Timesheet template: layout, formulas and review steps

Key takeaways

Start with the record’s purpose. A project-work log documents work against a task or agreement; an employee-hours record may need fields set by the applicable jurisdiction and worker category. A label such as “contractor” does not settle that question.
Copy a layout that a reviewer can follow: identify the person, project and task; record the date, work description, start and end date-times, excluded break, and total; then add submission, review, correction and accepted-version fields.
Calculate elapsed time from full start and end date-times. Test an ordinary shift, an overnight entry, excluded breaks and totals over 24 hours before you rely on the sheet for billing or employee records.
Treat approval as a record trail, not a checkbox. Keep the task reference, submitted version, reviewer decision, correction reason and supporting document connected so that the accepted work can be reconciled later.
Limit access, corrections and retention to the record’s purpose and the local rule that applies. If repeated file copies, late entries or unclear approvals become routine, improve the workflow before the spreadsheet becomes the source of the confusion.

Copyable timesheet template

Use a project-work log when you need to show what work was done against a defined project or task. Use a separate employee-hours record when working-time rules apply. The layouts below are starting points. Check the requirements for the relevant worker and jurisdiction before using either as a record.

Project-work entry and review fields

Copy this layout into a spreadsheet when a contractor, project lead and reviewer need one shared record of work. It creates a trail from the task to the version the reviewer accepts.

Field	What to enter
Reporting period	The start and end date covered by this sheet
Person	The person who completed the work
Project and task reference	The project name plus the agreement, work-order or task ID used by your team
Work date	The date the work took place
Work description	A short description of the completed task or deliverable
Start and end date-time	Full date and time for the beginning and end of the entry
Excluded break	Break minutes that are not part of the recorded work time
Total	The elapsed or decimal hours calculated for that entry
Submission	The version name and date sent for review
Review and correction	The reviewer’s decision and, if needed, the reason for a correction
Accepted record	The accepted version and the related supporting-document reference

Copy this row layout into the sheet, then add one row for each work entry:

Reporting period | Person | Project/task | Work date | Work description | Start date-time | End date-time | Excluded break (min) | Decimal total | Submitted version | Review/correction | Accepted record
2026-10-05 to 2026-10-11 | Contributor A | Website refresh / QA-17 | 2026-10-06 | Design review | 2026-10-06 09:00 | 2026-10-06 17:00 | 30 | 7.5 | v1, 2026-10-06 | Accepted | v1 / DOC-17

The example uses a same-day entry: 09:00 to 17:00, less a 30-minute excluded break, equals 7.5 decimal hours. Test the layout with an overnight entry as well: 22:00 on one date to 02:00 on the next date, less a 15-minute excluded break, equals 3.75 decimal hours. Four 7.5-hour entries should total 30 hours, and 15 minutes equals 0.25 decimal hour. These examples assume the break is excluded; they do not set a break rule.

A reviewer can then check the work reference and the calculation without mistaking an earlier draft for the accepted record.

Keep the work description specific enough to connect the entry to the underlying task. A field called “hours” without a date, task reference or review status leaves the reader to reconstruct the record from messages and filenames later.

Employee working-hours variant

Do not turn the project-work layout into an employee record simply by changing the heading. Employee record requirements depend on the worker category and jurisdiction. For covered US non-exempt employees, the record includes daily hours and total weekly hours; the FLSA does not prescribe one universal form. In Great Britain, Working Time Regulations compliance records may be kept in a format the employer reasonably considers fit, and daily hours are not invariably required where compliance can be shown without them.

Start an employee-hours variant with the worker’s identifying information, the workweek, a row for each recorded day and a weekly total. Add only the fields needed for the applicable obligation and your stated record purpose. The UK government notes that a person called a contractor can have different employment statuses, so the label on an agreement or sheet is not enough to choose the employee-record rules.

Check the local requirement for the relevant worker before adopting the variant, and state the reporting period clearly.

