After spending over 20 years as the CEO of a timesheet software company, I've spoken with many managers and business owners who struggle with timesheet completion. Leaders find filling out timesheets to be a tricky problem to solve. The pattern is always the same: employees don't understand the value in reporting their time, or they find the timesheet submission process burdensome.
Over time, employees' apathy toward time tracking leaves managers with incomplete and inaccurate timesheets. Reporting becomes spotty, analysis becomes impossible, and leadership loses the reliable time data they need to make informed business decisions.
Missing timesheet data isn't just frustrating—it's expensive. Research from Harvard Business School shows that incomplete timesheets cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars per day.
For professional services firms, delayed timesheet submissions mean being unable to invoice clients for billable hours because you don't have all project time reported. For nonprofits, it could result in the denial of a grant request because you can't substantiate the time spent on prior work. For any organization tracking labor costs, incomplete data means finance teams can't produce the audit-ready records they need for compliance and strategic planning.
Clearly, the consequences of employees who don't submit timesheets on time can be serious. So how do you get employees to submit timesheets consistently?
10 ways to get employees to submit timesheets on time
As managers, it's our job to instill good practices in our teams and monitor their performance so we can coach them to success. Below are proven ways to encourage employees to submit their timesheets on time, gleaned from over 20 years of experience in employee time tracking.
1. Encourage employees to track their time daily
Scouring your brain to recall an accurate, complete record of your daily activities over the past two weeks is difficult. But recording a few hours at a time is manageable. That's how you should frame filling out timesheets for your employees.
Encourage employees to adopt a twice-a-day technique as a personal habit:
- Enter all the morning's hours before eating lunch
- Enter the afternoon's hours before going home
This routine only takes a few minutes per day. And it makes the task of filling out a timesheet feel less burdensome at the end of every week. When employees track their time while activities are fresh, the time data is more accurate—which means better billing, budgeting, and labor cost visibility for your organization. Helping your team tracks their time and submit it consistently starts with building these daily habits.
2. Use time tracking software and automation
Using time tracking software to automate your processes is one of the best ways to get employees to submit timesheets more consistently. At minimum, time tracking software like ClickTime takes manual math off your hands by tallying every employee's hours and rounding to whatever increment your organization uses.
But beyond arithmetic, the best time tracking tools can automate many other timekeeping tasks:
- A time tracker with stopwatch features can track time automatically in the background as employees complete tasks
- You can set up your system to auto-fill timesheets with projects employees have recently worked on
- Calendar integrations can automatically import appointment schedules into the timesheet app
- Automated timesheet reminders give forgetful people a gentle nudge before the timesheet deadline
By letting software handle repetitive work, you help employees fill out their timesheets on time and start developing good habits. Automatic time tracking eliminates manual time tracking burdens. Time tracking solutions like ClickTime can help automate the time tracking process with email reminders, calendar integrations, project templates, and multiple tools for employees to track time spent on any device.
3. Send effective timesheet reminders
A well-timed timesheet reminder can dramatically improve on-time timesheet submissions. The key is finding the right balance—enough reminders to prompt action without becoming noise that employees ignore. Understanding why timesheet reminders are important helps you implement them thoughtfully.
Effective timesheet reminder strategies include:
- Automated email reminders sent 24-48 hours before the timesheet deadline
- SMS notifications for field workers or salaried employees who don't check email frequently
- Slack or Teams messages integrated into where your team already communicates
- Calendar blocks that reserve valuable time—just 10 minutes—for timesheet completion
A timesheet reminder email should be brief and action-oriented. Include the deadline, a direct link to the timesheet submission process, and a clear statement of why timely submission matters. Avoid lengthy explanations—the goal is a quick prompt, not a lecture. Some teams even use timesheet reminder memes to add humor while encouraging employees to submit on time.
4. Create incentives for timesheet compliance
Filling timesheets will never be the most entertaining task. But you can create positive momentum around timesheet compliance. Wunderman Thompson Brasil's strategy—where every employee gets a free drink after the company's timesheets are filled and turned in—is one example of how you can reward employees who submit on time.
Team incentives harness the powers of positive reinforcement and social pressure. When everyone cooperates to get timesheets completed together by the deadline, you can reward the group with drinks, snacks, or gift cards.
For people who build great habits on their own—and sustain those habits over long stretches—more significant rewards are appropriate. Many firms offer bonuses for consistent on-time performance in timesheet reporting. Give your employees a concrete goal that works as positive motivation to submit timesheets regularly.
5. Impose consequences for tardy employees
Unfortunately, organizations sometimes need to resort to consequences to encourage timesheet completion. Let me be clear: it's illegal to withhold wages or other duly owed compensation from employees. However, it's fair to withhold or reduce a performance bonus if the terms of that performance haven't been met. Timesheet compliance can be one of those terms.
Every job carries obligations, and managers need to ensure that work hours are logged accurately. Imposing consequences is a last resort for employees who fail to submit timesheets despite reminders, incentives, and coaching. Before reaching this point, document your efforts and ensure employees understand the expectations clearly.
6. Include timesheet submission in annual reviews
If your organization depends on accurate time reporting, then getting employee timesheets done is a significant measure of performance. Make it a component of employees' annual reviews.
If you include timesheet submission in reviews, here are questions to evaluate performance:
- What was their on-time reporting average?
- How well were they utilized?
- How well did they stick to the estimates planned for them?
- How did they contribute to project profitability?
Timesheet data tells you a lot about employee performance. Timesheet compliance is just the beginning. Don't hesitate to link compensation and promotion to timesheet performance and what you learn from those time entries about how employees spend their time.
