A printed phone list is not a failure of the directory, it is the directory in the one place people cannot get to a screen: a workshop, a reception desk, a kitchen wall, a folder for the night shift. The rule for a good one is the opposite of a good digital directory: fewer columns, larger type, and a printed date big enough to read from a distance, because the danger of a paper list is not that it is thin but that it is old. This page is the layout, the columns and the reprint routine that stops the wall version disagreeing with the live one.
Five columns, no more
Name, role, extension or mobile, department, location. Anything else and the type gets small enough that nobody uses the list, which defeats it. Sort by department rather than alphabetically, because somebody standing at the wall is looking for a role more often than for a name they already know. Put the department headings in bold and give each one a line of space above it.
Lay it out for the wall, not the screen
Two columns on a portrait page, at least 11pt, with the printed date in the header at the same size as the headings. A list somebody has to lean in to read is a list they will ask a colleague instead of reading. Print the department headings so they survive being photocopied, which most of these lists eventually are.
Reprint on a rule, not on a request
Print it when the number of changes since the last print passes a threshold you set, say five, rather than when somebody notices it is wrong. On the worked example 28 changes a year is a reprint about every other month, which costs a few minutes and is the difference between a list people trust and one they have learned to ignore.
Questions people ask about employee phone list template
Should the list include mobile numbers?
Only where people have agreed to it. Extensions and a switchboard number cover most needs; personal mobiles on a wall are a decision each person should make.
How do we stop old copies staying up?
The printed date in the header, large, and a habit of taking the old one down when the new one goes up. Undated copies are the ones that survive for years.
Can it be generated from the directory?
Yes, and it should be, so the printed list and the live one cannot disagree by more than the days since it was printed.