Choose the purpose of the time record

Choose the record’s job before you copy its columns. A project-work log creates a reviewable link between work and a task or agreement. An employee-hours record may be part of a working-time or pay record, so its required fields, access and retention rules depend on the worker category and jurisdiction.

Decision tree: identify the work relationship and record purpose; project work leads to a task and document trail, while employee hours lead to checks under the applicable local rules. — A contractor label does not settle employment status. Employee-hour records and retention rules depend on the worker category and jurisdiction; project-work fields should match the agreement and review needs. UK Government: Employment status · US Department of Labor: FLSA recordkeeping advisor · Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 9 · UK ICO: Data protection and monitoring workers

In the UK, someone described as a contractor may be self-employed, a worker or an employee in an agency arrangement. The label on the sheet, contract or invoice does not decide the applicable employment-status question.

Contractor project work

Use a project-work record when the team needs to connect performed work with a project, task, agreement or supporting document. Give each entry a clear work reference, date, description, time record and review status. That combination makes it possible to follow an accepted entry back to the work it describes.

For example, a contractor who has completed a testing task can record the task ID, date, time and a concise description of the work, then submit that version for review. The reviewer has a defined record to assess, and a later correction can retain its reason rather than overwriting the accepted trail without explanation.

The sheet is an operational record, not a substitute for the agreement or other documents that govern the work. Match its fields to the review and document trail your project actually uses.

Employee working hours

Use an employee-hours record when the relevant employment rules require time to be recorded. For covered US non-exempt employees, Department of Labor guidance includes hours worked each day and total hours worked each workweek. The FLSA does not prescribe a single form, so include the fields required for that worker and jurisdiction in the employee-hours template.

Great Britain takes a different approach under the Working Time Regulations: employers must keep records adequate to show compliance with the specified limits and requirements, but the records may be maintained in a format the employer reasonably considers fit. Daily hours are not invariably required when compliance can be shown without them.

Build the employee variant only after you identify the worker category, jurisdiction and record purpose. Then set the fields, reviewer access and retention period to the local requirement rather than carrying over the contractor project-work layout by default.

Choose a period and file format

Set the reporting period around the work and review cycle you actually need to manage. Then choose a file format that the person entering time and the person reviewing it can use without creating a separate, conflicting version of the record.

Daily, weekly and biweekly records

Use a daily record when each day needs its own review or when work changes often enough that a weekly reconstruction would be unreliable. Keep the reporting date visible in every entry so that an overnight shift or late correction can be placed in the right period.

A weekly timesheet works when one reviewer checks a regular seven-day cycle. It gives the submitter a defined time to enter work and the reviewer a defined time to check totals, task references and missing days. A biweekly version covers two weeks; it suits a review rhythm that runs every two weeks, provided the sheet still shows each work date and the period boundaries.

Choose a period that keeps entries timely and review manageable. Keep the work date and task detail on every row regardless of the reporting cycle.

Semimonthly, monthly and project records

Use a semimonthly record for two defined parts of a calendar month, and name both start and end dates rather than relying on the label alone. A monthly sheet gives a single view of recurring work, but it needs a clear review point before the next month begins.

A project record follows a defined piece of work instead of a fixed calendar rhythm. It works well when the reviewer needs to connect entries with a project milestone, task list or supporting documents. Keep the project reference and the actual work dates in the file so that a record remains understandable after the project closes.

Excel and Google Sheets

Choose a spreadsheet when the record needs calculated totals, reusable rows or a reviewer who must inspect the underlying entries. Excel supports elapsed-time calculation from full start and end date-times.

Google Sheets is useful when the team needs an editable shared copy. Google documents both making a copy of a file and opening a copy from a selected template, but that does not establish that every account has a native timesheet template. Start from the layout in this article or another approved source, then test the fields and totals before treating the copy as the working record.

