Simple Timesheet Template

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• January 3, 2022 Updated
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When it comes to employee time tracking, many companies purchase software, use equipment like time clocks, or hand out physical paper time sheets. Unfortunately, these types of tools can be costly, require maintenance, or leave too much room for error.

But with a time sheet template like this one, you can complete it with little effort, benefit from automatic calculations which reduce errors, and download and use it for no cost at all. That’s right, our Simple Timesheet Template works in Microsoft Excel and is completely free.

What is a time sheet?

A time sheet is a spreadsheet that hourly employees use to track their total hours worked. Each day, they enter the time they start, times in and out for breaks, and then the time they stop.

These work hours are totaled for a simple way for the employee, their supervisor, and payroll personnel to pay them accurately.

Time sheets can and should include normal hours, overtime, and hours used for sick leave or vacation time along with spots for notes and signatures.

This Simple Timesheet Template includes fields for all of these details and more. This lets you use it for yourself or provide it to your employees as an easy and accurate time tracker.

When should you use a time sheet template?

If you own a small business with only a few employees, work for company that does not use time tracking software, or have hourly employees in remote locations, this time sheet template is perfect.

It’s easy to set up, simple to fill out, and lets you track employee hours (or your own) with a few clicks.

If you’re ready to get started with our Simple Timesheet Template and use it for yourself or your employees, here’s a tutorial to cover any questions you may have.

Template Contents

There are three files in the Simple Timesheet Template download: weekly, biweekly, and monthly. So just select the one that suits your work schedule or payroll requirement.

• Weekly Time Sheet - tracking for 1 to 7 days (weekly tracking)
• BiWeekly Time Sheet - tracking for 1 to 14 days (bi-weekly tracking)
• Monthly Time Sheet - tracking for 1 to 31 days (monthly tracking)

Create your time sheet

If you’re using the time sheet for your employees, you can enter your Company Logo and Name at the top in that cell. Alternatively, you can enter a section name, building number, or just remove that text.

Employee details

The next area of the time sheet template at the top is for the employee details. Each field is labeled so that you can easily enter the information. This includes:

• Employee ID
• Name
• Title
• Department

Start date and number of working days

The Start Date and Number of working days fields should change each time you create a new sheet for that pay period. When you enter the data in these two fields, it will automatically populate the Date and Day columns in the time sheet.

Note that each of the three files requires valid field entries for the Number of working days.

• Weekly Time Sheet: 1 to 7 days
• BiWeekly Time Sheet: 1 to 14 days
• Monthly Time Sheet: 1 to 31 days

Time in and out

After the dates and days are in the time sheet, you’ll just enter the times you start and end your shift in the Time columns. The template uses a 24-hour time format and you’ll notice that the Time section allows for a daily break.

For example, if you work from 8AM to 5PM and take a lunch break from 12PM to 1PM, you would enter this shift as follows:

• In: 8:00
• Out: 12:00
• In: 13:00
• Out: 17:00

You can also use the time sheet template for shorter shifts that don’t require breaks. With this situation, you would just enter the times for In and Out once for that day.

Normal and overtime hours

In the Hours area on the right, you’ll see Normal and OT (Overtime). These fields are calculated and populated automatically based on the information entered in the Time section.

Overtime hours are calculated as any time worked over eight hours for that day.

Sick leave and vacation hours

To the right of Normal and OT in the Hours section are spots for Sick and Vac (Vacation) time. So if you, or an employee, use sick or vacation hours for that shift, or part of that shift, you can enter it in the corresponding section.

This lets you keep track of sick leave and vacation time that’s being used. In addition, if those types of hours have different hourly rates with your company, this can be added and will be reflected in the totals at the bottom (explained in the Hourly Rate section below).

Totals and rates

In the dark gray areas at the bottom of the time sheet are the total billable hours, hourly rates, and gross pay for the period. All calculations are done automatically in the template using formulas except for the Hourly Rate cells. Here are those sections.

Total Hour

Each of the Hours columns is automatically summed in the Total Hour row so you can quickly see the billable hours for normal, overtime, sick, and vacation time for the pay period.

Hourly Rate

This is the only section the Totals area that you will need to enter. Insert the Hourly Rate in the corresponding cells for the normal, overtime, sick, and vacation columns. If something does not apply, you can simply enter $0.00 or leave it blank.

Total Hour x Hourly Rate

The amounts in the Total Hour x Hourly Rate cells are calculated and populated automatically. The built-in formula takes the Total Hour for that column and multiplies it by the Hourly Rate in that same column.

This lets you easily see the total pay for the various types of work hours.

Total

The Total in bold text at the bottom of this section is the total dollar amount (gross pay) for that entire pay period. This total is automatically calculated with a formula that adds the four amounts in the Total Hour x Hourly Rate row of cells.

Notes, signatures, and dates

At the bottom of the time sheet, you’ll see a place to add Notes. Just click the box to the right of Notes and enter your text.

Below Notes are spots for the employee and supervisor signatures along with date fields to the right of each. So once you print the time sheet, you each can just sign in the correct space and add the date.

Tips for using time sheets

The easier a time sheet is for your employees to use, the less confusion and errors there will be. Here are some tips to help you use your employee time sheets effectively.

Distribute the time sheets to your hourly employees accordingly. For instance, if your employees have access to a shared digital workspace such as Dropbox or Google Drive, you can keep the spreadsheet there for all to download and use.

Explain the requirements for the time sheet such as the deadline to submit it, the method and person to submit it to, and to make sure the sheet is signed.

Include brief instructions for completing the time sheet correctly. For example, you’ll want your employees to know they should use the 24-hour time format. You can add these types of notes to another tab in the spreadsheet.

Provide employees the tools they need to fill out the time sheet. For instance, make sure they know where to find their employee ID, department number, or a 24-hour time format calculator. (Here are two online 12- to 24-hour time converters you can check out: Time Calculator and Online Conversion.com.)

Time sheets for easy time tracking

If you’re a small business owner or cannot invest in time tracking software, employee time sheets are ideal. This Simple Timesheet Template gives you ease of use, simple setup, and three flexible options for for total hours worked in your pay period.