Time Tracking
Timesheet Templates for Hourly Employees & Contractors FAQ
This FAQ answers the most common questions about timesheet templates for hourly employees and contractors. Whether you are choosing between Excel and Google Sheets, adding overtime columns, building a construction-specific time card, or turning completed timesheets into payroll-ready data, these answers cover the decision logic that template-download sites skip.
20 questions
- What is a timesheet template?
- A timesheet template is a pre-formatted document that records when employees start work, take breaks, and clock out each day across a defined pay period. At minimum, a payroll-ready template includes fields for employee name, pay period dates, daily In and Out times, break deductions, total regular hours, and overtime hours. Templates come in Excel, Google Sheets, printable PDF, and digital formats. The goal is to standardize time capture so every hour worked flows into payroll without manual re-entry or guesswork.
- What is a time card, and how is it different from a timesheet?
- A time card is a per-shift punch record that captures a single clock-in and clock-out event, often on a physical card or kiosk screen. A timesheet is a period-level summary that aggregates multiple shifts into a weekly, bi-weekly, or semi-monthly total. In practice, time cards feed into timesheets. If your payroll process requires employees to submit a single document per pay period, you need a timesheet. If supervisors verify attendance shift by shift, you are working with time cards. Many teams use both. time card vs. timesheet comparison