Making a timesheet comes down to building a simple document that tracks who worked, when they worked, and how many hours they logged. Whether you use a spreadsheet, a paper form, or dedicated software, the core structure is the same. Here’s how to build one that’s accurate, easy to use, and compliant with federal recordkeeping rules.
Fields Every Timesheet Needs
The Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t require a specific format, but it does require employers to maintain certain data for every non-exempt (hourly) worker. Even if you’re a freelancer tracking your own hours for invoicing, these fields form a solid foundation:
- Employee name (and job title or department, if relevant)
- Pay period with start and end dates
- Day of the week for each entry
- Time in and time out for each shift
- Time out and time in for breaks (listed separately so unpaid lunch periods are deducted automatically)
- Total hours worked each day
- Total hours worked for the week
- Overtime hours (any hours beyond 40 in a workweek for most hourly employees)
- Hourly pay rate and overtime rate
- Signature lines for the employee and a supervisor or approver
If your business tracks paid time off, add columns for sick hours, vacation hours, and holiday hours. These categories let you calculate different pay rates separately and keep your payroll records clean.
Building a Timesheet in a Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet program like Excel or Google Sheets is the most common way to build a timesheet from scratch. Start with a header section at the top that captures the employee’s name, department, pay period dates, and hourly rate. Then create your tracking grid below it.
Setting Up Columns
Your column headers should run left to right in this order: Day, Date, Time In (morning), Time Out (lunch), Time In (afternoon), Time Out (end of day), Total Hours, Overtime Hours. If you track leave, add Sick, Vacation, and Holiday columns after that. Create one row for each day of the pay period, typically seven rows for a weekly timesheet or fourteen for biweekly.
Formulas That Do the Math
The real advantage of a spreadsheet is letting formulas handle the calculations. For each day’s total hours, subtract the morning start time from the evening end time, then subtract the lunch break duration. If your morning clock-in is in cell B9 and your afternoon clock-out is in D9, with lunch out in C9 and lunch in in C9, the simplest approach is to use two pairs of time-in and time-out columns and calculate: (afternoon Time Out minus morning Time In) minus (lunch Time Out minus lunch Time In).
At the bottom of the Total Hours column, use a SUM formula to add up every daily total. For example, if your daily totals run from H9 to H15 on a weekly sheet, your weekly total in H16 would be =SUM(H9:H15). Do the same for overtime, sick, and vacation columns.
To calculate pay, create a row below the totals for pay rates, then multiply. Your regular pay subtotal is total hours multiplied by the hourly rate. Your overtime subtotal is overtime hours multiplied by 1.5 times the hourly rate (or whatever your overtime rate is). A final cell sums all the subtotals into a grand total for the pay period.
Formatting Tips
Format all time-entry cells as “Time” so the spreadsheet recognizes clock values correctly. Format the total-hours cells as numbers with two decimal places so you get hours in decimal form (7.50 rather than 7:30), which is easier for payroll. If you prefer the hours-and-minutes display, keep the time format but make sure your pay formulas convert properly. Lock the formula cells and header rows so employees can only type in the time-entry fields, which prevents accidental edits to calculations.
How Time Rounding Works
If you round clock-in and clock-out times instead of tracking to the exact minute, federal rules allow rounding to the nearest 15-minute increment. The key rule: 1 to 7 minutes get rounded down, and 8 to 14 minutes get rounded up to the next quarter hour. So an employee who clocks in at 8:07 is recorded as starting at 8:00, but clocking in at 8:08 rounds up to 8:15.
This system is legal as long as it’s neutral over time and you don’t always round in the employer’s favor. If you’d rather avoid the complexity, just track exact minutes. The FLSA allows any timekeeping method as long as it’s complete and accurate.
Fixed-Schedule Shortcut
If your employees work the same hours every day, you don’t need them to fill in times each shift. Federal rules allow you to record the fixed schedule once and simply note any exceptions. For instance, if someone always works 8:00 to 4:30 with a 30-minute lunch, you can keep that schedule on file and only record deviations, like leaving early on a Wednesday. This saves time while staying compliant, and it works well for salaried non-exempt workers whose schedules rarely change.
Submitting and Approving Timesheets
A timesheet that nobody reviews is a liability. Set a clear submission deadline, such as end of day every Friday for weekly sheets, or the Monday after a biweekly period closes. Employees should sign or digitally confirm that their entries are accurate before submitting.
A manager or supervisor should then review the timesheet for obvious errors: missing days, shifts that exceed normal hours without an overtime note, or break periods that don’t add up. Once reviewed, the approver signs off and the sheet gets locked or filed so it can’t be altered after the fact. This two-step process (employee submits, manager approves) creates an audit trail that protects both parties if there’s ever a dispute about hours or pay.
Automated reminders help if late submissions are a recurring problem. Even a simple recurring calendar invite or email reminder the day before timesheets are due can significantly improve on-time submission rates.
How Long to Keep Timesheets
Federal law requires employers to retain payroll records, including timesheets, for at least three years. That covers total hours worked, overtime pay, wage rates, and deductions. Store completed timesheets in a secure location, whether that’s a locked filing cabinet for paper copies or a backed-up digital folder for spreadsheets. If you ever face a wage dispute or a Department of Labor audit, these records are your primary evidence.
Paper, Spreadsheet, or Software
For a sole proprietor with a handful of employees, a printed timesheet template or a simple spreadsheet works fine. You get full control over the layout, it costs nothing, and the learning curve is minimal. The downside is manual data entry and the risk of formula errors or lost files.
Dedicated time-tracking software (like QuickBooks Time, Harvest, or Clockify) automates much of the process. Employees clock in from a phone or computer, breaks are tracked automatically, overtime flags appear in real time, and approved timesheets flow directly into payroll. The trade-off is a monthly subscription cost, typically per user, and the time to set up and train your team.
For freelancers and independent contractors who need timesheets for client billing rather than payroll compliance, a basic spreadsheet is usually enough. Include the project name or client, a description of work performed, and hours per task. This doubles as an invoice backup if a client ever questions a bill.