Top Spreadsheet Formulas

For Human Resources

Instructions – Copy the formulas below into your spreadsheet and replace the red cell reference with the
appropriate cell reference (column letter & row number) specific to your spreadsheet.

Common Action Microsoft Excel® Formula Result

Displays an employee’s years of

=DAYS360(A2,TODAY())/360 service. You can format the cell
Calculate the length of service in
as a number to 1 decimal.
years from a hire date
(where A2 is hire date)
10/1/2015 3.5
Displays an employee’s age.
=INT(YEARFRAC(A2,TODAY())) Ensure cell is formatted as a
Calculate an employee’s age
number.
based on their date of birth
(where A2 is birthdate)
8/5/1980 39
Displays only the month and day
=TEXT(A2,"mm/dd")
Remove the year from date of of an employee’s birthday.
birth
(where A2 is birthdate)
09/12/1972 09/12
Ensure cell is formatted as
Extracts the 4-digit year from a “general.”
=Year(A2)
date
09/12/1972 1972
=VALUE(TRIM(CLEAN(A2)))
Remove leading zeroes from an
Will display “008438” as “8438.”
ID number (where A2 is the cell you want to
trim)
=(B2/A2)-1 Divide the 2nd year salary by the
Calculate the percentage % 1st year salary and subtract one.
change between two salaries (where B2 is 2nd comparable # Ensure cell is formatted as a
and A2 is 1st comparable #) percent %.
=LEFT(A2,5)
Extract 5-digit zip code from the Will display “90210” instead of
zip+4 format “90210-1234”
(where A2 is the zip+4)
Will display “1984” instead of
Extract last 4 digits or characters
=RIGHT(A2,4) “123-45-1984”
from a cell
=A2&" "&C2
Will display First & Last Name
Create a Full Name column from separated by a space.
separate First & Last Name =C2&”, “&A2
columns Will display: Last Name, First
(where A2 is Firstname, C2 is Name.
Lastname)
PRO TIP: In most cases, you’ll want to replace the formula with the result it calculated. To do this,
highlight the cell or column of cells, select Copy Paste Special Paste Values. This cleans
up the data on your spreadsheet and will minimize errors that may result if you then copy/paste
the information or if you e-mail the file. Formulas that use “TODAY” however, are useful to leave as
a formula since the number will always be up to date. Check out my XLS 3 Simple Formulas Video to see
how to do this.
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