What is electronic time recording?

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Working time recording is the recording of employees' daily working hours. This involves measuring how long and in what period of time employees do their work. The time in which the contractually agreed working time obligation is met is recorded. This should be as precise as possible.

It is important to note that time tracking does not mean recording the productivity of employees or how often they leave their workplace to go to the toilet or make themselves a coffee.

Why is working time recorded?
In addition to certain legal requirements, which will be discussed later in this article, recording working hours makes it possible to track the hours worked. This allows important business-relevant key figures to be collected in order to check the productivity and performance of employees in certain periods of time and to derive better personnel management from this. This means that action can be taken more quickly and effectively in the event of illness.

Time tracking also provides a better insight into the costs of different projects. It is possible to determine more realistically how much a single, productive hour of work costs.

However, the simplest and most basic reason for recording working hours is to check the attendance of employees.

Legal requirements
There is no legal requirement to record every hour or even Cell Phone Number Database minute worked. However, Section 16 of the Working Hours Act states that employers are obliged to record overtime and work on public holidays and Sundays. Apart from that, it is up to the company itself to decide how and whether time recording is carried out.

However, following a ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2019, Germany is working on passing a law that would require every employer to record the working hours of their employees.

Since September 2022, the ruling of the Federal Labor Court has finally made it clear in Germany too: the obligation to record working hours is coming. Courts are already ruling according to the requirements of the European Court of Justice. This means that every employer is already required to record the working hours of their employees.

And now, in April 2023, a first draft law on 'electronic time recording' was presented by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil. This is intended to incorporate the ECJ's requirements into German law. You can find the exact details here.

How can working hours be recorded?
time recording on pieces of paper
Written time recording, also called "minutes", is still one of the most common forms of time recording today. The start and end of working hours, as well as breaks, are entered by hand in a table. These slips of paper are then submitted to the employer or the HR department on a weekly or monthly basis.

This form of time recording is still particularly popular in small companies with a small number of employees. Many temporary or part-time workers also record their working hours in this way. Apart from that, timesheets are also used on construction sites and in trades to record time on specific projects.



Companies are required to keep these documents for at least two years before they can be destroyed.

Electronic time recording with chip device
The draft law on 'electronic time recording' has brought new attention to time recording. If passed, this bill could oblige companies in Germany to put down pen and paper and invest money in software and apps.

The classic version of electronic time recording usually comes to mind: recording using electronic devices with a chip. This often works in such a way that each employee receives a personalized card or chip that is used to register daily on a permanently installed device. At the end of the month, the system generates a time sheet for the employee based on the data collected. However, these systems are usually very expensive, prone to errors and are designed for every employee to be on site to work.

Electronic time recording with digital tools
Digital time recording means clocking in and out using electronic devices, whereby the personal data is automatically generated and stored within the system and then usually saved in a cloud.

In comparison to electronic time recording, digital time recording can also be done without an expensive, separate device using an app or in the browser. There are various providers with different additional functions. In addition to daily clocking in and out, project-related time can also be recorded, for example, or the submission of vacation requests can be digitized. A time recording app can therefore often be more than just an electronic tool for recording bureaucratic data: It serves as an interface between the company and the employee and is intended to facilitate processes on both the employer and employee side in order to enable uncomplicated and simple communication within the company. And all of this without the need for paper.