What is a timesheet and how to fill it in: guide with a free template
A timesheet is the sheet where a person records how many hours they spent on each piece of work, usually week by week. It tells you where the time went: to invoice a client, keep an eye on a project or understand what a job really cost.
What a timesheet means
The word combines time and sheet. A timesheet can be a sheet of paper, an Excel file or a piece of software: the tool changes, the principle does not. Unlike a clock-in, which records when a person arrives and leaves, a timesheet shows what they worked on.
What to record in a timesheet
A complete timesheet usually includes:
- who did the work;
- when, meaning the day or the week;
- on what: client, project and activity;
- how much: the hours spent on each job;
- a note, if it helps explain what was done.
How to fill it in, step by step
- Set up the week: write your name and the date of the Monday.
- Add a row for each job: client, project and activity.
- Enter the hours on the right day: better every day, or at least at the end of the week, than from memory at the end of the month.
- Check the totals: the weekly total must match what you actually worked.
- Send it to whoever reviews it, if your company requires approval.
A practical example
Here is what the week of a person working on two projects looks like:
| Client | Project | Activity | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio Bianchi | Website | Development | 6 | 7.5 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 31.5 |
| Rossi Srl | Support | Call-outs | 2 | 0.5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8.5 |
| Total | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 40 |
With these numbers it is immediately clear that Studio Bianchi took up almost four fifths of the week, something working hours alone would never tell you.
The most common mistakes
- Filling it in at the end of the month: from memory, hours get estimated, not recorded.
- Rows that are too generic: “various” tells nothing to whoever has to invoice.
- Forgetting short tasks: lots of scattered half hours add up to a full day.
- A different file for each person: adding them up by hand is slow and invites mistakes.
Where to start
You can start right away with our free Excel timesheet template, no sign-up needed. If you also keep attendance records, read the guide to the employee attendance sheet.
When several people fill it in, the file becomes hard to manage. The weekly timesheet in Klokka keeps the same table but puts everyone’s hours in one place, with approval, reports and exports.
Alex