7. Simplify the timesheet submission process
If all of your employees struggle with getting timesheets done, your time tracking process may be too complicated. Watch for these warning signs:
- Employees coding their time to thousands of different tasks
- People hunting through vast menus looking for their projects
- Timesheets that routinely need correction after submission
- Constant questions to managers or HR about company policies
Using time tracking software that allows employees to only see tasks or projects relevant to them speeds up time tracking dramatically. A system you can customize to your organization's needs cuts down on employee questions and confusion. The easier the submission process, the more likely employees submit their timesheets on time. Timesheets make better sense when the interface is intuitive.
8. Demonstrate the importance of accurate time tracking
Contrary to some employees' beliefs, tracking time isn't an abstract corporate obligation. It's the lifeblood of your company's financial health. Everyone should want the company to succeed, and the benefits of time tracking extend across the entire organization.
Demonstrate the importance of accurate timesheets for your employees:
- Put the firm's billings and project time on a dashboard
- Show visual progress against project budgets and goals
- If a funder or government regulations require you to track time, explain the risk to everyone's jobs if you fall out of compliance
- Share how accurate labor cost data helps leadership make better decisions about hiring, raises, and resource allocation
This transparency not only results in better timesheet compliance but builds better results for the business as a whole. When employees understand that clear time entries directly impact billing accuracy and financial planning, they're more likely to take the task seriously. Using time tracking properly is the best way to get accurate data.
9. Provide training on employee time tracking tools
Sometimes employees might avoid filling timesheets because they don't fully understand the system. Investing in proper training can eliminate confusion and reduce resistance to time tracking. Many employees don't log their time correctly because they never learned how.
Effective training should cover:
- How to log their time correctly using your specific system
- Which projects and tasks to code time against
- The timesheet deadline and what happens after submission
- Where to get help when questions arise
- How to manage your time filling out entries efficiently
Consider creating short video tutorials or quick-reference guides that employees can revisit when needed. New hires should receive time and attendance training as part of onboarding, and existing employees benefit from refresher sessions when processes change.
10. Lead by example to ensure employees submit timesheets
If managers and leadership don't consistently submit their own timesheets, employees notice. Leading by example signals that time tracking matters at every level of the organization.
Managers should:
- Submit their own timesheets on time, every time
- Review and approve employee timesheets promptly
- Discuss time tracking in team meetings without making it punitive
- Recognize employees who submit accurate timesheets consistently
When time tracking is visibly valued by leadership, it becomes part of the culture rather than an afterthought employees resent. Help employees to fill their timesheets by showing them it matters to you as well.
Reasons employees don't submit timesheets on time
Understanding why employees avoid submitting their time helps you address the root causes. Common reasons employees struggle with timesheet submission include:
- They don't see the value. Employees don't understand how their time data impacts billing, budgeting, or business decisions.
- The process is too complex. Confusing interfaces, too many project codes, or unclear instructions create friction.
- They forget. Without a timesheet reminder, submission slips down the priority list.
- They fear judgment. Some employees worry their time allocation will be criticized or used against them.
- They're reconstructing from memory. Waiting until the deadline means manually filling out timesheets based on foggy recollections of how time is spent.
Address these barriers directly. Communicate value, reduce complexity, send consistent reminders, create psychological safety, and encourage daily time entries rather than end-of-week scrambles. Get people to fill their time as well by making it part of their routine.
Problems that occur when employees don't submit timesheets
When you lose employee timesheet data, you lose money. The impacts ripple across your organization:
- Revenue leakage: Professional services firms can't accurately bill clients for billable hours without complete time records.
- Grant compliance failures: Nonprofits risk losing funding when they can't substantiate work hours on grant-funded projects.
- Poor financial visibility: Finance teams can't produce reliable labor cost reports or forecasts.
- Payroll delays: Incomplete timesheets slow down payroll processing and create extra administrative work.
- Audit risk: Organizations lacking audit-ready records face compliance issues and potential penalties.
According to ClickTime's research, 50.1% of organizations have experienced budget overruns from improper labor cost tracking. Complete, accurate timesheets aren't just an administrative nicety—they're essential for financial health. Ensuring employees submit them on time protects your bottom line.
Benefits of timely timesheet submission
Completed timesheets, submitted on time, deliver measurable value:
- Accurate billing: Capture every billable hour and invoice clients with confidence.
- Better project management: Track time spent against budgets to identify scope creep early.
- Reliable labor cost data: Give finance teams the inputs they need for budgeting and forecasting.
- Improved resource allocation: Understand how employees spend their time to deploy talent on highest-value work.
- Compliance readiness: Maintain audit-ready records that satisfy funders, regulators, and auditors.
When employees submit timesheets consistently, the entire organization benefits from better data, faster billing cycles, and more informed decision-making. Employees who consistently submit their hours on time help ensure that work hours are logged accurately across all projects.
Turn timesheet data into financial insight
Getting employees to submit timesheets on time requires a combination of the right tools, clear processes, and consistent communication. The strategies above—from building personal habits to using automation and sending effective reminders—can transform timesheet compliance from a constant struggle into a routine part of your team's workflow.
But collecting time data is only the first step. The real value comes from turning those work hours into finance-ready data that powers billing, budgeting, and strategic planning. ClickTime helps organizations capture accurate time data and translate it into the financial insights leaders need.
With automated reminders, customizable workflows, and integrations with the tools your team already uses, ClickTime makes the timesheet submission process straightforward for employees and managers alike.
See how ClickTime can help your team submit accurate timesheets—request a demo today.
