Timesheet template

What's in the template

How to fill in the timesheet

1. Use a fresh copy of the sheet each week (the read-me shows how), so approved weeks stay exactly as they were signed.
2. Fill in the employee and the week commencing date at the top.
3. Add a line for each stretch of work in 24-hour time, such as 7:30 to 16:15. When someone moves to a different job mid-day, start a new line, so each job gets its own hours.
4. Put unpaid breaks in minutes on the line they fall in; the sheet deducts them. Breaks your contracts pay for stay inside the hours.
5. Check the weekly total against contracted hours, and use the notes to say who authorised any extra time.
6. Get it signed off by the manager, who adds their name and the date before it goes to payroll or invoicing.

Example: a field electrician's week

The example is a week for a fictional electrician at a 35-person electrical contractor. Tuesday has two lines because the job changed after lunch, and the lunch half hour between them isn't recorded. The afternoon line includes driving between sites: in the UK, travel that's part of the job counts as working time, as does Thursday's course. The Saturday call-out has its own line and a note of who authorised it, which payroll needs before paying overtime. The week comes to 41.25 hours.

UK and US rules a timesheet helps with

UK

• In most jobs, workers can't work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks, unless they opt out. Under-18s can't work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week.
• Workers over 18 who work more than 6 hours a day have the right to one uninterrupted 20-minute rest break, which doesn't have to be paid (that depends on the contract), and to 11 hours' rest between working days.
• Job-related training, travel that's part of the job and paid overtime count as working time. Lunch breaks with no work, holiday and the commute to a fixed workplace don't.
• Employers must keep records proving they pay at least the minimum wage, typically pay and hours worked, and records created since 1 April 2021 must be kept for at least 6 years. Acas adds that you must keep records showing the 48-hour limit is being kept to (unless someone has opted out) for 2 years.

US

• For employees covered by the federal minimum wage and overtime rules, employers must record the hours worked each workday and the total for each workweek.
• Covered employees must be paid at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, and each workweek stands alone: hours can't be averaged across two weeks.
• Time cards showing daily start and stop times must be kept for at least 2 years. Check your state's rules as well.

Check the linked pages before relying on these points; this page isn't legal advice.

Common mistakes

• Filling it in from memory on a Friday. Times noted on the day are the ones that hold up if pay is ever questioned.
• Rounding to the nearest hour, which quietly overpays some people and underpays others. The sheet works to the minute.
• A night shift on one line. A finish after midnight is earlier than the start, so the hours come out negative. Split the shift at midnight.
• Logging holiday as hours worked. It isn't working time; record it with a holiday request form so payroll treats it correctly.
• Editing an approved week. Correct a mistake in the following week's sheet with a note, so the signed record stays intact.