Timesheet templates: How to track team progress

What if we told you a timesheet was more than a punch clock tool used in movies? In fact, modern timesheets can help you track team workload, reduce burnout, and evaluate overall team progress.

In addition to keeping track of work hours, timesheets help companies meet business objectives and stay within budget. These data tables also help facilitate project and team success. In this article, you’ll learn how to use a timesheet template. Plus, we’ll explain the benefits that come with online time tracking.

Understanding timesheet templates

In dynamic workplace teams, effective time tracking is the key to unlocking higher productivity and profitability. Whether you're a freelancer juggling multiple clients or a manager overseeing a large team, integrating timesheet templates can significantly streamline your workflow.

What is a timesheet template?

A timesheet template is a pre-formatted document used to track employee hours and manage time entries. It's an essential tool for small businesses and larger organizations alike to monitor employee work hours, calculate total pay, and ensure compliance with labor laws.

For example, a construction company might use a timesheet template to track hours spent on different job sites, while a marketing agency could use one to bill clients accurately for project work.

Benefits of using a timesheet template

Using a free timesheet template can transform your time-tracking process from a time-consuming headache into a smooth, efficient operation. Here's how:

• User-friendly: Most templates are easy to use and require minimal training, making them accessible for everyone from tech-savvy millennials to less computer-savvy employees.

• Flexibility: Available in various formats like Excel, Word, Google Sheets, and Docs, catering to different preferences and tech setups.

• Cost-effective: Many free timesheet template options are available online, perfect for startups and small businesses on a tight budget.

• Customizable: Can be tailored to track sick days, vacation time, and specific project hours, allowing for comprehensive workforce management.

• Improved accuracy: Reduces human error associated with manual time tracking, ensuring fair compensation and accurate client billing.

Types of timesheet templates

The time tracking you’ll use for your team will likely depend on two things—how often your team members get paid and any local or federal laws. Aligning employee timesheet templates with company pay periods allows you to view time in well-defined blocks, align work hours with team member paychecks, and share timesheets with other departments as needed. 

Daily timesheet template

A daily timesheet template Daily timesheets are useful if your team has complex work schedules. Team members who clock in and out at various times throughout the day will need to track their time closely. Daily timesheets can also track specific daily tasks like internal meetings, time spent on admin work, and time spent on client projects. 

• Paper timesheets: Traditional time cards filled out by hand daily.

• Digital solutions: Digital timesheet templates or timesheet software for daily entries.

• Mobile options: Timesheet apps enabling real-time logging of hours.

Example: A construction company tracks hours spent on different job sites and tasks within a single day.

Weekly timesheet template

The weekly timesheet template balances detail with convenience, providing a comprehensive view of an employee's work week while reducing submission frequency.

• Paper format: A time card covering a full week, common in retail or hospitality.

• Digital options: Weekly timesheet template using Asana or Google Sheets for easy weekly totals.

• Integrated systems: Time tracking software automatically compiling daily entries into a weekly view.

Example: An office where employees track employee hours on various projects on a weekly basis, submitting timesheets every Friday.

Biweekly timesheet template

A biweekly timesheet template covers a two-week period, aligning with common pay cycles and reducing administrative work.

• Traditional method: Paper timesheets covering a two-week period.

• Modern approach:  Timesheet templates auto-calculating two-week totals.

• Advanced solutions: Timesheet software switching between weekly and biweekly views.

Example: A large corporation using biweekly timesheet templates to streamline payroll processing.

Monthly timesheet template

Monthly templates provide a broad overview of employee work hours over a longer company pay period. You can use this type of timesheet template to analyze utilization rates and team work patterns.

• Classic approach: Paper calendars or monthly time cards for manual entry.

• Digital alternatives: Excel timesheet templates designed for monthly tracking, including vacation days and sick days.

• Comprehensive tools: Time tracking software generates monthly reports from daily or weekly entries.

Example: A consulting firm tracks billable hours for long-term client projects on a monthly basis.

Project timesheet template

Project timesheet templates track time spent on specific projects or tasks, which is key for project management and client billing.

• Basic version: Paper timesheets with columns for different projects or tasks.

