Time Log Template

A Time Log Template refers to a standard format that records different activities of employees with a time stamp, be it the login time or logoff time or others. It can help an employer and employee in multiple ways, including keeping track of the time employees or staff members take to accomplish a project or task.

Employees can also use their template sheets as documentary proof of their performance during conflicts of interest with their employers. Maintaining a time log sheet enables employees to compare their present performance with their past performance and draw motivation to do better in the future.

A time log template helps employers or managers have a standard spreadsheet format to record the time taken to carry out a particular activity by employees or staff members. This enables the employees’ data maintained with their team leaders’ to avoid issues that may arise while calculating employees’ salary.

For example, with the help of time logging, employees can easily register their log-in time and log-off time, and they take the time to complete a particular task, project, or assignment. The employees can also use their time log templates for self-evaluation during appraisals. This template can act as a base upon which the employee can fill in their appraisal sheets and self-rate their performance during a designated period.

A time log template is a prerequisite for all employees. Employees must never rely on their employer’s tracking mechanism since sometimes they might make unintentional errors or even manipulate the former’s performance.

There are many reasons that make businesses have these templates prepared. Some of them have been mentioned as follows:

• Employees must always self-track their daily performance. The employees can use their templates for appraisal purposes, comparison with the data documented by the employers, assessing one's progress and performance, and setting new goals for the future.
• In big companies, this template can auto-detect the employees' name and details, their log-in and log-out time, off time/break time/lunchtime/non-productive hours, time taken by an employee in finishing a project, and so on as soon as the employee's logs into his system.
• But in other companies where auto-tracking is not possible, employees can self-design a template or look for similar options online. The template provided in the article can do more than needed and might be the perfect option for employees looking for an ideal time log template.
• This template is a comprehensive document designed keeping in mind the needs, preferences, and purpose of employees willing to record their daily data and performance. The employees can download the document and start filling up the employer/company's details like name, office address, contact number, and website and their self details like name, employee id, and department. The users must then mention the month and the year for which the template will be created and maintained.
• The employees can then fill in the next particulars, details like dates, days, project, project start and end time, time taken in finishing a project, their office log-in and log-out time, overtime (if applicable), total hours devoted each day, remarks about project's status and late log-in or early logoffs, etc.
• It is a highly resourceful weapon for employees in safeguarding themselves from office politics. It may be challenging for employees to remember their daily performance details. However, with this template, employees will only need to memorize their performance for some working days. Rather, they will need to update the template daily and derive self-tracking benefits.

Let us consider the following instances to understand how to maintain the timesheet of employees using the work time log template:

Example #1

Let us say a company wants to check the number of hours the members of a team worked in a week or a month. Here is a template that it prepared for standard record-keeping. Everything from the project name to start time to end time to total number of hours spent for the day, is included in the time log template Excel below:

Example #2

A law office decides to prepare an attorney time log template to make it easy for everyone involved to access it as and when required. Though they knew they have a software to take care of the making of the template, there were a few steps that they needed to consider before the preparation. Some of these factors include the following:

• The first step is to know the layout they want with type of columns they would require. For attorneys, the most standard columns are of date, client name, case number, task description, and time taken on each hearing or matter.
• The next step is to know the space required to put the details. Even if it is for the invoice making purpose, the American Bar Association advocates that the template should have details that would make the charges worth the time spent on the cases.
• The standard time increments should be decided on beforehand. Normally, the attorney timesheet maintenance is based on consistent increments to ensure uniformity.

Once the technical elements are finalized, the law firms make the template accessible to all, thereby ensuring timely and regular updates on the same. When the updates are regularly made, tit becomes easier for the law office to calculate the effort and time of each of the attorneys spent on a particular matter. This, in turn, lets the authorities know the progress of the matter under each attorney, which thereby reflects their performance and lets the law firms know their worth.

The users of these time log templates are employees themselves, independent contractors, and others who aim to keep a check on the worked hours for legitimate payment in return. However, the employees are more exposed to such templates. Hence, the different ways of these templates being used by the employees have been listed below:

• The employees can download the template attached to this article and customize it per their preferences.
• The employees with a target-based job can even record the targets they have achieved in a day. It will also help them in claiming incentives from their employers.
• The users can mention the start and end times for each allocated project/task/assignment and can accordingly evaluate the time they have taken to finish the same.
• It calculates the employee's total productive hours for the day. The users can also mention daily remarks like the project's status, early/late log-ins/log-offs, etc.
• The template's purpose is immense. Employees must start considering tracking their performance and time devoted to a professional template to save time and keep things more systematic and fully organized.