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How to manage timesheets as a manager

Updated

Available for the following plans: Employment Lite, Employment Plus, Employment Unlimited
Available for the following HR plans: Platinum
Available for the following user access levels: Manager, Admin

The Timesheet Management page gives managers a central place to view, approve, decline, edit, and track all employee timesheets across their team. You can act on individual entries or handle multiple timesheets at once using bulk actions, filter the view to focus on what matters, and monitor labour costs and sync status — all from a single screen.

Getting started

When you open Timesheet Management, you will see all employee timesheets for the selected date range. Timesheets are grouped by Employee by default, with a summary row for each person showing their total timesheet count and hours. You can switch the grouping to Date using the toggle at the top left to view all timesheets across your team for a given day.

Each timesheet row shows the date, time range, duration, work site and position, status badge, sync status clock, and action controls. Use the navigation arrows or date picker to move between periods, and use the week selector to change the date range.

Filtering and searching

Use the filter bar to narrow down the timesheets displayed on the page.

Filter timesheets
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Click the Filters button.
    Filter dropdown.jpg
    A dropdown will appear with the following options:
    • Employee — filter by one or more employees.
    • Work site — filter by work location.
    • Position — filter by job position.
    • Cost centre — filter by cost centre.
    • Status — filter by timesheet status (e.g. Pending, Approved, Declined, Clocked In, Late, Absent).
    • Show leave timesheets — toggle to include or exclude leave-based timesheet entries.
  4. Click on a filter category and select your desired option(s). Active filters will appear as chips below the filter bar.

Helpful Hint

The number badge on the Filters button shows how many filters are currently active. To remove all active filters at once, click Reset.

Change the date range
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Use the week selector dropdown (e.g. 1 Week) to change the date range displayed.
    date dropdown.jpg
  4. Use the arrow buttons to move backwards or forwards through periods.
  5. Alternatively, click the calendar icon to select a specific date range.
Group timesheets by Employee or Date
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. At the top left, click either Employee or Date to change the grouping of the timesheet table.
    Employee or date.jpg
    • Employee — groups rows under each employee, with a subtotal per person.
    • Date — groups rows under each date, showing all employees who worked that day.

Approving and declining timesheets

You can approve or decline timesheets individually using the inline row controls, or handle multiple timesheets at once using the bulk action bar.

Approve a single timesheet
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Locate the timesheet you want to approve.
  4. Click the green ✓ Approve button on the right side of the timesheet row.
    tick.jpg
  5. A confirmation modal will appear. Click Approve to confirm.
Approve multiple timesheets (bulk)
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Tick the checkbox on each timesheet row you want to approve. To select all visible timesheets, tick the checkbox in the All timesheets header row.
  4. Click Approve in the bulk action bar.
    Bulk approve.jpg
  5. A confirmation modal will appear showing the number of timesheets to be approved. Click Approve to confirm.

Helpful Hint

Bulk actions are only enabled for eligible timesheets. If your selection contains a mix of statuses, ineligible actions will remain greyed out.

Approve a timesheet as rostered

Use Approve as Rostered to approve a timesheet by snapping the employee's recorded times to match their linked rostered shift. This is useful when the clocked times are close to the roster but not an exact match.

  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Tick the checkbox on the timesheet row(s) you want to approve as rostered.
  4. Click Approve as Rostered in the bulk action bar.
  5. Review any warnings shown — for example, if an employee is still clocked in or the shift is only partially complete — and confirm your action.

Important

Approve as Rostered is only available when the selected timesheets are linked to a rostered shift. The option will remain greyed out if no rostered shift is linked.

Decline a single timesheet
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Locate the timesheet you want to decline.
  4. Click the … button on the right side of the row.
  5. Click Decline.
  6. A confirmation modal will appear. You can optionally enter a Reason — this will be visible to the employee.
  7. Click Decline to confirm.
Decline multiple timesheets (bulk)
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Tick the checkbox on each timesheet row you want to decline.
  4. Click Decline in the bulk action bar.
  5. A confirmation modal will appear. Optionally enter a Reason — this reason will apply to all selected timesheets.
  6. Click Decline to confirm.

Editing and managing timesheet entries

Edit a timesheet entry

Important

You cannot edit a timesheet that has already been processed by payroll.

