On the last working day of the month, a finance executive at a 90-person services firm sends the fourth reminder about timesheets. Eleven people have filled in nothing. Six have filled in eight hours for every day, including days they were on leave. The delivery head needs the numbers to invoice a client by evening.
A timesheet is only as good as the habit behind it. This post describes a small routine that gets reasonable data without turning managers into nags.
Start by deciding what the data is for
People fill in timesheets carefully when they know what happens to them. List the uses honestly. For most services firms the answers are client billing, project cost and margin, utilisation of the team, and estimates for the next proposal. If the sheet is also used to judge individuals, say so and say how.
If nobody can say what the data is for, the sheet will be filled in by guesswork on the last day. Cut any field whose answer no one reads.
Keep the form small
- Date, project, task type and hours. That is the core.
- A short list of task types, such as build, test, support, meetings, training, leave and bench. Eight or fewer.
- A free-text note only where the client needs it for billing.
- Separate lines for non-billable work, so training and internal tasks are visible and not hidden inside projects.
A long form teaches people to tick the first option. A short form can be filled in two minutes a day. Test the form with three people from different roles before you launch it.
A daily routine that works
- 1
Fill in at the end of each day
Set a calendar prompt for the last half hour. Daily entries are far more accurate than a weekly reconstruction from memory.
- 2
Submit weekly
On a fixed weekday, staff submit the week. Managers approve within one working day.
- 3
Chase on a schedule
HR or delivery operations send one reminder at midday on submission day and one the next morning. Beyond that, the manager follows up.
- 4
Review exceptions
Look weekly at gaps, entries above the normal daily total and bench hours. Ask questions in a friendly tone.
- 5
Close the month
On the agreed cut-off day, lock the sheets. Finance bills from locked data, and corrections go through a written request.
Make approval light but real
A manager who approves forty sheets in one click is not checking anything. Give them an exception view: missing days, hours above the usual maximum, entries to a closed project, and time booked after the cut-off. They then review a short list, not forty sheets.
For client billing, let the project manager compare timesheet hours with the client's agreed basis, whether fixed price, time and material or a monthly team. The way you check differs, and the check should be written down for each contract.
Say what happens when people do not fill in
The consequence should be mild, clear and applied evenly. A reminder, then a note to the manager, then a conversation. Linking pay to timesheets is a serious step with legal and employment effects, so take advice on it before adding it to a policy.
Who must fill in a timesheet and who is exempt.
What the data is used for, in plain words.
Daily entry and weekly submission days.
List of task types and what each means.
How leave, holidays and bench time are recorded.
Manager approval deadline and the exceptions view.
Month-end cut-off and the correction request process.
Who to ask for help, and the steps if a reminder is missed.Tools: start with what you have
A shared spreadsheet works for a team of twenty if one person owns it. Beyond that, a simple tool that connects to your project list saves hours. Look for entry from a phone, approval in two clicks, locks at month end and a download that finance can use. The HR process automation page covers how GullyHR sets up workflows like this, including reminders and reports.
Do not buy a tool before you have settled the form and the routine. A tool with a bad form just produces bad data faster.
Common failures and fixes
- Everyone books eight hours daily. Fix: show the team how bench and non-billable hours are used in planning, and stop treating them as shameful.
- People log time to the project that has budget left. Fix: have project managers review time against tasks each week.
- Leave days are filled with project hours. Fix: link leave records to the sheet so the entry is blocked.
- The sheet is a month-end rush. Fix: lock last month on the third working day and refuse back entry without approval.
For a wider view of the people processes a services firm needs, read the software development companies hub. If the data feeds into reviews, the appraisal cycle design post shows how to keep ratings fair when project time varies.