• Spreadsheet solution: Excel or Google Sheets templates with project dropdown menus.

• Advanced options: Project management software with integrated time tracking features for detailed reports and project progress monitoring.

Example: A marketing agency using Asana's project timesheets to track hours spent on different client projects, enabling accurate billing and real-time project progress updates. The team's time entries in Asana automatically sync with project tasks, providing a comprehensive view of time allocation across various projects and clients.

While paper timesheets and physical time cards remain relevant in some sectors, many businesses are adopting digital solutions. Timesheet apps and time tracking software offer enhanced accuracy, real-time updates, and seamless integration with other business systems. These tools often provide multiple views in one platform, allowing businesses to select the most appropriate for each situation.

The optimal timesheet template depends on your specific needs, industry requirements, and team's time reporting preferences. Choosing the right type can streamline your time tracking process, minimize human error, and provide valuable insights into team's time utilization.

How to use a timesheet template

Timesheets aren’t difficult to use, but if team members don’t fill them out correctly, it can result in inaccurate pay and be cumbersome to fix. Explaining this process to your team can prevent project risks or inaccuracies.

1. Select a template

The first step of time tracking is to select a timesheet template—that way, you have a preset schedule to work from. Work with your internal legal and HR teams to choose a template that fits your team’s pay period. For example, you might align it so the total hours at the bottom of each timesheet align with team member paychecks. Whether you prefer to focus on team productivity or billing clients, you can customize a timesheet to fit your team’s needs.

For example, a project timesheet can track team member hours in relation to project tasks. Team members can also track time by how many hours they’ve spent on various client projects throughout the day.

Tip: If your team has a unique work schedule because of remote or freelance work, work with your internal legal and HR teams to create a custom timesheet template by making a data table with “hours” as your columns and “days” as your rows. Adjust the table to meet your team’s individual needs.

2. Add team member details

You’ll need a separate timesheet template for each team member, so it’s important to label them. On the top of each timesheet, create a section for things like:

• Team member name

• Manager name

• Department

• Pay period dates

• Pay rate

This information will keep your team organized and provide a standardized way to track timesheets over time. 

Tip: Online time tracking can make organizing timesheets simpler. With Asana’s workload management software, you can integrate a time tracking tool and refer to past timesheets whenever you need them, whether to share with other departments, prepare performance evaluations, or bill clients.

3. Include custom categories

Adding custom categories to your timesheet templates can give you a more accurate picture of your team’s work hours. Some categories you could include are:

• Overtime hours

• Vacation hours

• Sick time hours

Additional categories you can include, depending on the timesheet you’re using, are:

• Hours per project

• Billable hours

• Total time in meetings

• Travel time

• Admin tasks (emails, task management, weekly reporting, etc.)

Without custom categories, your team members may not account for the hours they spent away from their desks. They may also lose track of their hours and forget to report time. 

Tip: Adding too many categories to your timesheet template can have a similar effect and may make it hard for team members to input hours accurately. To keep a good balance, don’t add categories that overlap (i.e., billable hours and hours per client), or your team may forget to report their hours in both places.

4. Train team members to use timesheets

Before using your new timesheets, ask your legal or HR teams to run a training session on how to fill them out correctly. During this session, they can also go over any other company restrictions that may apply such as:

• When the timesheet is due

• How to handle overtime

• What happens if a timesheet is late.

A qualified team member should perform this training so they can speak to any local or federal laws about payment.

5. Track time worked

Once your team has been trained on how to use their timesheets effectively, it's their responsibility to fill them out accordingly. Tracking time is a step you should hand over to your team members because it would be difficult for you to know where every team member is and what they’re doing. While your team members track their time, you can be there to offer a helping hand when needed.

You can also give your team members useful tips to increase their time tracking efficiency. Some ideas include:

• Use a running timer to track project time.

• Report time as you start or mark progress on a project.

• Clock in and out as soon as you start or end each day.

• Try time management solutions, like timeboxing or time blocking.

Having a process for time tracking can keep team members from feeling disrupted throughout their day.

Tip: When you make time tracking a seamless part of the work process, it becomes second nature to your team. Instead of using a static timesheet template, consider putting your tasks in an online tool to make monitoring easier.