Decide who may edit the active sheet before you distribute it. Earlier versions can show who updated a Google file, but viewing them requires edit permission, so a reviewer who needs that history must have the right access.

Word and printable PDF

Choose a Word layout or printable PDF when the record will be filled, signed or reviewed outside a live spreadsheet. Put the reporting period, person, project or task reference, date, work description, time and approval fields on the page itself; a printed sheet cannot rely on hidden formulas or file history to supply that context.

Use a printable format for a stable copy, then record the submitted and accepted version in the review process. If the work requires calculated totals or frequent corrections, retain a controlled source sheet as well so that the printed record has a clear origin.

Build entries a reviewer can verify

A reviewer should be able to identify the work, see when it happened, check how the time was calculated and understand what happened after submission. Build those answers into each entry instead of leaving them in chat threads, filenames or memory.

Person, project and task identifiers

Identify the person who did the work and the project or agreement it belongs to. Add the task, work-order or other reference that the reviewer already uses to find the underlying work. The identifier should point to a real record in your process, not a new label that only exists in the timesheet.

For a project with several contributors, record the person and task reference on every row. A project total without those details may show an amount of time, but it does not show which work a reviewer is being asked to accept.

US federal time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts provide a narrow example of why this trail matters: the relevant clause links payment to direct labor hours and requires individual daily job records or another approved form of substantiation. That clause does not set the rule for ordinary commercial project work, but it illustrates the value of connecting a time entry to identifiable work.

Dates, work description and time units

Give each row a work date, a concise description and a clear unit of time. If the record uses start and end date-times, enter both in full, especially when work crosses midnight. If it uses decimal hours, make the chosen calculation and excluded break visible enough for the reviewer to follow.

Choose the entry granularity deliberately. In the 2024 Data & Knowledge Engineering study “Capturing and Analysing Employee Behaviour: An Honest Day's Work Record,” an observational comparison involving six employees at one professional-services organisation, the timesheet omitted 21 of 45 distinct clients identified across three recording methods. Among 60 missing client-related activities in that case, 42 lasted one or two minutes. The study does not measure contractor records or establish a universal omission rate. It does show why a team that needs to reconcile short pieces of client work should decide how those activities will be recorded rather than assuming they will appear in a later weekly summary.

Do not collect descriptive fields merely because a blank template has room for them. UK data-protection guidance for worker monitoring says information should be limited to what the purpose requires. A task reference and work description may be necessary for review; unrelated personal detail is not part of a better timesheet.

Submission, approval and correction fields

Add fields for the submitted version, reviewer decision, correction reason and accepted version. They turn the sheet from a running log into a record with a visible review route. The reviewer can accept the submitted entry, request a correction with a reason or identify the version that became the record of reference.

Do not assume cell history fills this role on its own. Google Sheets says its edit history can omit some formula, formatting, row and column changes, as well as changes made before a restored version. Record the decision and correction route explicitly when that trail matters to your process.

For UK worker monitoring, the ICO says workers should be able to see and, where needed, explain or challenge monitoring results. A clear correction field supports that principle while giving the reviewer a record of what changed and why.

Calculate hours without hiding errors

Calculate from full date-times, show excluded breaks separately and test the result with real edge cases before a reviewer relies on the total. A neat-looking time cell can still conceal an overnight error, a missing break or a display that wraps after 24 hours.

Same-day and overnight entries

For a same-day entry, subtract the full start date-time from the full end date-time, then subtract any excluded break. In Excel, a 09:00 to 17:00 entry with a 30-minute excluded break equals 7.5 decimal hours.

Overnight work needs an end date on the following day. For example, 22:00 on one date to 02:00 on the next date is four elapsed hours; with a 15-minute excluded break, the result is 3.75 decimal hours. Entering only the clock times can make that four-hour span appear negative or ambiguous.

Excel documents date-time subtraction for calculating elapsed time across dates. Test both a same-day and overnight row in the actual file, because the result depends on the dates and break values you entered, not on the column heading.

