There are various driving factors on why an employee works diligently. One of the most potent factors is the compensation benefits they receive from the work they do for the company. As an HR specialist, it is a great responsibility to keep track of your employees regular and overtime hours to compensate them justly. To aid you, download from one of our wide variety of Printable Timesheet Templates for free. These files are ready-made and are easy to use. They are print-ready, perfect for commercial as well as personal printing. They also work as a digital documenting tool. Easily editable and fully customizable in all versions of Microsoft Word, Publisher, Excel, Apple Pages, Numbers, and Google Docs. Save the downloaded file on your PC or mobile device.
What Is a Timesheet?
A timesheet is essentially a tracking tool for your employees time rendered for work. It also takes note of the days the employees are out on leave, and the pay increases they are awarded over time. It is also an essential tool in project management. It can provide information on how many hours are used up in doing a particular project. These pieces of information are vital in drafting proposals for future projects.
How to Create a Timesheet
Since timesheets are essential in compensation, it is also, in a way, helpful to boosting employee morale, thus leading to lower employee turnover. A simple spreadsheet helps obtain significant organizational benefits.
1. Be Knowledgable with Federal Laws
In compensation, the most fundamental law to be familiar with is the Fair Labor Standards Act. This law consists of the corresponding minimum wage for different kinds of labor, eligibility of overtime pay, and recordkeeping for both full time and part-time workers. When paying your employees for their contribution, make sure that you are following the legal arrangments of the country and your state if there are any special clauses. You can easily ask further explanation and counsel from your local lawyers.
2. Determine Pay Period
The format of the timesheet adheres to your company's pay period. You can have a monthly, biweekly, weekly, and daily payout. A lengthy layout may be confusing in the long run. By determining the payment schedule, you can indicate where to create breaks on the spreadsheet to make it clean-cut.
3. Create a Masterlist
Have a separate sample list of all the employees that are solely for payroll purposes. This method is to have an organized system, especially if the employees have different pay grades. The government-mandated benefits are also a prime feature in this list. The list may also include the required hours of a specific employee if needed by the contractor. This list is especially mandated when sourcing from third-party service providers.
4. Have Clear Categories
The layout for your simple timesheet should be understandable and easy to fill in. The best way to do so is to have a form with clear cut categories. In a biweekly format, the probable segments are for the total number of work hours, overtime hours, leave hours in cases of absences and lates. Having straightforward categories bring benefit to both the management and the employees. On the management's side, you have little or no trouble in filling up the form. On the other hand, employees can easily understand and have a few questions about their pay.
5. Have Transparent Computation
Supplementary to the previous step, you should also provide a transparent computation of how you came up with your employees compensation. In calculating, show all the factors such as their hourly rate, possible deductions from lates or absences, and tax exemptions if they are minimum wage employees. Transparency will increase your employees trust in your management. This principle is also essential in other finance statement materials, which involves money such as invoices and budget proposals.
