What a timesheet records and why

A timesheet is a record of how much of a worker's time went on each job. That's the plain definition, and it's close to what Wikipedia says: a method for recording the amount of a worker's time spent on each job.¹

Paper or software, the idea is the same. Here's what usually ends up on one.

The basics on most timesheets

• Who worked. A name or employee ID, so the hours land on the right person.
• Which day. Each entry needs a date.
• Start and end, or just a total. Some sheets hold start and end times. Others hold only the duration.¹
• What the time was for. A task, job, client or project. Software often calls this a project or task field.²
• A note. A short description helps whoever checks the sheet later.

Extras you may see

• Break lines. Some sheets show breaks separately from worked time. Rounding and breaks covers how software treats them.
• Pay type. Regular hours, overtime, sick leave and so on can each get their own code.
• Overtime hours. In Australia, the Fair Work Ombudsman lists the number of overtime hours worked during the day as something to keep for some employees.³
• Status. Draft, submitted, approved. This tells payroll whether the hours are final. How approval works has the detail.

What the record is used for

• Payroll. Timesheets were first developed so an employer could calculate payroll.¹
• Billing clients. If you charge by the hour, the project field tells you what to invoice.¹
• Job costing. Adding up time per job shows what each one took.¹
• Proof. If a pay question comes up later, the record is what you point to.

Those uses pull in different directions. Payroll wants exact hours per person. Billing wants hours per client. A good setup captures both on one entry, so nobody types the same time twice.

Who needs what

Staff need a quick way to enter time. Managers need to see gaps and odd totals. The person running pay needs final numbers. If one screen has to serve all three, keep the fields few.

Small teams often start with a spreadsheet. That works until people forget to fill it in or the formulas break. Software can add things a spreadsheet lacks, such as approval steps. It doesn't make the hours accurate by itself, though. Someone still has to enter the right times.

Keeping the records

Rules on how long to keep records, and what they must hold, depend on where you operate.

• Australia. The Fair Work Ombudsman says employers have to keep time and wages records for 7 years. It also says employers should keep records of hours worked for all employees, including pieceworkers.³
• United States, UK and elsewhere. The rules differ by country, and in the US by state as well. Ask the US Department of Labor, HMRC or your state or national labor agency. An accountant or employment lawyer can say what applies to you.

This site gives general information only. It can't tell you what your business must record.

A quick check of your own sheet

• Can you tell who worked, on what day, and for how long?
• Can you tell what the time was spent on, if that matters to you?
• Does it show whether someone has checked it?
• Can you find last year's sheets without hunting?

If any answer is no, fix that before adding features. Clockify's help describes logging hours by timer, manual input, timesheet or calendar view, which shows that one record can be filled in several ways.² Checked November 11, 2026. Other tools differ, so read the maker's own help pages for the one you're considering.