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Employee Time Tracking: Obligations, Methods and Costs at a Glance

23. August 2026

Employee time tracking is a legal requirement – but which data do you actually need to record, which method suits which team, and what is permitted under data protection rules? This guide answers the questions that come up in day-to-day practice.

Employee Time Tracking: The 2026 State of Play

The question is no longer whether a business records its employees' working hours, but how. Employee time tracking is mandatory under applicable working-time regulations in most jurisdictions – and the requirements for completeness and auditability have grown considerably in recent years.

This article addresses the questions that actually arise in day-to-day practice: What must be recorded? Which method suits which team? Can employees be required to use their personal phone? What is permitted under data protection law? And what does it all cost per employee?

Following a landmark European Court of Justice ruling in 2019 (C-55/18), employers across the EU are required to introduce an objective, reliable and accessible system for recording working time. Local labour law and regulatory guidance in each member state reinforce this obligation and specify how it must be fulfilled.

Is Employee Time Tracking Mandatory?

Yes – regardless of company size. There is no exemption for small businesses. What varies is how strictly the detailed requirements apply in any given context.

The General Obligation

Applicable working-time regulations require employers to operate a system for recording employees' working hours. This typically covers the documentation of overtime and work performed on rest days or public holidays. For certain categories of worker and specific industry sectors, the rules additionally require the recording of the start, end and duration of each working day – often within a defined number of days after the work is performed, with records to be retained for a minimum period as set out in local labour law.

Sector-Specific Requirements

Certain sectors – including construction, building cleaning, hospitality, and haulage and logistics – are subject to stricter record-keeping obligations under local labour regulations. Compliance checks are typically carried out by the relevant enforcement authorities. Businesses that rely on paper timesheets completed at the end of the month structurally risk missing mandatory submission deadlines.

Industries with Enhanced Obligations

In sectors identified under applicable labour enforcement legislation – including construction, building cleaning, hospitality, and haulage and logistics – stricter record-keeping obligations apply. Inspections are carried out by the relevant regulatory authorities. Relying on paper timesheets filled in at month-end structurally puts you in breach of near-real-time recording deadlines.

You can explore these topics in more detail in our overviews on mandatory working time recording and record-keeping obligations.

What Data Must You Record for Employees?

The mandatory scope is manageable – what matters is that it is met completely and promptly:

✅ Start of the daily working period
✅ End of the daily working period
✅ Duration of working time, i.e. actual hours worked
✅ Rest breaks that interrupt working time
✅ Overtime and work on rest days or public holidays

Not mandatory, but highly valuable in practice: assigning hours to projects, jobs or locations. Only then can you assess whether a job came in on budget – and you have documented evidence to present to clients.

Employee Time Tracking Methods Compared

There is no single right method. There is the method that fits your team – and the key question is: does your employee have a fixed workstation or not?

Method	Best for	Strength	Weakness
Paper timesheets	Very small teams	No equipment needed	❌ Filled in retrospectively, barely auditable
Spreadsheet	Office teams	Familiar	❌ Can be overwritten at any time, no audit trail
Smartphone app	Mobile teams, field staff	✅ Clock in at the point of work	Requires a device
NFC tag on-site	Construction sites, locations	✅ Proof of presence at the site	Tag must be installed
Terminal at the entrance	Production, warehousing	✅ No personal phone required	Location-bound
Web browser on a PC	Office, administration	✅ No additional device needed	Desk-only

In most businesses the answer is a combination: administration clocks in via browser, field technicians via app, production via terminal, and cleaning staff via NFC tag at the location. What matters is that every method feeds into the same reporting system.

Employee Time Tracking via App – Frequently Asked Practical Questions

Can employees be required to use their personal phone?

Unilaterally mandating the use of personal devices is legally sensitive. Three practical alternatives work well: a company-issued device, a terminal, or an NFC tag at the work location where employees can clock in without any personal device – or voluntary use of a personal device, often with a small allowance. The key is that no employee is left without a means to record their time.

What about employees without a smartphone?

A fixed terminal or an NFC point is the right answer for them. Both work without a personal device and without any login process – tap and done.

What if employees have limited proficiency in the office language?

In construction, cleaning, logistics and care, this is more the norm than the exception – and one of the most common reasons a time-tracking rollout fails in practice. If employees cannot understand the interface, they clock in incorrectly or not at all. An app that lets each employee use their own language solves exactly this: Jobilino is available in 21 languages, while reporting and exports in the back office remain in your preferred language. Find out more at multilingual time tracking.

Does it work without an internet connection?

On construction sites, in basements and underground car parks, a reliable signal cannot be taken for granted. A robust solution continues recording offline and syncs automatically once a connection is restored.

Data Protection: What Is Permitted When Tracking Employee Time

Working-time data is personal data. The principle of data minimisation applies without restriction: only data required for mandatory documentation and payroll may be collected – nothing more.

✅ Permitted: start, end, duration, breaks, project or location assignment
⚠️ Only with a clear legal basis: location data. A one-off location check at clock-in is fundamentally different from continuous tracking – the latter is not permissible.
❌ Not permitted: comprehensive movement profiling, covert monitoring, performance surveillance without a lawful basis

Where a works council or employee representation body exists, introducing a time-tracking system is typically subject to co-determination rights under applicable labour law. Resolving this before rollout is significantly less costly than addressing it afterwards.

We cover this in greater depth in our article on GDPR & Time Tracking.

