It's Friday afternoon and three timesheets are still missing. On Monday, a colleague asks how much vacation she has left. On Tuesday, the bookkeeper is waiting for the payroll file and you find a signed week with 52 hours instead of 32. In many organizations, timesheets take more time from the person who manages them than from the people who fill them in.
You can get that time back with a few habits, whether or not you use software.
Updated October 9, 2026.
What if the whole team filled in their timesheet on the same day?​
A week takes five minutes to fill in on Friday, when it has just ended. Three weeks later, people have to dig through their calendar and email to remember it, and mistakes creep in.
So set a weekly deadline, the same for everyone. Take a team of eight paid every two weeks: with a Friday deadline, you approve eight timesheets a week, calmly. With a deadline the day before payroll, you approve sixteen at once, and any correction holds up everyone's pay.
Pick the deadline day based on payroll: the last week of the pay period has to be signed before the file goes to the bookkeeper.
Why approve every week instead of at the end of the pay period?​
Because a mistake takes two minutes to fix while the week is fresh, and twenty when you have to work out what happened on a Tuesday a month ago. Approving every week also means no pile of timesheets waiting for you the day before payroll.
The easiest way is to set aside the same time every week. In a larger team, let team leads approve: they know their colleagues' weeks better than you do.
Block half an hour a week in your calendar to approve signed timesheets, right after the deadline.
How do you follow up without chasing each person?​
Writing to each person one by one takes time and can feel like monitoring. A single reminder, sent on the deadline to everyone with a late timesheet, does the same job in one go and stays neutral: the reminder comes from the deadline.
See it with your own rules
In Feuille de temps, the "Send a reminder to the team" button on the "My team" page shows who will get the reminder and how many timesheets each person has overdue. Each employee gets an email, and you get a summary.
How do you stop being the only person who knows the balances?​
"How much vacation do I have left?" comes up often. Each answer means opening the file, redoing the math, and sometimes explaining it.
When each employee can see their own vacation, sick leave and overtime balances, the question comes up much less. It is also a matter of trust: your team knows where they stand without having to ask.
If you keep balances in a spreadsheet, send each employee their own up-to-date balance after each pay period.
What should you hand to the person who runs payroll?​
One file per pay period, with each employee's hours, sent straight to the bookkeeper. Gathering timesheets one by one, copying them over and checking the totals is the work that takes the most time and produces the most mistakes.
In Feuille de temps, the payroll report goes to your bookkeeper by email, as an Excel file, with the period's timesheets and, if you ask for it, the amounts to pay.
Agree once and for all with the person who runs payroll on the format they need.
Do you really need to track everything?​
No. Payroll and leave banks need each day's hours, reported and signed by the employee. Tracking every task to the minute adds work for everyone without giving payroll anything more, and creates a climate of control nobody needs.
If your funders ask for hours by project, keep a short list of projects, and track them only where reporting requires it.
Feuille de temps​
Feuille de temps is timesheet software built for non-profits. Once we have set up your rules with you, it calculates each employee's overtime and banks, sends the reminders you trigger and prepares the payroll report.Frequently asked questions
When should timesheets be due?
Every week, on the same day for the whole team, for example Friday afternoon. A week is easy to fill in when it has just ended, and approval happens throughout the pay period instead of the day before payroll.
Should timesheets be approved every week?
It is the simplest approach: a mistake gets fixed while the employee still remembers their week, and payroll no longer depends on a last-minute approval.
How do you follow up with late employees without spending the afternoon on it?
With a single reminder, sent on the deadline to everyone who has a late timesheet, instead of a message to each person.
Do you need to track your team's time to the minute?
No. Payroll and leave banks need each day's hours, reported and signed by the employee. Finer tracking adds work without giving payroll anything more.