To get employees to submit timesheets on time, set one fixed weekly deadline and make entry take minutes. Send two automatic reminders, name one approver per person and link approval to invoicing.
Late timesheets are rarely a discipline problem. They are a process problem. The deadline is vague, entry is tedious, nobody knows who approves, and nothing visible happens when a week goes missing. This guide gives you a weekly cadence and reminder wording you can copy. It also has a sample email for asking a manager to approve, and a rule for who should sign off.
Quick Answer
How do you get employees to submit timesheets on time? Pick a single cut-off, such as Friday at 17:00. Make logging a daily two-minute habit, not a Friday memory test. Send a reminder before the deadline and a final notice at it. Route every timesheet to one named approver with a two-day approval window. Then invoice from approved time only, so lateness has a visible cost.
Why do employees submit timesheets late?
Most late timesheets trace back to four causes. Fix the cause and the chasing stops.
| Cause | What it looks like | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Vague deadline | “Sometime next week” is normal | One cut-off day and time, written down |
| Painful entry | Reconstructing five days from memory | Daily logging, timers or pre-filled weeks |
| Unclear approver | Timesheets sit in a shared inbox | One named approver per person |
| No consequence | Late weeks still get billed eventually | Invoice and pay runs use approved time only |
The last row matters most. If late timesheets change nothing, people learn they can be late. When the timesheet is the gate to an invoice or a pay run, the deadline becomes real.
How do you get employees to submit timesheets on time?
Seven changes cover almost every team. Start with the first three; they do most of the work.
- Set one deadline and publish it. Friday at 17:00 in each employee’s local time zone is a common choice. Put it in the employee handbook and the calendar.
- Move logging to the end of each day. Two minutes each evening beats forty minutes on Friday. Daily entries are also more accurate.
- Automate two reminders. One nudge before the deadline and one at it. More than two becomes noise people filter out.
- Name the approver. Each person should know exactly who signs off their week. Shared approval queues get ignored.
- Give approvers a deadline too. Two business days is a fair standard. Submitting on time means little if approval takes a fortnight.
- Make the cost visible. Show the team that unapproved hours can’t be invoiced. Share the number of late weeks per month in a team meeting, without naming people.
- Make submission one click. Bundle the whole week into a single submission. Nobody should pick entries one by one.
Each step removes an excuse. The cadence below puts them on a calendar.
What weekly timesheet cadence works best?
A fixed Friday-to-Tuesday cycle works for most service teams. It gives staff a clear deadline, approvers a full working day, and finance a set invoice day.
| When | Who | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Daily, end of day | Employee | Logs the day’s hours against client, project and task |
| Friday 09:00 | System | Reminder: “Your timesheet is due at 17:00 today” |
| Friday 17:00 | Employee | Submits the week; system sends the final deadline notice |
| Monday 12:00 | Approver | Approves or rejects with a reason |
| Monday 17:00 | Employee | Fixes and resubmits any rejected week |
| Tuesday | Finance | Raises invoices and prepares payroll inputs from approved time |
Staffing agencies run a similar clock. Hays, for example, asks workers to submit before Monday of the following week. Its timesheet FAQ says timesheets must be authorised by midday Tuesday so pay isn’t delayed (checked 18 October 2026).
What does a late week cost? A worked example
Take an illustrative 12-person consultancy. Each person bills 30 hours a week at £95 an hour. That is £34,200 of billable work every week.
If timesheets slip by one week, that £34,200 misses the Tuesday invoice run. On 30-day payment terms, the cash lands a week later too. Do that twice a month and you are carrying two weeks of revenue you’ve already earned. Plug your own numbers into the same sum: people × billable hours × rate.
What should timesheet reminders say?
Good reminders are short, specific and tell people what happens next. Use plain text and include the deadline and the link.
Reminder (Friday 09:00):
Your timesheet for this week is due today at 17:00. You have 31 of 37.5 hours logged. Add any missing time and select Submit.
Deadline notice (Friday 17:00):
Your timesheet is now due. Please submit it in the next hour so your approver can review it on Monday. Late weeks miss Tuesday’s invoice run.
Manager follow-up (Monday 09:00, only if still missing):
Hi Sam, your timesheet for w/c 12 October hasn’t come through. Can you submit it by 12:00 today? Thanks.
Keep the third message human and private. A public list of names creates resentment, not punctuality. Showing hours logged against hours expected, as in the first message, is the most useful detail you can add.
Who should approve timesheets?
The approver should be the person who saw the work and can say no. For most employees that is the line manager. For project billing it is often the project lead.
| Situation | Best approver | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Salaried or hourly employee | Line manager | Knows the schedule, leave and overtime |
| Client project work | Project manager | Can confirm the hours match the scope |
| Agency or contract worker | Client-side manager | Agency pays only on client sign-off |
| Disputed or unusual week | Manager, then finance | Finance records the outcome |
Two rules apply everywhere. Nobody approves their own timesheet. And every approver needs a named backup for holidays, or weeks stall the moment one person is away. For contractors, the contractor timesheet approval workflow template sets out roles, SLAs and a dispute path you can copy.
