll And Administrative Follow-Up

Paid Status distinguishes Paid, Unpaid, and Partially Paid absences, while the documentation fields show whether a doctor’s note is required and whether documentation was received. These fields support administrative coordination; they are not a medical file. The Instructions tab specifically says to record administrative information only and not diagnoses, treatment details, Social Security numbers, or other protected health information.

Business-Day Counting

The Workdays Absent column uses Excel’s NETWORKDAYS function with the First Day Absent and Last Day Absent fields. It counts Monday through Friday and does not include a custom holiday list. For example, the sample record dated 01/08/2026 through 01/09/2026 covers two weekdays; a date range that includes a weekend still counts only the weekdays.

The formula stays blank when either absence date is missing. That prevents an incomplete record from displaying a misleading day count. Expected Workdays in Period is an input, so enter the denominator that matches the period you are reviewing rather than assuming every employee has the same schedule.

Absence Rate And Status

Absence Rate divides Workdays Absent by Expected Workdays in Period and uses IFERROR to return 0 when the calculation cannot be completed. A record with 2 workdays absent and 22 expected workdays would show approximately 9.1%; that calculation is an illustration of the workbook’s formula, not a policy threshold.

Status uses TODAY with the absence dates. If the last day is before today, the record is Closed; if the first day is today or earlier and the last day is not past, it is Open; otherwise it is Scheduled. Because TODAY changes with the current date, the displayed status can change when you reopen the XLSX file.

Dashboard Reporting

Image 2 shows the Summary Dashboard with KPI cards, a department table, a leave-type reference, monthly rows for January through July, and records-by-leave-type rows. Its formulas use COUNTIF, SUMIF, AVERAGEIF, and SUMPRODUCT across prepared ranges through row 100, while the entry sheet visibly contains ten prepared formula rows through row 12. The workbook has no custom holiday calendar, payroll calculation, or legal-compliance determination.

Combining Incidents In One Row

The most damaging entry error is putting several separate absences into one row. If an employee is absent on 03/10/2026 and again on 03/24/2026, entering only the earliest and latest dates makes the workbook treat the entire span as one incident. That inflates Workdays Absent and distorts the dashboard’s total days and average days per record.

The Instructions tab directs you to enter one row per sickness or absence incident. Keep the Record ID unique and use the same employee name and Employee ID consistently so the employee count and department summaries do not split one person into multiple identities.

Overwriting Calculated Cells

Workdays Absent, Absence Rate, and Status are calculated outputs. Typing over a formula can turn a two-day record into a permanent number or leave a record labeled Open after the last day has passed. The safest approach is to edit only the pale yellow input cells described on image 3’s Instructions tab.

Leaving Administrative Fields Incomplete

A date alone does not tell the person handling the record whether the absence is Paid, Unpaid, or Partially Paid, whether a note is required, or whether documentation was received. For example, Emily Rodriguez’s sample record from 02/02/2026 through 02/06/2026 includes a required note and documentation received; omitting those flags would remove useful follow-up information without changing the day count.

Another problem is treating the dashboard as current without checking its reporting dates. If the period remains 01/01/2026 through 07/31/2026 while you are reviewing August records, the KPI cards and monthly view no longer describe the period you think they do. Update the start and end dates before relying on the summary.

Choose A Fixed Update Point

Attach the workbook to an existing process, such as the Friday attendance review or the final payroll check of the week. Enter each new incident while the dates, paid status, and documentation flags are available instead of waiting until month-end and reconstructing several weeks from memory.

• Use the same Employee Name and Employee ID format every time.
• Enter dates as MM/DD/YYYY, such as 03/15/2026.
• Use the dropdown lists rather than creating alternate labels such as Sick, Illness, or Doctor Visit.
• Review Open records and documentation fields before closing the weekly review.

Review The Dashboard At Month-End

At month-end, set the Reporting Period Start and End dates and compare the department totals with the underlying filtered records. Image 2 includes monthly workday rows, a leave-type summary, and three charts; use them as a compact review, then inspect the source rows when a department total looks unusual.

Keep a dated copy before making major changes if your organization needs an audit trail. The workbook is an XLSX file with prepared entry and dashboard ranges, not a shared attendance database, so limit editing access and avoid storing diagnoses or other protected health information.

Know When To Move Beyond The Workbook

A spreadsheet is practical when one administrator maintains a modest list and the review process is manual. Consider a dedicated HR or timekeeping system when several people edit records at once, employees need self-service updates, approvals must be logged, or attendance data must connect directly to payroll. This workbook does not provide those workflows or integrations.