  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Click the … button on the right side of the row.
    elipsis.jpg
  4. Click Edit. The Edit timesheet entry panel will open.
  5. Update any of the following fields as needed:
    • Employee
    • Date
    • Rostered shifts — link or unlink a rostered shift
    • Start time and End time
    • Breaks — click Add break to include break times
    • Shift Conditions (optional)
    • Classification — click + Set higher classification if applicable
    • Work Site
    • Position
    • Comment (optional)
  6. Click Update to save your changes, or Cancel to discard them.
Delete a timesheet entry

Important

You cannot delete a timesheet that has already been processed by payroll. Deleted timesheets cannot be recovered.

  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Click the … button on the right side of the row.
    elipsis.jpg
  4. Click Delete.
  5. Confirm the deletion. Any linked clocking activity will also be discarded.
Add a timesheet on behalf of an employee
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Click Add Timesheet in the top right of the page.
    Add timesheet.jpg
  4. In the Employee field, select the employee you are creating the timesheet for.
  5. Complete the remaining fields: Date, Rostered shifts, Start time, End time, Breaks, Shift Conditions, Classification, Work Site, Position, and Comment.
  6. Click Save.
Add weekly timesheets on behalf of an employee
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Click Add Weekly Timesheet in the top right of the page.
    Add timesheet.jpg
  4. Select the employee and the week you want to submit timesheets for.
  5. Enter timesheet data for each day, or click Reuse previous weekly timesheet to copy data from the prior week.
  6. Click Save. The entries will appear as individual rows on the Timesheet Management page.

Viewing timesheet details

View the audit trail log

The audit trail shows the full change history for a timesheet entry.

  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Click the … button on the right side of the row.
    elipsis.jpg
  4. Click View audit trail log. A modal will open showing a table of all changes with the following columns: Timestamp, Date, Start time, End time, Break, Work site, Position, Status, Work Type, Classification, Shift conditions, and Rostered Shift.
  5. Click Close to dismiss the modal.
View sync and timestamp details
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Hover over the clock icon on any timesheet row. A tooltip will appear showing:
    • Created at — when the timesheet was first created.
    • Updated at — when the timesheet was last modified.
    • Cost synced — when the cost data was last synced.

Helpful Hint

All timestamps are shown in your local timezone (e.g. GMT+10:00).

View clocking details

For timesheets where an employee has clocked in via the Employment Hero Work app, you can view detailed clocking activity including GPS location, geofencing status, and photo evidence.

  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Locate a timesheet row that shows the clocking icon (monitor/screen symbol).
  4. Click the clocking icon to open the clocking details panel.
  5. Review the clock-in and clock-out events, GPS map, and any geofencing or photo evidence captured at the time of clocking.
View variance and warning flags

Timesheet rows may display warning indicators when the recorded time does not match what was expected.

  • An orange exclamation mark on a row indicates a mismatch between the clocked time and the rostered shift.
  • Time values displayed in orange indicate that the actual hours differ from the rostered hours. The actual duration is shown in colour, with the rostered duration shown in grey below it.
  • When you have a rostered shift and the timesheet is different, we show an alert (!) with the rostered shift in smaller light grey.
  • When you have work hours set up, and the timesheet is different, we also show an alert (!) with the custom work hours in a smaller light grey text.
  • If the employee has both work hours set up and a rostered shift, the rostered shift will take precedence.

Showing costs

Show or hide the cost column
  1. Click the Time menu.
  2. Click the Timesheet Management submenu.
  3. Tick the Show cost checkbox in the bulk action bar.
    Show cost.jpg
  4. A cost column will appear on each timesheet row displaying the estimated labour cost for that entry.
  5. Group subtotal rows and the All timesheets header row will also update to show total costs.
  6. To hide costs, untick the Show cost checkbox. Your preference is saved per user.

Helpful Hint

The cost column shows estimated labour costs based on the employee's pay rate and hours worked.

Definitions

Timesheet status badges
Pending The timesheet has been submitted and is awaiting manager approval.
Approved A manager has approved the timesheet.
Declined A manager has declined the timesheet. The employee may be asked to resubmit.
Clocked In The employee is currently clocked in and the shift is still in progress. The duration shown is the time elapsed so far.
Late The employee clocked in after their scheduled rostered shift start time.
Absent The employee did not clock in for a rostered shift and no timesheet was submitted.
Processed The timesheet has been exported to payroll and is locked for further editing.

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