Breaks, totals and time display

Keep the break in its own minutes field so that the reviewer can see what the total excludes. For decimal hours in Excel, calculate (end date-time − start date-time) × 24 − break minutes ÷ 60.

The formula assumes that the start and end cells contain full date-times and that the break should be excluded. Four 7.5-hour entries total 30 decimal hours; 15 minutes equals 0.25 decimal hour. Use those values as a quick check that the sheet adds entries and converts minutes in the way you expect.

If you display an elapsed duration rather than decimal hours, use an Excel format such as [h]:mm for totals that may exceed 24 hours. A regular clock-time display can show the remainder after 24 hours instead of the accumulated duration.

Rounding and overtime conventions

Write down the rounding convention used by the record before people start entering time. The sheet should make clear whether it keeps exact elapsed time or rounds entries to an agreed increment, and it should preserve the underlying start, end and break data when the review process needs it.

For US employees, Department of Labor guidance permits recording time to the nearest five minutes, one-tenth or quarter hour only when the practice does not, over time, fail to count all hours actually worked. That is an employee-record rule in the stated US scope, not a default rounding rule for contractor project logs.

Treat overtime treatment as a separate local policy and worker-category question. A calculated total gives the reviewer a time figure; it does not by itself determine what rule applies to that figure.

Make one controlled working copy, set its reporting period and test the arithmetic before it becomes the record a reviewer sees. A template becomes useful only after your team has agreed which version is active, who enters work and when the record is ready for review.

Create a copy and set the reporting period

Create a fresh copy for each reporting period instead of overwriting an earlier accepted record. Name the file with the project or team and the start and end dates it covers. In Google Sheets, you can make a copy of a file or open a copy from a selected template.

Set the period before you enter rows. A weekly sheet should show the dates in that week; a project record should show the project window and the date of each entry. This gives the submitter and reviewer the same boundary for deciding whether an entry belongs in the current record.

Enter work and test the totals

Enter work close to when it happens, with the date, task reference, description, full start and end date-times, and any excluded break. Test the sheet with a same-day row, an overnight row and a total above 24 hours. Those checks reveal formula and display errors before the sheet is used for review.

The hours were the weakest cell. A timesheet filled in from memory is a guess
— Jon McLachlan, Co-founder of YSecurity and Ceed

This is one founder’s account of a local problem. If your records are routinely completed days later, set a clearer collection point or shorten the reporting period.

Share the right version with the reviewer

Send the reviewer the active file or the submitted version named in the sheet. State whether they should check entries, request corrections or mark the version accepted. A link with no version name leaves room for the reviewer and submitter to work from different copies.

Set access deliberately. Google says that viewing earlier file versions requires edit permission, even though version history can show who updated a file and their changes. Give the reviewer the access needed for the review they are expected to perform, while limiting correction rights to the people responsible for the record.

After review, preserve the accepted version with its task and supporting-document references.

Review changes and approve work

Set a review route before the record is due: the submitter names the version, the reviewer records a decision and any correction creates a visible next version. Both people can then identify which record was accepted.

Submission and review responsibilities

The submitter should complete the work entries, identify the reporting period and send a named version for review. The reviewer should check the task or project reference, dates, descriptions, time calculation and supporting-document link that apply to the work. Give the reviewer a clear decision field such as accepted, correction requested or awaiting information.

For a narrow US federal time-and-materials or labor-hour contract example, the applicable clause calls for substantiated vouchers and approval by the contracting officer or representative. Your own commercial workflow may differ, but the sequence is useful: work record, substantiation, review decision and the accepted record.

Corrections after submission

When a reviewer finds an error, create a correction path instead of silently changing the submitted entry. Record what changed, why it changed, who made the correction and which version replaced the earlier one. The reviewer can then reassess the corrected entry without losing the reason for the change.

