01: What Are Timesheets?

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Timesheets are records of how much time your employees spent working. They can be organized into days, weeks or even months. Additionally, you can use them to measure how much time was spent on a certain project or client.

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In most cases, each employee is in charge of filling in their timesheet. Then the managers review and approve them.

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[fs-toc-omit]Types of Timesheets

There are several types of timesheets, but most commonly, they are divided by the time period they’re covering. On the other hand, they can be divided based on the information they require.
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• Daily timesheets
• Weekly timesheets
• Biweekly timesheets
• Monthly timesheets
• Project timesheets
• Timesheets for employees
• Timesheets for managers

Most of these would be counted as manual timesheets. In this case, employees must have access to a timesheet template, and fill it in by hand before handing it off to their manager or supervisor.
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However, given that we live in an era of software and advanced technology electronic timesheets and timesheet apps are growing in popularity, but we’ll discuss these further in the text.

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[fs-toc-omit]Types of Timesheets

Timesheet templates are mostly used by hourly employees. They show employers how many hours a team member has worked, so they can calculate their salary accordingly. Yet, many companies with salaried workers still want to make sure their team is working 40 hours a week, so they use employee timesheets as well.

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On the other hand, timesheets can be used to only track time spent on certain projects. Although they used to be quite handy, they’re becoming more tiresome on the workers, and employees are turning to time tracking software to handle time tracking on projects.

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02: How Can You Use Timesheet Data

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Timesheets are incredibly important for every business, and they have multiple ways of use and benefits. Mainly, they’ll help you bill your clients more accurately, track project costs, measure employees performance (if you’re calculating time vs. tasks completed), and provide you with information on how efficiently your team works.
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They can also help you estimate and track project budget, as well as create more accurate estimates in the future.

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03: Timecards vs Timesheets - What Is the Difference?

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Even though timecard and timesheets are usually used as synonyms, they are essentially two different things. Time card templates are mainly used as a form of a clock in clock out system, tracking only when employees started and stopped working during the day. Timecards were used with old punch-in systems most factories had throughout history, but these are now replaced with keycards and time clock apps.

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04: Manual Timesheets vs Timesheet Software

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Both manual and automatic timesheets have their pros and cons. While manual ones might be cheaper (you either print them out or use an excel timesheet template), they are more prone to human error. Additionally, they require more work from your employees. In most cases, they need to be reminded to fill in their weekly timesheet templates, or they’ll leave them for last minute and fill them in by memory. If you’re using timesheets for project time tracking as well, you won’t be able to get the most accurate data in this way.

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On the other hand, timesheet software or employee timekeeping software is usually automatic, saving you the hassle of reminding your employees, and making it easier to review and verify the data. For example, with Insightful you can generate timesheets based on employees computer activities. Depending on your settings, employees can manually clock in/out, or Insightful can detect when their computer turns on/off and count that. You can even create reports in a repeating time frame, select which employees or teams you want to include in them, and receive an automatically generated timesheet for everyone on your team. These reports can be generated on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

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Online timesheet tracker can also be used to track time on projects, and it’s extremely accurate, meaning you’ll be able to bill each client with the most precise invoices. It will also simplify your payroll administration process, because usually you’ll be able to integrate it to your accounting software.

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Manual timesheets are good for very small teams, or individuals, who are just starting to use them. They can give you a grip of benefits. But, if you want to get serious about your work timesheet, you should definitely consider using a time tracking app.

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05: Are Timesheets Legal?

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Not only that they are legal, in most countries - some form of timesheet is required by law. Naimly, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the US and Working Time Directive (EU), require employers to keep a record of the following:
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• Number of hours employees worked each week
• Overtime hours employees worked each week
• Time taken for sick leave or paid time off
• Time amount between two shifts, etc.

If you’re looking to find out more about complying with these regulations check out these articles:
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• How Can Insightful Help You Comply with EU Work Time Directive?
• EU Employers Must Record Daily Work Time or Face Fines up to 15K EUR
• How Can a PC Screen Time Tracker Help You Comply With the FLSA

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06: Timesheet Fraud Prevention

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Timesheet fraud isn’t as uncommon as you might think. Like with time tracking fraud like buddy punching or time theft, with timesheets employers are facing fraud in several different ways. One of them is inflating work hours (writing in more hours in order to get paid more), another is making false data entries (false times on projects), but there are also errors caused by belated timesheet entries.

