Chasing timesheets every week? Let’s fix that
If you’re here, you’re sighing at the mere thought of sending timesheet reminders yet again.
And I get it. Filling in manual timesheets is tedious in itself. It’s even more frustrating for you as a leader to force your team into completing them.
This timesheet chase is terribly annoying; it steals your joy of thinking of innovative strategies and the feeling that you’re growing as a professional, but it’s also expensive.
This needs to stop. Really, we’re in 2025… with AI on the rise and loads of technologies, you can’t afford to waste time on yet another “Reminder- please submit your timesheet.”
Why did you end up chasing timesheets?
More often than not, you’re assuming the problem lies in a lack of motivation or discipline.
Look, I get your frustrations, but those assumptions are…not quite right. You need to understand that chasing timesheets is a symptom of outdated processes, not lazy employees – they’re not to blame. In reality, most employees want to do their jobs well. The problem is when inefficient, confusing, or time-consuming tools or processes make time tracking a challenge.
Here are some of the most common reasons why your team resists filling in timesheets:
- Timesheets are simply repetitive and uninspiring: Honestly, with social media being so shiny and AI tools easing our work in so many ways, are you really expecting your team to fill out timesheets? These are boring, and they’re perceived as yet another admin burden that diverts their attention from their more important work.
- Employees don’t see the point of a timesheet: Your team needs to understand how timesheets connect to project success, client billing, AND THEIR OWN paychecks. Otherwise, it’s no wonder the task feels meaningless and timesheets end up at the bottom of their priority lists.
- Timesheets are clunky: If your timesheet system is clunky, slow, or only works on desktop, you’re only adding friction to an already unpopular task. A poor user experience with confusing interfaces or endless dropdowns makes it harder for people to comply, even if they want to.
- Employees don’t trust the process: Timesheets are, in some employees’ eyes, a symbol of micromanagement. If your culture feels like “big brother is watching,” timesheets are seen as surveillance rather than support, so resistance grows. Hence, why would they fill in those timesheets if they don’t feel comfortable? I wouldn’t either.
When you add it all up, it’s clear that the real problem isn’t motivation or a lack of effort. It’s a systemic problem made up of outdated tools, unclear communication, and a lack of trust. If you want your team to fill out timesheets willingly and accurately, you need to address these root causes, not just chase the symptoms.
What are the ripple effects of chasing timesheets?
Chasing timesheets becomes more than a minor annoyance. It’s the first domino in a chain reaction that quietly undermines your business on many fronts.
The moment you or your admin team start sending those weekly reminders, the true cost begins to rise. It’s far more than just wasted time.
Let’s gain some clarity on this. Here are the dominos:
1. Lost productivity and wasted hours
Let’s state the obvious: every minute spent chasing, correcting, and compiling timesheets is a minute diverted from real value-adding work. That could be work spent moving your business forward or growing as a professional.
Consider this: when each team member wastes 10 minutes daily on the manual timesheet, the damage compounds quickly. In a small 5-person team, that’s over 215 hours annually disappearing into admin black holes. Visualize it as more than a month of full-time work evaporating yearly.
❗And that’s before you even factor in the time you have to spend tracking down missing entries and fixing errors, which can add another 100 lost hours.
2. Missing billable hours and revenue leakage
Manual or inaccurate timesheets mean missed or underreported billable hours. If each person underreports just 20 minutes a day, that’s 833 billable hours lost per year for a 10-person team, translating to $83,300 in lost revenue at $100/hour. These “small” gaps add up shockingly fast, directly impacting your bottom line and eroding your project’s profitability.
3. Payroll delays and legal risks
Missing or incorrect timesheets don’t just slow down payroll, but they can trigger a ripple effect. This disrupts employee trust and even exposes your business to legal penalties.
Late or inaccurate paychecks, often caused by last-minute timesheet scrambles, can violate labor laws and worker agreements. In some industries, such as construction, healthcare, or janitorial services, just one missed payday can result in fines, back pay disputes, or legal actions. Payroll delays also hit morale hard, as employees rely on timely pay, and repeated issues can drive turnover.