Do not rely on Google Sheets edit history as the complete correction record. Google says history can omit some formula, formatting, row and column changes and changes before a restored version. A correction reason and named version fill a different role: they show the review decision the team made about the record.

Where UK worker-monitoring guidance applies, workers should be able to see and, if necessary, explain or challenge monitoring results. A defined correction route gives them a way to raise that challenge while keeping the reviewer’s decision visible.

The accepted version

Mark one version as accepted only after the required review is complete. Preserve its file name or version identifier alongside the project or task reference, reviewer decision and supporting documents. Later reports, invoices or reconciliations then have a stable record to refer back to.

Keep the accepted version separate from a working draft. If work changes after acceptance, create a new submitted version and record the correction rather than replacing the reference record in place. This creates a checkable trail from the original entry through review to the record your team retained.

Connect the log to project documents

Connect every reviewed time entry to the work reference and supporting documents that explain it. The aim is a checkable handoff from task to accepted record, without treating the timesheet as a replacement for the agreement or the documents that govern the work.

Process diagram: set task and document references, log dated work, submit a named version, and review it. With no correction, retain the accepted record with support; otherwise record the reason and resubmit. — This is a practical record-design workflow, not a universal legal rule or proof of contractual rights. Check the applicable agreement, authority and local requirements. Google Docs Editors Help: Find what changed in a file · IRS: What kind of records should I keep? · FAR 52.232-7: Payments under Time-and-Materials and Labor-Hour Contracts

Match entries to the agreement and task

Use the project, agreement, work-order or task reference that your team already uses. Enter it with the work date and description, then retain it through submission and review. A reviewer should be able to move from the timesheet row to the defined work without guessing which document or conversation it refers to.

For example, if a project assigns a contractor a testing task under a named work order, record that work-order or task ID on the time entry. The review process can then compare the description, date and recorded time with the project material that explains the work.

A timesheet alone does not establish contractual rights. Check the applicable agreement and rights documents separately.

Reconcile accepted work and supporting documents

Keep the accepted version of the log with the documents that support the business record. US IRS guidance lists invoices and receipts among the documents that support entries in business books and tax returns. It does not prescribe a timesheet ID, so use an identifier that fits your own task and document workflow.

US federal time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts provide a limited example of a tighter chain: payment is calculated from the contract’s hourly rates and direct labor hours, and the clause calls for daily job timekeeping records or other approved substantiation. Do not extend that clause to ordinary commercial contractor work. Use it to see why a task reference, dated entry, submitted version, reviewer decision, correction reason and supporting document are useful links in one record trail.

When a correction follows acceptance, retain the reason with the new submitted version and connect that version to the same project record. The reviewer can then reconcile the final accepted work without erasing the path that led there.

Set access and retention for the record

Decide who may see, correct and approve a timesheet before the reporting period starts. Then set retention from the record’s purpose and the local obligation that applies. A project-work log and an employee-hours record may need different access and retention choices.

Who can see and correct entries

Give access according to the job each person performs. The submitter needs to enter work; the reviewer needs to inspect the relevant entries and request or approve corrections; the person responsible for records may need the accepted version and supporting documents. Limit correction rights so that a reviewed record cannot be changed without a visible route.

UK ICO guidance on worker monitoring says to collect no more information than the purpose requires and restrict access to people who need it. Where that guidance applies, give workers a way to see and, when necessary, explain or challenge monitoring results. Keep that scope clear: the guidance concerns UK worker monitoring, not every contractor project log.

For shared files, check who can view version history as well as who can edit the current sheet. Google requires edit permission to browse earlier versions, so a reviewer who must check changes needs access that matches that responsibility.

Which local rule applies

Start with the worker category, jurisdiction and purpose of the record. For US FLSA payroll records, Department of Labor guidance generally requires at least three years of preservation, while records on which wage computations are based, such as time cards, should be retained for two years. Those periods apply to the stated US employee-record context, not to every timesheet.

