Staff attendance register format (muster roll) with a free sample

An attendance register, also called a muster roll or haziri register, is the single page that decides every salary at month-end. A clear format saves arguments, makes salary maths quick, and gives you a record if anyone ever asks. Here is what to put in it, the codes to use, a filled sample for a small shop, and a free template you can download.

What a muster roll is for

The register answers one question for every person on every day: did they work, and if not, was the day paid? At the end of the month the totals from this page feed straight into the salary calculation. If the register is complete and readable, salary is a five-minute job. If it has blanks, overwriting and private symbols, it becomes an argument.

Many Indian labour laws, including the state Shops and Establishments Acts and the Factories Act, require employers to keep attendance and wage records, sometimes in a prescribed form. The exact form depends on your state and which laws apply to your business, so check with your local labour office or your CA for the official format. The layout below is for good day-to-day record keeping and covers the information those forms usually ask for.

The columns your register needs

Column	What to write
Serial no. and name	Full name as on ID. Add father’s name or an ID number if you have staff with the same name.
Designation	Salesman, helper, cook, operator, driver.
Pay type and rate	₹15,000/month, ₹600/day, ₹3,500/week or ₹80/hour. This tells you which calculation to use.
Weekly off	The person’s usual day off, so a blank on that day is never mistaken for an absence.
Days 1 to 31	One box per day with a status code (below).
Monthly totals	Present, absent, half days, paid leave, holidays, week offs and days worked.
Overtime hours and late days	Only if you pay overtime or apply a late fine.
Remarks / signature	Notes such as “left on 20th”, and the worker’s signature if you collect it.

Use the same codes every day

Pick short codes and write the legend at the bottom of the page so anyone can read it:

Code	Meaning	Paid?
P	Present	Yes
A	Absent	No
H	Half day	Half
PL	Paid leave	Yes
UL	Unpaid leave	No
HO	Holiday (shop closed)	Monthly and weekly staff: usually yes. Daily wage: usually no.
WO	Week off	Monthly and weekly staff: usually yes. Daily wage: usually no.

A small “L” next to a P is a simple way to record a late arrival. Overtime can go in the same box (“P+2” for two extra hours) or in a separate column.

A filled sample for a small shop

Here is a complete month for four staff with different pay types. The shop closed on the 14th for a festival, so everyone has HO that day.

Sample shop · September 2026 · Sundays are the usual week off (Geeta: Tuesday) · 14th: shop closed for a festival

Name	Rate	1 T	2 W	3 T	4 F	5 S	6 S	7 M	8 T	9 W	10 T	11 F	12 S	13 S	14 M	15 T	16 W	17 T	18 F	19 S	20 S	21 M	22 T	23 W	24 T	25 F	26 S	27 S	28 M	29 T	30 W	P	A	H	PL	HO	WO	Days worked
Ramesh	₹15,000/mo	P	P	P	P	P	WO	P	A	P	P	P	P	WO	HO	H	P	P	P	P	WO	P	A	P	P	P	P	WO	P	H	P	21	2	2	0	1	4	22
Sunita	₹600/day	P	P	H	P	P	WO	P	P	P	PL	P	P	WO	HO	P	P	P	P	P	WO	P	P	P	A	P	P	WO	P	P	P	22	1	1	1	1	4	22.5
Aslam	₹80/hr	P	A	P	P	P	WO	P	P	P	P	P	P	WO	HO	P	P	A	P	P	WO	P	P	P	P	H	P	WO	P	P	P	22	2	1	0	1	4	22.5
Geeta	₹3,500/wk	WO	P	P	P	P	P	P	WO	P	P	P	P	P	HO	WO	P	P	P	A	P	P	WO	P	P	P	H	P	P	WO	P	22	1	1	0	1	5	22.5

Days worked is present days plus half of the half days. Ramesh: 21 + (2 × 0.5) = 22. That number, with the paid week offs and holidays, is what the salary is worked out from. The salary calculation guide shows the maths for each pay type.

Download a free template

If you prefer a spreadsheet or a printed sheet, download the blank register below. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice, with columns for 31 days and the monthly totals. Print it in landscape, one sheet per month.

Download attendance register template (CSV)

Rules that keep a register trustworthy

Mark it at the same time every day. Opening time is best. Marking from memory at the end of the week is how mistakes creep in.
Never leave a working day blank. A blank box will be read as present by the worker and absent by you.
Mark week offs and holidays too. WO and HO make the page complete and the totals easy to check: they should add up to the days in the month.
Correct, do not overwrite. On paper, strike through and write the new code with your initials. In an app, just change it; the totals update.
Total at month-end, before paying. Show each person their totals when you pay. Most disputes end when both sides look at the same page.
Keep old registers. Store the months together with the salary records. Labour laws set minimum periods for keeping records, so do not throw them away after the year ends.

Daily-wage, hourly and contract labour

The same register works for every pay type, with small additions:

Daily-wage workers: the register is the salary. Every P is a day’s wage, so be strict about marking H for half days rather than rounding up or down at month-end.
Hourly staff: write the hours in the box (“6”, “9.5”) instead of P, or keep a separate hours column. Total the hours, not the days.
Overtime: if overtime is common, give it its own row under each name, so the attendance codes stay readable.
Site and contract labour: keep a separate register for each site or contractor. When people move between sites, it is far easier to settle each one separately.
People who leave: write the last working day in the remarks and leave the rest of the row empty from that date, so no one mistakes it for absence.

Paper, Excel or an app?

A paper register works and needs nothing but a pen, but every total is done by hand and the page can be lost or damaged. Excel removes the adding up, but you need a new sheet each month, formulas break when someone types in the wrong cell, and it lives on one computer. An attendance app keeps the register, the totals and the salary calculation together, and can print the register for you when you need a paper copy.

How Hisab Pagar keeps the register

Every day you mark each person with one tap: present, absent, half day, paid leave, unpaid leave, holiday or week off. “Present all” and “Holiday” mark everyone at once.
Each person’s weekly offs are set once, so an unmarked off day is counted as a week off. An unmarked past working day counts as absent.
From the Salary Due screen, Monthly register makes an A4 landscape PDF: a muster roll with one column per day using the codes above (P, A, H, PL, UL, HO, WO, with a small L for late), the days-worked and absent totals, and then a salary register with rate, present, absent, half days, paid leave, hours, overtime, late fine, earned, paid and balance for every person.
On the desktop app the register is a live grid for the whole month: click a box or use the keyboard to mark it.