4. Project delays and resource misallocation
When data tracked by your team is unreliable and delayed, you can’t forecast anything with accuracy, but guesstimate. You end up guesstimating project timelines and allocate resources based on your gut.
The effects of gut-made decisions? Derailed project schedules, cost overruns, and overworked or underutilized teams.
5. Erosion of your workplace culture
Employee disengagement costs you millions. McKinsey research revealed that worker attrition and disengagement cost S&P 500 companies about $282 million annually.
By chasing your employees for timesheets, their trust and engagement drop. Plus, honest employees want to feel trusted and have autonomy in their own jobs, not feel pressured.
Concluding, the pain of chasing timesheets spreads far beyond a few annoying reminders. It cots you millions, it drains productivity and chips away at the culture you’re trying to build. The longer you let it go, the bigger the ripples, and the higher the cost to your business.
The fix: Automatic timesheets
Modern automatic timesheet apps quietly eliminate this chase and the risks you’re exposing yourself to.
Why do automatic apps crush manual timesheets?
✅ They work silently in the background
No more nagging your team. These apps have automatic time tracking included, meaning that your team will have their timesheets captured without any effort. All that, while they focus on real work.
✅ One-click time logging
Your team can confirm their hours with a single tap, not endless form-filling.
✅ Their calendar becomes their timesheet
Smart time tracking apps pull the data from calendars, project tools, and computer activity to create ready-to-approve timesheets. You’re in a client call? That will be automatically pulled into your timesheet. Working in a tool or ina certain document? That will also be reflected in the timesheet.
Here’s proof of timesheets in EARLY – the time tracking software that doesn’t make you and your team want to cry:
✅ AI does the heavy lifting
Time trackers like EARLY use AI to suggest time entries in your team’s timesheet. This way, it reduced timesheet errors to a great degree.
✅ Works everywhere your team does
Timehseet apps are versatile and available across mobile and desktop. Your team can update their timesheets in under a minute from coffee shops, client sites, or their couch. No excuses.
✅ Proven ROI that you’ll love
Due to the automation, you’re cutting down on admin overhead, and you can increase your ROI. Here’s proof:
“Thanks to the transparent and accurate work logs, we have been able to objectively bill up to 25% more time on different projects.” Sascha Lindemann, Managing Director at Beilquadrat
Worried about switching to automatic timesheets?
Are you worried that setting up the new tool takes ages and your team won’t adopt it, or worse, won’t even use it?
As I’ve been using EARLY as my go-to time tracker, I’ll teach you all about it and how easy it is to build it into your processes:
- It has a lightning-fast setup: EARLY gets your team up and running in minutes, not weeks. Connect your calendars, project tools, and work apps once, then watch the magic happen.
- It has a zero learning curve: If your team can use a calendar at work and a smartphone, they can use EARLY. Its intuitive interface eliminates training headaches. Plus, your team doesn’t need to do anything, but do their work, and their work will be captured automatically.
- It brings real results within your first week: While other apps take months to bring value, users report seeing tangible improvements in just a few days. You won’t need to waste time. Also, you can use its 30-day free trial for zero risk or commitment.
The real question: Can you afford NOT to switch?
Every week you delay switching from manual timesheets is another week of:
- Chasing team members for missing timesheets
- Losing billable hours to poor tracking
- Watching valuable work time vanish into administrative black holes
- Feeling that sinking Friday afternoon dread when timesheets are due
As Noah from Bang & Olufsen discovered after implementing EARLY: “EARLY has allowed us to work more efficiently. Thanks to the insights, we have been able to make a lot of changes to the IT structure to work more efficiently. This has saved each team member around two hours per week, which is 10 hours gained in total across the team, each week.”
So, what could your team accomplish with 10 extra hours every week?
See firsthand how EARLY eliminates timesheet headaches without adding new ones. Book a demo with our team – No credit card required, no commitment, no risk.