Commercial terms
What is a timesheet?
A timesheet records the hours a temporary worker actually worked, authorised by the hirer. It is the basis for paying the worker and invoicing the client.
It sits between two parties with opposite interests in it, which is why authorisation matters and why a disputed timesheet is a commercial problem as well as an administrative one.
Late timesheets are the standard operational friction. A worker paid late because a hirer did not authorise on time experiences it as the agency's failure, and it is the commonest cause of temporary workers leaving.
Breaks, overtime and premium rates are where errors concentrate, because they require the timesheet to carry more than a start and an end.
What goes wrong in practice
- Authorisation chased after the payroll deadline rather than before it.
- Breaks not recorded, so hours cannot be reconciled.
- Rate variations applied at invoicing rather than captured on the timesheet.