How to Keep a Timesheet: A Step-by-Step Guide

A timesheet (puantaj) is the attendance record showing how much an employee worked each day: clock-in and clock-out times, breaks, actual working time, overtime, and leave and absence days. Keeping one is not a legal obligation, but the burden of proving working time falls on the employer — so a regular timesheet is the employer's strongest evidence in a dispute.

This content is for general information only and is not binding legal advice. Consult a professional for your specific situation.

What is a timesheet?

A timesheet (attendance sheet) is the table that records an employee's arrival and departure times, total time worked, and leave and absence days. It is especially critical in shift-based businesses — restaurants, retail, manufacturing and field teams — because pay is usually calculated on the hours actually worked.

What information should a timesheet contain?

A solid timesheet record includes at least:

• The employee's name and role
• The date (day by day)
• Clock-in and clock-out times
• Breaks and actual working time
• Overtime hours
• Leave, sick-leave and absence days

Labour law expects the employer to keep and retain records of pay and working time. In a dispute, the burden of proving working time falls largely on the employer — so a regular timesheet is not a formality but a protective record.

How to keep a timesheet: 3 methods

1. Paper sheet

The simplest method, but the most fragile. Signature-based tracking is possible, but losses, illegible handwriting and addition errors are common. Even for small teams, archiving becomes a problem over time.

2. Excel table

A big step up from paper. Formulas total the hours and overtime automatically. The downside: clock-in/clock-out times are entered by hand, so the gap between "planned" and "actual" can slip through.

3. Digital timesheet (app)

The employee clocks in and out from their phone; time, location and date are recorded automatically. Overtime and leave are reported payroll-ready. Both the error rate drops and the record becomes hard to dispute.

Common mistakes

• Not deducting breaks: if unpaid breaks are not subtracted from working time, the total hours look inflated.
• Calculating overtime daily: overtime is, as a rule, the time beyond 45 hours in a week; judging it by a 9-hour day is misleading.
• Late entry: filling in the timesheet from memory at the weekend reflects estimates, not the real hours.

Summary

A timesheet is a business's most fundamental record for pay and compliance. As you move from paper to Excel and then to digital tracking, the error rate drops and the record gets stronger. If you want to keep the timesheet automatically from your team's phones, see how ROTA works.