Clock in, or fill in a timesheet? How to choose
Two ways to record working time, who each one suits, and why many teams end up using both side by side.
6 min readFor owners and managers
In short
- Clock in when start and finish times matter. Fill in a timesheet when the total and what it was spent on matter.
- Choose by the kind of work, not by how much you trust people.
- Mixed teams can use both, as long as everything lands on one weekly timesheet with one approval.
- Whichever you choose, decide early how corrections, breaks and forgotten entries are handled.
On this page7 sections
There are two common ways to record working time. People either clock in and out as they work, so the system records the actual times, or they fill in their hours afterwards, usually at the end of the day or week. Almost every decision you make later, about approvals, overtime and payroll, sits on top of this one. It is worth ten minutes of thought before you set anything up.
Neither method is better in general. They answer different questions. Clocking in answers “when was this person at work?” A filled-in timesheet answers “how many hours did this person work, and on what?”
The two methods side by side
| Clocking in | Filling in a timesheet | |
|---|---|---|
| What is recorded | Actual start, break and finish times | Hours per day, often split by project |
| When it is recorded | As it happens | Afterwards, from memory or notes |
| Effort for staff | Two taps a day, every day | A few minutes a day or week |
| Main weakness | Forgotten clock-ins and clock-outs | Rounded or estimated hours |
| Best for | Shift work paid by the hour | Project, office and field work |
- What is recorded
- Clocking in
- Actual start, break and finish times
- Filling in a timesheet
- Hours per day, often split by project
- When it is recorded
- Clocking in
- As it happens
- Filling in a timesheet
- Afterwards, from memory or notes
- Effort for staff
- Clocking in
- Two taps a day, every day
- Filling in a timesheet
- A few minutes a day or week
- Main weakness
- Clocking in
- Forgotten clock-ins and clock-outs
- Filling in a timesheet
- Rounded or estimated hours
- Best for
- Clocking in
- Shift work paid by the hour
- Filling in a timesheet
- Project, office and field work
When clocking in fits
Clocking in suits work where the times themselves matter. If someone is scheduled from 7:00 to 15:00, you want to know that they arrived at 7:00, not just that they worked eight hours at some point.
- People work set shifts: shops, cafés and restaurants, care, cleaning, warehouses, workshops.
- Pay is by the hour, and breaks need to be recorded.
- You need to know who is at work right now, for cover or for safety.
- People work at a fixed place, so a location check on clock-in is meaningful.
The cost is that it depends on a habit. People forget to clock out, most often at the end of a tiring shift. That is manageable, but you need an answer ready: a simple way to add missed time with a reason, and a manager who looks at it within a day or two.
When a timesheet fits
A filled-in timesheet suits work where the day has no hard edges. Someone who answers an email at 8:10, drives to a client at 10:00 and finishes a report after dinner does not have a start and finish time in any useful sense. What matters is the total, and what the time was spent on.
- Hours are spread across projects or clients, perhaps because some are billed.
- People work flexibly, from home or on the road.
- Pay is a salary, and hours are recorded for costing, billing or working-time records.
- The day's total matters more than the exact minute it started.
The cost here is accuracy. Hours filled in on Friday afternoon for the whole week are an estimate. The fix is frequency: a timesheet filled in daily takes a minute and is far closer to the truth than one rebuilt from memory. A reminder at the end of the day helps more than any policy.
Three questions that settle it
- Would a 20-minute late start change anything? If it affects pay, cover or customers, you need actual times: clock in.
- Do you need to know what the hours were spent on? If hours are divided between projects or clients, a timesheet handles that naturally.
- Where does the work happen? One fixed place points to clocking in. Many places, or anywhere, points to a timesheet.
- Six people work on site, paid by the hour, with a 7:00 start. Lateness holds up the whole crew.
- Three people work in the office on quotes, accounts and scheduling, on a salary.
- Site crew: clock in. Actual times matter, and they are all at a known location.
- Office staff: timesheet. Their hours are split across jobs for costing, and start times vary.
- Both groups submit one timesheet a week and one person approves them all.
Using both in one company
Plenty of companies look like that building firm. The mistake to avoid is running two separate systems, with clocked hours in one place and typed hours in another, so that payroll has to merge two lists every period.
What you want is two ways in and one way out. However the hours are entered, they should land on the same weekly timesheet, go through the same approval and come out in the same payroll export. In ClockinBee the company chooses clock in only, timesheet only, or both. With both switched on, clocked time and typed hours sit together on each person's week, and the timesheet grid lets people who fill in hours type a whole week at once.
Decide these three things on day one
Whichever method you choose, the same three questions come up in the first fortnight. Answering them in advance saves a lot of back and forth.
- Corrections. Who can change an entry after the fact, and does the manager see that it was changed? A good default: people fix their own time before they submit, and after that a manager sends the week back.
- Breaks. Are they paid? Are they recorded by the person, or taken off automatically on long shifts? Automatic breaks change paid hours, so tell people before you switch them on.
- Forgotten entries. What should someone do when they forget to clock in, or miss a day on their timesheet? Make the answer obvious, and make it something they can do themselves from their phone.
Common questions
Isn't clocking in a sign that you don't trust people?
It can feel that way if it is introduced badly. Explain that it is about getting pay right without anyone having to remember their hours, and apply it to everyone doing the same kind of work, including supervisors. Most hourly staff prefer a record they can see to an estimate made by someone else.
Can we start with one method and change later?
Yes. The hours already recorded stay as they are. Change at the start of a week or pay period, and tell people a few days before, so that no week is recorded half one way and half the other.
Can people who clock in also split their time between projects?
Yes. Choosing a project when clocking in records both the actual times and what the time was for. It suits teams that move between a small number of jobs during a day.
Do salaried staff need to record time at all?
It depends on where you are and what you use the hours for. Some countries require working-time records for all employees, and many companies want hours for costing or billing. Check the rules that apply to you.
How to do this in ClockinBee
- Set up ClockinBee in 10 minutesAdd a location and your people, let them clock in, approve the week and send it to payroll.
- Clock in, take a break and clock outHow to record your working time from your phone, in three taps.
- Forgot to clock in? Add hoursAdd time after the fact, so the day is not missing from your timesheet.
- Submit your week, or unsubmit itSend your week for approval, unsubmit it to fix a mistake, what each status means, and what to do if it is returned.
- Add a project and track time on itCreate a project for a client or a piece of work, and see its hours, cost and budget.
Try it with your own team
1 month free with every feature, no card needed. $6 per user a month after that.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax or payroll advice. Working time, pay and time off rules differ by country and contract, so check the rules that apply to you.