How do you ask your manager to approve a timesheet?
Send a short message with the period, the total hours and a direct link. Make it easy to say yes. Here is a sample email to a manager for timesheet approval.
Subject: Timesheet for w/c 12 October ready for approval
Hi Priya,
My timesheet for the week commencing 12 October is submitted. It shows 38.5 hours: 32 billable on the Northwind project and 6.5 internal. The extra hour on Thursday was the client workshop overrun.
Could you approve it by Monday midday so it makes Tuesday’s invoice run? Here is the link: [timesheet link]
Thanks, Alex
Mention anything unusual up front, such as overtime or a missing day. Approvers reject weeks they don’t understand, so context speeds up sign-off.
How do agency and VMS portals handle timecard approval?
Temporary and contract workers often submit through an agency portal or a vendor management system (VMS). The pattern is the same: submit, approve or reject with a reason, then pay and invoice.
- Hays. Workers submit online and choose their authoriser. Approving a timesheet lets Hays pay the worker and raise an invoice, per its timesheets FAQ.
- Beeline. Submitted timesheets get a Pending status. Some programmes need two approvals, and an approved timesheet can’t then be rejected. See Beeline’s approving or rejecting timesheets guide.
- SAP Fieldglass. Workers submit; a supervisor or other approver signs off; the timesheet is then ready for invoicing. Rejected timesheets can be edited and resubmitted, per SAP’s Time and Expense Management guide.
All three facts were checked on the vendors’ own pages on 18 October 2026. If your firm places temps through an agency, the staffing agency timesheet software guide covers how client sign-off connects to payroll and billing.
What counts as a timesheet approval signature?
An approval signature today is usually an electronic record, not ink. It should capture who approved, when, and which version of the timesheet they saw. A locked record after approval matters more than a drawn signature.
Can an employer change your timesheet without your knowledge?
An employer can correct genuine errors, but records must stay accurate to the hours actually worked. In the US, the Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet #21 says employers may use any timekeeping method “as long as it is complete and accurate.” Cutting recorded hours to avoid paying for them is not a correction.
Good practice is simple. Lock approved timesheets. Log every change with the editor, the time and a reason. Tell the employee when their record changes. Rules vary by country, so check local employment law for your team. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do approved timesheets reach payroll and invoices?
Approval should be the trigger for everything downstream. Payroll systems typically import approved hours by file export or an API connector, mapped by employee ID and pay period. Unapproved hours should never cross over.
The HR and payroll time tracking integration checklist covers cut-offs, ID mapping and audit logs for that handoff. On the billing side, approved hours become invoice lines. This is where on-time submission pays off: a clean Monday approval means a Tuesday invoice.
Where does Keito fit?
Keito builds submission and approval into time tracking. Team members select Submit for Approval and the whole week goes to their manager. Administrators can set a reminder before the deadline and a final deadline notice. Managers work from one approval queue and can approve or reject several weeks at once.
Approved entries lock and become available for invoicing. Rejected weeks go back with a reason. You can see how the review step works on the timesheet approval software page, or read the approving time docs.
Key Takeaway
Timesheets arrive on time when the deadline is fixed, entry is daily, reminders are automatic and approval gates the invoice run.
Get timesheets in and approved before invoice day
Keito sends timesheet reminders, routes each week to the right approver and turns approved hours into invoices. Your Tuesday billing run starts from clean, signed-off time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get employees to submit timesheets on time?
Set one fixed weekly deadline and ask people to log time daily. Send an automatic reminder before the deadline and a final notice at it. Name one approver per person and invoice only from approved time, so lateness has a visible cost.
Who should approve timesheets?
The person who saw the work and can say no should approve timesheets. That is usually the line manager for employees and the project manager for client work. Nobody should approve their own timesheet, and every approver needs a backup.
How do I ask my manager to approve my timesheet?
Send a short message with the period, total hours, any unusual items and a direct link. Ask for approval by a specific time, such as Monday midday. Flagging overtime or a missing day up front avoids a rejection.
Can an employer change your timesheet without your knowledge?
An employer can correct genuine errors, but time records must stay accurate to the hours actually worked. US rules require complete and accurate records. Good practice is to lock approved timesheets, log every change with a reason and tell the employee.
What is a reasonable deadline for timesheet approval?
Two business days after submission is a fair standard. With a Friday 17:00 submission deadline, approvers should finish by Monday or Tuesday midday. That keeps invoices and pay runs on schedule.
How many timesheet reminders should you send?
Send two automatic reminders: one on the morning of the deadline and one at the deadline. Add a personal follow-up only if the week is still missing next morning. More automated messages tend to get ignored.