You should come to terms that you probably won’t be able to banish timesheet fraud from your company completely. Yet, you shouldn’t get discouraged as there are several ways you can minimize it:
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• Create a Timesheet Policy which outlines all the rules of timesheets, including the disciplinary action that will be taken in case of misuse
• Use a software which automatically generates timesheets and works as a work time clock
• Have policies which will help you deal with payroll irregularities, exceeded budgets and surplus work hours

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07: How Much Do Timesheets Cost?

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There are several free timesheet options available out there. Free timesheet software is one of them, but it’s usually limited by the number of employees, or it's lacking some more advanced features which could help you out. You can also find some free timesheet Excel or Google Sheets templates, or create them yourself. Keep in mind that your employees will need to enter the data manually, and that you’ll need to transfer it to the accounting department or into your accounting software. Also, as the time gets by, you’ll have more and more of these sheets and it won’t be so easy to keep track of them. Your third options are the timesheet calculator websites. During the day, your employees can enter when they worked, when they took breaks, download the report and send it over. Again, the manual work is prone to human error, and it leaves more space for timesheet fraud.

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When it comes to time management apps with timesheet features, the price varies, from a couple of bucks per user, up to $15. The price usually goes per employee, and it depends on the number of features the software has. Usually, the more options you have, the pricier the software. However, more expensive doesn’t mean better, so, when you’re deciding which one to use, start with a free trial to make sure it has everything you actually need.

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08: What Are the Features of the Best Timesheet Software?

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To put it simply - the best timesheets software is the one that suits your organization the best. So, the reality is that there’s no point in us telling you which one is the best. But one thing we can do is share your insight on the features your timesheet software should definitely have.
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First and foremost, the timesheet software should be able to generate timesheets automatically for you. Not only does this option save a lot of time for you, your employees, accountants, HR, and everyone involved, it also gives you the most accurate data on your employees’ working hours.
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To make things even simpler, the software should also have email reports which you can schedule at certain times. But, if necessary, you still have to be able to export these reports, and filter them based on teams, projects or employees.
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If you want to have a fraud-proof tool, then you must look for the following features:
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• Ability to stop tracking once the employees’ computer has been idle for a while
• Break time calculations (where time can be customized to suit your needs)

Another feature which saves a lot of time and effort is payroll calculator, as well as billing amount calculator. For payroll, you’ll be able to enter hourly rates for each of your employees, and the software will make an automatic calculation of how much you owe them after a certain time period. You should also be able to enter the billing rate for every project, so you can calculate the billable hours with great precision.

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To make things even simpler, look for a tool which integrates with the payroll software of your choice. That way you can make payments from your timesheet hours tracker, without worrying you’ll miss a digit or any other data points.

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09: Introducing Timesheets to Your Team

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Whether you go for a manual or automated version of timesheets, the fact is that your employees won’t be very enthusiastic about it. If you opt in for a manual one, and decide to use the template, you’ll certainly hear complaints how this will take up too much of their time, etc. On the other hand, if you go with a time tracker, they might worry about what type of data this software is collecting and whether it affects their privacy.

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In any case, eventually they’ll get on board with it, but you should help them accept the system as soon as possible. To do this, you should have an open conversation about any concerns they might have. Organize a meeting where they’ll get the chance to ask you questions, and you should answer candidly to each of them. Also, when you announce that you’ll start using timesheets - talk about the benefits, and not only the benefits your company will have. Make sure you address the benefits that come to your employees, which are fair and accurate payments, accurate calculations of hours worked, overtime, etc.

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It’s quite simple - they’ll be wondering what’s in it for them, and the sooner they know that, the easier it will be to come to terms with the new policies.

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10: Try Employee Time Clock Software for FREE

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By now, you should already be aware of the benefits a software carries compared to the regular timesheet calc, or timesheet templates. A software like Insightful is so much more than timesheets, and you might not even be aware of the benefits it can bring you when used fully. We recommend that you get a free demo of Insightful, use your 7-day trial to the maximum, to understand why Insightful is the best solution for your business.