Why more and more businesses are recording working hours digitally

Paper timesheets, handwritten notes, or Excel spreadsheets – in many companies, working time recording still works the same way it did 20 years ago. However, these methods have serious drawbacks: they are error-prone, time-consuming, and provide no real-time overview. The situation becomes particularly problematic when employees work on construction sites, at a client's premises, or in a home office. Who is supposed to monitor the hours? How does the data get to the office? And how can one ensure that the legal obligation to record working time is actually fulfilled?
Since the ECJ ruling C-55/18 it is clear: employers must set up a system with which the daily working time worked by each employee can be measured. Manual systems without centralised documentation only partially meet this requirement.
The solution: record working hours digitally. With modern time-tracking systems, piles of paper, transcription errors, and hours of rework at month end become a thing of the past. Instead, you receive real-time data, automatic calculations, and a clean basis for payroll and controlling.

What paper and Excel really cost

Many businesses believe that manual time tracking "costs nothing". The opposite is true. The hidden costs add up quickly:
  • Time expenditure: Transferring, checking, and correcting timesheets costs hours every month – time the office cannot spend on productive work.
  • Errors: Manual records are prone to mistakes – forgotten entries, transposed digits, hours estimated after the fact. This leads to incorrect payroll, unpaid overtime, or unbilled project hours.
  • Follow-up queries: Illegible handwriting, missing entries, unclear project assignments – the office must regularly follow up and loses valuable time.
  • Compliance risk: Without complete documentation, authority inspections can result in fines.
Digital working time recording reduces these cost factors significantly – and often pays off even for small teams.

Paper vs. Excel vs. digital software: a comparison

Criterion Paper timesheets Excel spreadsheets Digital time-tracking software
Recording effort High – fill in by hand Medium – manual entry required ✅ Minimal – via app in seconds
Error rate High – illegible entries, additions after the fact Medium – typos and formula errors ✅ Low – timestamp set at the moment of recording
Real-time overview ❌ No ❌ Only with daily maintenance ✅ Yes, automatically
Mobile recording ❌ Not possible Cumbersome ✅ Via app from anywhere
Automatic break rules ❌ No Manual formula required ✅ Automatic, based on configured rules
Project time tracking Very laborious Separate table required ✅ Integrated
Export for payroll Manual transfer CSV export possible ✅ Direct export (e.g. CSV)
Traceability Difficult to prove Easy to change afterwards ✅ Automatic timestamps, hard to manipulate, GDPR-compliant
Cost/employee/month €0 (but high hidden costs) €0 (but high time expenditure) Licence per employee (e.g. Jobilino Basic from €5.99)

These 7 features a digital time-tracking solution must have

Not all software is equally good. When switching, look out for these core features:

1. Mobile time tracking via app

Employees must be able to record their working hours digitally – no matter where they work. A good app works on iOS and Android, is intuitively operable, and can buffer clock-ins (e.g. via NFC) when there is no network.

2. Multiple recording methods

Depending on the workplace, different methods make sense: an app for mobile teams, NFC tags for production halls, a terminal at the entrance, or a browser-based solution for office workers. Flexibility is key.

3. Automatic break rules in accordance with the law

Under the EU Working Time Directive, a rest break is required when the working day exceeds six hours; its length is set by national law or collective agreements. The software should automatically send reminders and book mandatory breaks correctly.

4. Project time tracking

For tradespeople, service providers, or agencies it is essential to assign working hours directly to projects, clients, or jobs. This turns the time-tracking tool into a post-calculation tool at the same time.

5. Overtime and balance management

Who has how much overtime? Who has time off in lieu? The software should answer these questions at the touch of a button – for employees and managers alike.

6. Export for payroll accounting

The recorded data must be exportable cleanly – as CSV, Excel, or directly via an interface to payroll software. Without double entry, without transcription errors.

7. GDPR-compliant data storage

Working hours are personal data. The software must be GDPR-compliant: encrypted transmission, hosting within the EU, clear access rights, and traceable storage.

How to switch to digital time tracking – in 3 steps

Step 1: Clarify requirements

Before selecting software, answer these questions:
  • How many employees do we have?
  • Do they work mobile or at fixed locations?
  • Do we need project time tracking?
  • Should the solution communicate with our payroll software?
  • What languages do our employees speak?
For international teams, multilingual software is essential. Jobilino, for example, supports 28 languages: Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian.

Step 2: Test the software

Make use of free trial periods to test the software in everyday use. Key test points:
  • How quickly do new employees find their way around?
  • Does the app work even with a poor connection?
  • Is the dashboard clear and easy to read?
  • Can reports be generated easily?

Step 3: Onboard employees

Even the best software is worthless if employees do not use it. Plan a brief training session – with modern apps, 15 minutes is often enough. Explain the benefits clearly: less paperwork, fewer follow-up queries, correct payroll.
Tip: Start with a pilot group. This allows you to gather initial experience and adjust processes before the entire company switches over.

What to bear in mind with mobile and international teams

If your employees do not speak the local language as their mother tongue or work on changing construction sites, you need a solution designed for exactly that:
  • ✅ Multilingual support: The app should be available in your employees' languages.
  • ✅ Offline functionality: Clock-ins – for example via NFC – should be stored without an internet connection and sent later.
  • ✅ Simple operation: The app must be so intuitive that employees without smartphone experience can use it without difficulty.
  • ✅ Login without e-mail: Many construction workers or cleaning staff do not have a business e-mail address. A login via SMS or PIN is the better solution here.
  • ✅ NFC functionality: With NFC tags at deployment locations, employees can start recording their time with a simple scan – no typing required.

Legal requirements: What the law demands

Under EU law – the Working Time Directive 2003/88/EC as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU (judgment of 14 May 2019, C-55/18) – employers must set up a system that records each employee's daily working time. The details are laid down in national law. The system has to meet three requirements:
  • Recording must be objective (not based on trust).
  • It must be reliable (traceable and correct).
  • It must be accessible (viewable by authorities and employees).
Paper timesheets only partially meet these requirements because they are easily manipulated and are often filled in retrospectively. Digital systems make it much easier to meet these requirements – especially when they set timestamps automatically and keep changes traceable.
Important: In most countries, violations of the recording obligation can lead to fines imposed by the competent authority.

ROI: When does digital time tracking pay off?

A worked example for a company with 20 employees – the figures are assumptions, use your own:
  • Administrative time savings (assumption): 5 hours/month × €35/hour = €175 per month
  • Fewer errors (assumption): savings through correct payroll: €100 per month
  • Avoidance of fines: hard to quantify, not included in this example
Cost of digital time tracking: 20 employees × €6 per month = €120 (e.g. Jobilino Basic: €5.99) Net savings: €175 + €100 - €120 = €155 per month = €1,860 per year In addition, there are benefits that are difficult to quantify, such as better project costing, more satisfied employees through transparent overtime management, and less potential for conflict in payroll processing.

Conclusion: Digital time tracking is no longer a luxury

Anyone still relying on paper and Excel today is not only losing time and money, but also taking on legal risks. The good news: switching is easier than many people think. Modern systems are ready to use within a few days, require no IT department, and often pay for themselves quickly. For businesses with mobile, international, or changing deployment locations in particular, digital working time recording is the obvious way to meet the recording obligation reliably – and it pays off economically, too. So why wait any longer? Try a modern time-tracking solution for free and see for yourself how much administrative effort you can save.