Timesheet Template
Hours by day and task, totalled for approval.
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| Name | [name] |
| Role | [role] |
| Project or client | — |
| Week ending | [date] |
| Day | Task | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| [add one line per day] | ||
| Total hours | 0.00 |
I confirm the hours recorded above are a true record of time worked.
What is a Timesheet?
A timesheet records hours worked, day by day, against a project or task. It is what payroll pays from, what a client is invoiced from, and what either side relies on when there is an argument about overtime, absence or how long a job actually took. Without one, hours get reconstructed from memory at the end of the month, and reconstructed hours are the ones that get challenged and cut.
Timesheets are kept by hourly and shift staff, agency and temporary workers, contractors who bill by the hour, salaried staff whose time is charged to client projects, and trainees who must log hours towards a qualification. Two readers matter: the approver, who is confirming the work happened and was authorised, and whoever turns the sheet into money — payroll or a billing clerk. A sheet that lets the approver recognise each entry without asking a question is the one that clears in a single pass.
Record-keeping duties differ by country. UK employers must keep records sufficient to show National Minimum Wage compliance, alongside working time records; Australian employers must keep prescribed time-and-wages records for a set period under the Fair Work rules; employers covered by the FLSA in the United States must keep hours-worked records for non-exempt employees; and in India the applicable state Shops and Establishments Act sets its own registers. Overtime thresholds vary too — some systems count a daily limit, some a weekly one. Check which regime applies to you.
A timesheet evidences hours. It does not set your rate, does not authorise overtime on its own — most policies require approval in advance — and it is not an invoice: a contractor still raises an invoice, with the approved timesheet attached as support. It also does not decide what counts as working time. Whether travel between sites, on-call standby or a paid break is included is a matter of law and contract, and the sheet should simply record those hours in a category that makes the treatment visible.
What to put in a Timesheet
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Issuing organisation | For example: Maple Grove Homeowners Association |
| Organisation address | For example: 1420 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212 |
| Claimant name | For example: James Whitfield |
| Designation | For example: Senior Assistant |
| Project or client optional | For example: Warehouse rollout |
| Week ending | Free text |
| Hours | One per line: Day | Task | Hours |
How to write a Timesheet
Fix the week-ending date and the project first
State which day the week ends on and use the same day every week — a sheet ending Sunday filed against a payroll week ending Saturday puts one day in the wrong period. Put the project name and code at the top if hours are charged out. Then write full calendar dates on each line rather than Mon, Tue, Wed, which become ambiguous the moment the sheet is filed.
Use one line per day per task
Split the day where the work splits. ‘3 March, Ashford site, drainage survey, 6.5’ and ‘3 March, travel to Ashford, 1.5’ can both be checked and charged correctly. ‘3 March, site work, 8’ hides the travel inside billable time, which is the entry a client queries and refuses. Splitting also protects you when hours are paid at different rates.
Describe the task in the approver’s language
Write what the approver already has a record of: a ticket number, a work order, a drawing reference, a phase name. ‘Rebuild import routine, ticket 4192’ can be verified in seconds. ‘Development’ cannot, and a sheet full of it gets approved slowly or trimmed. If the work has no reference, name the deliverable rather than the activity.
Keep one time unit throughout
Decide whether the sheet is in decimal hours or hours and minutes, and never mix them: 7.5 and 7:30 mean the same thing but 7.30 written in a decimal column means seven hours eighteen minutes to whoever multiplies it. Apply the rounding convention your organisation uses — to the nearest quarter hour, say — and apply it the same way on every line.
Separate different rates, then total and sign
Show overtime, night or weekend shifts, standby, travel and training as their own lines, and quote the approval reference for any overtime claimed. Deduct unpaid breaks rather than leaving them in the total. Add the columns, sign and date the sheet, get the approver’s signature, and submit before the payroll cut-off — a late sheet usually waits for the next run.
Common mistakes
- Filling in the whole week from memory on Friday afternoon, which produces suspiciously round eights and invites the approver to trim them.
- Mixing 7.5 and 7:30 on the same sheet, so somebody converts one of them wrongly and the pay or the invoice is out.
- Recording a full day on a public holiday or a half-day of leave, which the payroll system flags and returns to you.
- Booking hours to a closed or incorrect project code, after which the client rejects the line and the whole sheet has to be reworked.
- Claiming overtime with no prior approval reference, which is the fastest way to have those hours paid at basic rate or not at all.
Frequently asked questions
Am I legally required to fill in a timesheet?
The duty usually sits with the employer to keep records of hours worked, and the timesheet is how most of them do it — so in practice you complete one because your employer must hold the record. What must be kept, and for how long, differs by country and by the rules covering your role. Check the record-keeping requirements that apply to your employer rather than assuming a single standard.
How do I convert minutes into decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by sixty. Fifteen minutes is 0.25, twenty minutes is 0.33, thirty is 0.5, forty-five is 0.75, fifty is 0.83. The trap is writing 7.30 when you mean seven hours thirty minutes; in a decimal column that reads as 7.3, or seven hours eighteen minutes. Pick decimal or hours-and-minutes for the whole sheet and label the column so nobody has to guess.
Should lunch breaks be included on a timesheet?
Record the break, then treat it according to your terms: if it is unpaid, deduct it from the day’s total; if it is paid, leave it in and say so. The important thing is that the sheet shows the break rather than being silent about it, because a run of nine-hour days with no break recorded raises questions about both pay and working time compliance.
Can my employer change my timesheet?
An employer can correct an error — a wrong date, hours booked to the wrong project — but altering recorded hours to reduce pay for time actually worked is a different matter, and in many jurisdictions the rules on wage records and deductions bite. If your submitted hours are changed, ask for the reason in writing and keep your own copy of what you submitted. That copy is why you keep one.
Does travel time count as working time?
It depends on the journey and the jurisdiction. Ordinary commuting to a normal workplace is generally not working time; travel between sites during the day generally is; travel to a temporary workplace is treated differently in different systems, and pay for travel time can be a contractual matter separate from working time law. Record travel on its own line and let the rule decide the treatment.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.