6. Calculate total time

Simple timesheet templates provide a clear visual of the total time worked, but you still need to calculate the total time by adding up the total hours from each workday. The benefit of using a timesheet that aligns with your company pay period is that your total time worked on your timesheet will show team members how much the company will pay them in that period. 

Calculating the total time on your timesheets can also help you assess team availability and plan future projects. If you notice areas of overwork, use that information to adjust team work schedules accordingly.

Tip: The simplest way to calculate the total time worked is with online software. Instead of sifting through timesheet templates, use automatic calculations and data tables to visualize work hours. That way, you can take notice of patterns you may not have seen otherwise.

Timesheet templates and examples

Below, you’ll see an example of a bi-weekly timesheet. In this example, the team member has various options to fill in for each day of the week. These options include:

• Start time

• Lunch start time

• Lunch end time

• End time

• Vacation/sick leave

• Regular hours

• Overtime hours

• Total hours worked

This timesheet template includes many variables like lunch breaks, absences, and overtime hours. As long as your team members report their time correctly, this template should reveal an accurate account of hours worked. Before submitting the template to HR, make sure to review it for errors.

Download a free version of this bi-weekly timesheet below. You can also use this template as a guide when creating daily, weekly, or monthly timesheet templates for your team. Before using this template, run it by your internal legal and HR teams and modify it as necessary.

Managing timesheet template data

Effective timesheet management is important for businesses of all sizes. From a small graphic design studio tracking billable hours to a large manufacturing plant managing the hourly rates of shift workers, how you handle timesheet data can impact your bottom line.

Online time tracking vs. manual

Traditionally, timesheets are printed out at the beginning of the day or week and used to track a team member’s working hours. And while there’s something satisfying about doing it on paper, paper timesheets have several disadvantages—they can get lost, they quickly become outdated when something changes, and there can only be one source of truth. 

That’s why modern teams are moving to online time tracking technology. Online timesheets increase flexibility and allow teams to report hours in real-time. Unlike printable timesheets, online time tracking allows you to: 

• Share timesheets among team members

• View changes in real-time

• Edit timesheets when needed

• Create timesheets for specific projects

• Add multiple variables to timesheets

Integrating online time tracking with your team’s daily workflow can streamline the payroll process and help you monitor things like your team’s availability and expenses. It can also help you reduce overwork and burnout. Even if you use printable timesheets to keep track of hours, you can use Asana to coordinate your team’s workload.

Automating timesheet tracking

Automation is revolutionizing the way businesses handle time reporting. From a busy restaurant managing server shifts to a software company tracking developer hours across multiple projects, automated solutions can save time and reduce errors.

Benefits of automated timesheet software:

• Increased efficiency: Automates time consuming tasks like data entry and calculations, freeing up HR staff for more strategic work.

• Improved accuracy: Minimizes human error in recording and calculating hours, ensuring fair compensation and accurate client billing.

• Better insights: Provides detailed reports on employee work hours and project progress, enabling data-driven decision making.

Timesheet template compliance

Whether you're a small retail shop or a large corporation, adhering to labor regulations and timesheet compliance is non-negotiable.

Ensuring compliance with labor laws is vital when using timesheets. Here are some tips:

1. Keep accurate records: Use a daily timesheet template or weekly timesheet template to record hours worked consistently. This is especially important for industries with strict regulations, like healthcare or transportation.

2. Include all necessary information: Ensure templates include employee name, dates, and detailed time entries. This level of detail can be crucial in case of audits or disputes.

3. Retain records: Keep team timesheet data for the duration required by local regulations. Some industries may require records to be kept for several years.

4. Use appropriate timesheet categories: Clearly differentiate between regular hours, overtime, vacation days, and sick days. This is particularly important for calculating overtime pay and managing paid time off.

Manage workflows and track time in one platform

Printable timesheet templates can be a helpful starting point for organizing your team’s work schedules, but if you want the flexibility to fix errors, track hours in real-time, and monitor team performance, then online time tracking is ideal. With a work management platform like Asana, you can bring work to life and manage everything from workflows to time tracking in one platform.