In Great Britain, Working Time Regulations records must be retained for two years from the date made. The same regulation concerns adequate records for its specified working-time requirements and does not create a global retention period for contractor project logs.

UK ICO guidance takes a purpose-based approach to worker-monitoring retention: keep a retention schedule, justify the period and review it. Use the local rule that governs your record, then document the decision in the workflow so that a reviewer knows when access should end and when the accepted version can be disposed of under that rule.

When a template stops working

Replace a file workflow when it no longer gives the team a reliable record of work, review and supporting documents. The trigger is recurring local friction, not a fixed headcount or a generic promise of time saved.

Signs of file and version friction

Look for repeated copies of the same sheet, entries completed from memory after the reporting period, reviewers checking an unclear version or accepted records separated from their task and supporting documents. Record those failures for a few cycles so that you can see whether the problem is entry timing, permissions, calculation, review or document handoff.

once everyone went remote, tracking our billable hours became a major challenge
— Gaurav Chauhan, CEO and Co-founder of KonarkPro

This account describes one company’s collection problem after a move to remote work. Check where your own submissions, reviews or record handoffs become difficult to reconcile.

Google Sheets version history does not capture every type of change, including some formula, formatting, row and column changes and changes before a restored version. If your review process depends on those changes, add explicit submission, correction and accepted-version fields or move the record into a workflow that preserves the decisions you need.

Keep, improve or replace the workflow

Keep the template when it produces a timely, reviewable record and the team can identify the active version, the reviewer’s decision and the supporting documents. Improve it when a specific failure has a clear fix: add task references, shorten the entry cycle, restrict correction rights or name the accepted version.

Replace the workflow when the record must connect repeated contractor tasks, statuses, contracts and closing documents in a way that the file no longer keeps clear. 4dev.com offers a contractor operations register covering tasks, statuses, contracts, closing documents and history, with approvals, roles and access levels configurable separately by company, country or team.

Those published capabilities describe contractor operations, not a native timesheet feature. Use them to assess whether the document and approval trail around the work has outgrown a standalone sheet; keep the actual time-record fields and local employee-record obligations in the system that applies to them.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free timesheet template?

You can create a free working template by copying the field layout in this article into a spreadsheet or document. Include the reporting period, person, project or task reference, work date, description, start and end date-times, excluded break, total, submission, review, correction and accepted-version fields. Test it before using it as a record.

Does Excel or Google Sheets have a timesheet template?

Excel supports date-time calculations that are useful in a timesheet, but the record still needs fields that match your purpose and local requirements. Google Sheets documents making a copy of a file and opening a copy from a selected template; its documentation does not establish that every account has a native timesheet template. Start with a layout you have reviewed, then make and test a working copy.

How do I create a timesheet in Excel?

Create columns for the work reference, date, description, full start and end date-times, excluded break and total. Add reporting-period, submission, reviewer-decision, correction and accepted-version fields around the entries. For decimal hours, calculate elapsed date-time difference and subtract the excluded break; for accumulated durations above 24 hours, use an elapsed-time display such as [h]:mm.

How do I record 15 minutes and calculate total hours?

In decimal hours, 15 minutes equals 0.25. Keep the minutes or break field visible and convert it consistently in the calculation. As a check, four entries of 7.5 decimal hours total 30 hours. Use full date-times when an entry crosses midnight.

What is the difference between weekly and biweekly timesheets?

A weekly timesheet covers one defined seven-day reporting period. A biweekly timesheet covers two weeks. Both should retain the work date on each entry, show the period start and end dates, and set a clear submission and review point.

Can a spreadsheet automate timesheet approval?

A spreadsheet can record a submitted version, reviewer decision, correction reason and accepted version. The reviewer still needs a defined responsibility and the appropriate file access. Do not treat version history as the entire approval trail: Google Sheets says some formula, formatting, row and column changes, and changes before a restored version may not appear in edit history.