Acceptance: Why Time Tracking Fails with Employees – and What Helps

The most common reason a project fails is not the technology, but perception. If employee time tracking is seen as surveillance, it will be circumvented. Three things reliably make the difference:

✅ Transparency: Be specific about what is recorded – and what expressly is not.
✅ Show the personal benefit: Overtime is finally recorded in full, disputes over hours disappear, and employees can check their balance at any time.
✅ Simplicity: If clocking in takes more than two seconds, it gets forgotten.

What Does Time Tracking Cost per Employee?

Market rates for SaaS solutions typically range from 3 to 8 euros per employee per month, with no installation costs and no in-house IT required. The more honest calculation, however, looks in the other direction: if administration saves four to six hours a month previously spent chasing, deciphering and correcting paper timesheets, the system usually pays for itself within a few months.

On top of that come the harder-to-quantify gains: more accurate payroll, fewer disputes over overtime, and documentation that holds up to an audit. You can find our current pricing on the pricing page.

Five Steps to Implementing Time Tracking in Your Business

1. Define your requirements

How many employees, how many locations? Who works in the office, who is out in the field? Do you need hours assigned to projects or job sites?

2. Decide on recording methods

A single method rarely works for everyone. Define the right approach for each group: app, NFC, terminal or browser.

3. Handle the legal groundwork upfront

Involve any employee representation body, conclude any required workplace agreements, update your records of processing activities, and establish retention periods.

4. Pilot with one team

Two weeks with a real group in real working conditions reveals more than any product demo – ideally with the team where you expect the most friction.

5. Roll out gradually

Start with one department, then extend to the rest. A hard cutover for everyone at once creates unnecessary disruption.

You can find a detailed how-to guide at Implementing Digital Time Tracking.

Employee Time Tracking by Industry

Requirements shift considerably depending on where your employees work:

✅ Construction and trades: rotating job sites, offline capability, job-by-job assignment – see Time Tracking for Construction
✅ Cleaning: many short assignments, early and late shifts, international teams – see Time Tracking for Cleaning Staff
✅ Care: shift patterns, break rules, multiple locations in a single day – see Time Tracking for Care
✅ Logistics: drivers with limited phone access, terminal at the depot – see Time Tracking for Logistics
✅ Production: shift operations, terminal on the shop floor – see Time Tracking for Production

If your employees are predominantly on the move, our article on Time Tracking for Employees Without a Fixed Workplace is also worth a read.

Conclusion

Employee time tracking is a legal requirement – but it does not have to be a bureaucratic burden. Three things are decisive: entries are created where and when the work actually happens, rather than from memory weeks later. Every employee has a way to clock in that fits their working day. And the system communicates in the language the employee actually speaks.

Resolve these three points and you meet your record-keeping obligations almost automatically – while gaining reliable figures for payroll, job costing and client documentation.

👉 Try time tracking for free

Add your employees, distribute the app – and start clocking in directly on site from tomorrow, in each employee's own language. No credit card required and no contractual commitment.

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Frequently asked questions

Is employee time tracking a legal requirement?

Yes, regardless of company size. Applicable working-time regulations require an objective, reliable and accessible system for recording working hours. There is no exemption for small businesses.

Which data must be recorded for employees?

The start, end and duration of each working day, plus rest breaks, overtime and work performed on weekends or public holidays. Optionally – but highly valuable in practice – hours can be assigned to projects, orders or sites, enabling accurate post-calculation and client invoicing.

Can employees be required to use their personal mobile phone for time tracking?

Unilaterally requiring employees to use their own devices is legally sensitive. Common alternatives include a company-provided phone, a fixed terminal or an NFC tag at the workplace – or voluntary use of an employee's own device, often with a flat-rate allowance. The key requirement is that every employee has a reasonable and accessible way to clock in and out.

How do employees without a smartphone record their working hours?

Via a fixed terminal at the entrance or an NFC point at the work site. Both options work without a personal device and without any login process. In production, warehouse and logistics environments, this is often the most practical solution.

Is GPS location tracking of employees permitted during time tracking?

A one-off location stamp at the moment of clocking in or out is fundamentally different from continuous tracking. Ongoing surveillance and comprehensive movement profiles are not permitted. The principle of data minimisation applies: only the data genuinely required for documentation and payroll purposes may be collected – nothing more.

Does introducing a time-tracking system require the consent of an employee representative body?

If an employee representative body (such as a works council) exists, yes. The introduction of systems capable of monitoring employee behaviour or performance is typically subject to co-determination rights under the applicable labour law. Clarifying this before roll-out is considerably easier than resolving it retrospectively.

How long must working time records be retained?

Working time records must generally be retained for at least one year after the relevant period. Longer retention periods of up to seven years apply to payroll- and tax-relevant documents. A digital time-tracking solution stores all data automatically and without taking up any space on the filing shelf.

What does a time-tracking solution cost per employee?

For SaaS solutions, approximately €3 to €8 per employee per month is typical for the market, with no installation costs and no need for your own IT infrastructure. Consider how many hours your administration currently spends each month collecting and correcting timesheets – in most cases the system pays for itself within a matter of months.

Does time tracking work without an internet connection?

Yes. Entries are saved locally even without a connection and synchronised automatically as soon as mobile data or Wi-Fi is available again – ideal for construction sites and work locations with poor signal.

How do you get employees to actually use the time-tracking system?

Through transparency, clear personal benefit and simplicity. Be specific about what is and is not recorded. Show employees that overtime will be fully credited and that disputes over hours become a thing of the past. And make sure that clocking in takes only a few seconds – ideally in each employee's preferred language.