Download the timesheet template
How to use it
Use one sheet for each employee and each workweek. Print it or fill it in on a computer.
- Fill in the employee's name and the first day of the workweek. Use the workweek you've set for your business, which might not start on Monday.
- Write the actual times. Time in, time out and unpaid break minutes for each day. Write them down as they happen, not at the end of the week.
- Add up the hours. Our time card calculator can do this for you, and it handles overnight shifts.
- Split regular and overtime. Under federal rules, overtime is hours over 40 in a workweek. Some states also have daily overtime.
- Sign and file. The employee and the manager each sign.
What the rules require
Federal law doesn't require a specific form. Any method's fine, as long as it's complete and accurate. You need to keep records such as:
- Hours worked each day, and the total for each workweek
- When the workweek starts
- The employee's regular rate of pay
- Daily or weekly straight-time earnings, and overtime earnings
- Additions and deductions, total wages and the pay date
Keep time cards and schedules for at least two years, and payroll records for at least three. Your state might require longer. See the Labor Department's recordkeeping fact sheet.
Getting accurate sheets
Fill it in daily. A sheet filled in on Friday from memory is mostly guesswork. Keep it where people can get to it, or at their station.
Write real times. 8:53 means 8:53. If you need to round, read this first.
Don't subtract breaks that didn't happen. If someone worked through lunch, that time's paid.
Correct mistakes visibly. Cross out, write the new time and have both of you initial it. Don't let anybody use correction fluid, and don't pencil anything in.
Check before you sign. Your signature doesn't remove your duty to pay for hours actually worked, even if a sheet is wrong.
The trouble with paper
Paper timesheets are easy to start, and they do the job for a very small team. As you grow, the costs show up. Someone has to chase the sheets, read handwriting and type it all into payroll. It's also easy to write in a time that didn't happen, and nobody can tell. If that's where you are, here's our plan for moving off paper in two weeks.
What it looks like in an app
With PinkLinq, people clock in from a phone or a tablet, so the times are recorded when they happen. Hours get totaled and split into regular and overtime for you. Fixing a mistake requires a reason, and it's logged. When you've approved the week, you download a file for Gusto, ADP, QuickBooks, Paychex or Square. It's free for up to 10 people.