A weekly timesheet needs seven things for each day: the date, start time, end time, unpaid break, hours worked, what the time was spent on and any note. Add the employee's name, the week, a weekly total and a place for approval. Copy the template below into Excel or Google Sheets and the formulas will total the hours and the overtime.
Key takeaways
- One row per day, one total per week.
- Record start, end and break. Let a formula work out the hours.
- US employers must record hours worked each day and each workweek.
- A spreadsheet works for a few people. Past that, errors and chasing grow fast.
What does a weekly timesheet look like?
| Day | Start | End | Unpaid break | Hours | Project or task |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 9:00 | 17:30 | 30 min | 8.00 | Website redesign |
| Tuesday | 9:00 | 18:00 | 45 min | 8.25 | Website redesign |
| Wednesday | 8:30 | 17:00 | 30 min | 8.00 | Support retainer |
| Thursday | 9:00 | 17:45 | 30 min | 8.25 | Mobile app |
| Friday | 9:00 | 16:30 | 30 min | 7.00 | Mobile app |
| Week | 39.50 |
Weekly timesheet template
Paste this into cell A1 of a new sheet. It is comma-separated, so use your spreadsheet's option to split text into columns if it lands in one cell.
Employee,[Name],,Week starting,[YYYY-MM-DD], Day,Date,Start,End,Unpaid break (min),Hours,Project or task,Notes Monday,,,,,,, Tuesday,,,,,,, Wednesday,,,,,,, Thursday,,,,,,, Friday,,,,,,, Saturday,,,,,,, Sunday,,,,,,, Total hours,,,,,,, Overtime hours,,,,,,, Employee signature,,,Approved by,,,Approval date,
Which formulas do you need?
With the layout above, the first day is on row 3.
Hours for Monday, in F3. Fill down to F9: =IF(OR(C3="",D3=""),0,ROUND((D3-C3)*24-E3/60,2)) Total hours for the week, in F10: =SUM(F3:F9) Overtime over 40 hours, in F11: =MAX(0,F10-40)
Enter start and end as times, such as 9:00 and 17:30, and the break as a number of minutes. Format column F as a number. The reason for multiplying by 24 is explained in minutes to decimal hours.
What must a timesheet record?
For non-exempt employees in the United States, the Department of Labor requires employers to keep, among other things, the hours worked each day and the total hours worked each workweek, along with the time and day the workweek begins. Any timekeeping method is acceptable if it is complete and accurate.
A complete timesheet has
- The employee's name
- The dates of the week and the day the workweek begins
- Start and end time for each day worked
- Unpaid breaks
- Hours for each day and a total for the week
- Overtime hours, shown apart
- The project, client or task, if you bill or budget by it
- The employee's confirmation and a manager's approval, with the approval date
How long to keep them is covered in how long to keep timesheets.
Which layout fits your team?
Weekly
One sheet per person per week. Matches the workweek used for overtime.
Most commonBiweekly
Two weekly blocks on one sheet, with overtime worked out for each week on its own.
For two-week pay periodsProject
Rows are projects or tasks and columns are days.
For agencies and consultantsMonthly
One row per day for the month.
For salaried staff who only record attendance
On a biweekly sheet, keep the two weeks apart. Federal overtime is counted for each workweek, and hours cannot be averaged across two weeks. See how to calculate overtime.
What goes wrong with spreadsheet timesheets?
Do
- Fill it in each day
- Record actual start and end times
- Keep one file per week and lock it after approval
- Note the reason for every correction
Do not
- Reconstruct the week from memory on Friday
- Write 9:00 to 17:00 every day because it is easier
- Type 7:30 as 7.30
- Let anyone overwrite an approved sheet
The first item matters most. A timesheet filled in on Friday records what a person remembers, and memory rounds in predictable ways. That is the gap automatic time tracking closes.
When should you stop using a spreadsheet?
Signs you have outgrown it
- Someone spends hours each week chasing missing sheets
- Totals are corrected after payroll has run
- Clients question hours and you cannot show where they came from
- People work across several projects in a day
- The team is remote and nobody sees start and end times
How does BirdsEye replace the weekly timesheet?
BirdsEye builds the timesheet from the working day as it happens. A desktop agent records working time automatically inside the hours you set, in one-minute blocks.
- No Friday reconstruction. Hours are observed, not remembered.
- Time away from the computer. Meetings and calls are added as manual entries.
- Projects and tasks. People pick their current project and task in the agent, or a Jira issue.
- Attendance from the same data. Present, late, absent and on leave are marked each day.
- Export. Time entries export as CSV for payroll and invoicing.
See time tracking and attendance.
Frequently asked questions
What should a timesheet include?
The employee's name, the dates, start and end times, unpaid breaks, hours for each day, a weekly total, overtime and, where needed, the project or task. Add the employee's confirmation and a manager's approval.
How do I calculate hours worked in Excel or Google Sheets?
Subtract the start time from the end time, multiply by 24 and subtract the unpaid break in hours. For a start in C3, an end in D3 and a break in minutes in E3: =(D3-C3)*24-E3/60.
Is a weekly or a biweekly timesheet better?
Weekly is simpler, because overtime is counted by the workweek. If you pay every two weeks, use a biweekly sheet that totals each week on its own.
Are spreadsheet timesheets legal?
Yes. US rules accept any timekeeping method that is complete and accurate.