The obligation to clock in at work: everything you need to know in 2026

If you run an SME and you are still unsure whether your employees are required to clock in, this article is for you. Recording working hours stopped being optional years ago, yet many companies still jot it down on a spreadsheet or simply don’t do it at all. In 2026, with the Spanish Labour Inspectorate (Inspección de Trabajo) focusing on time tracking and a regulatory reform under way, it pays to have everything in order. We explain it here without the jargon.

Is clocking in at work compulsory?

Yes. Clocking in is compulsory for all companies since Real Decreto-ley 8/2019, which amended article 34 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Spanish Workers’ Statute) to include the obligation to keep a daily record of each employee’s working hours.

The purpose of the law is twofold: on the one hand, to tackle precarious employment and unpaid overtime; on the other, to give both the company and the employee peace of mind, putting in writing when each working day starts and finishes. That record must be kept for four years and be available to employees, their representatives and the Labour Inspectorate.

It is worth adding an important nuance for 2026: there is a reform going through Parliament that will require the record to be digital, remotely accessible by the Inspectorate and interoperable. Although the final detail may change, the direction is clear: paper and spreadsheets are living on borrowed time.

Who is required to clock in under the law?

The general rule is simple: all companies, whatever their size or sector, must record their employees’ daily working hours. It makes no difference whether you have a headcount of 3 or 300.

The obligation covers:

Any professional category, from shop-floor workers to middle managers.
Full-time and part-time employees (for the latter, the record is especially relevant).
Staff working remotely or teleworking, who must also record their hours.
Employees who travel or work away from the workplace (sales reps, field technicians, and so on).

In other words: if you have people employed under contract, you are obliged to make sure they clock in. No exceptions on the grounds of company size.

Are there exceptions to the obligation to clock in?

Yes, there are some cases that fall outside the obligation to record working hours, almost always because they involve a special employment relationship or are not governed by the general regime of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores:

Senior management staff, whose employment relationship is a special one (article 2 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores) and who organise their time autonomously.
Self-employed workers, who, not being salaried employees, fall outside the scope of the Estatuto.
Certain special employment relationships: performers in public entertainment, professional sportspeople, staff in domestic service or prisoners in penitentiary institutions, among others.
Employees under an expressly agreed regime of full availability and free management of their own time, which is very rare and must be properly documented.

A practical warning: these exceptions are strict and are not a shortcut. Labelling an employee as “senior management” simply to avoid having them clock in is a mistake the Inspectorate spots quickly. When in doubt, the prudent course is to record the working hours.

What happens if you don’t clock in at work?

Failing to meet the obligation to record working hours has consequences, and they are not minor ones. The Labour Inspectorate treats this infringement as serious, and the financial penalties have been toughened with the update to the Ley de Infracciones y Sanciones en el Orden Social (LISOS).

Under the amounts in force in 2026, a serious infringement for not keeping the record of working hours can mean a fine ranging from around €751 up to more than €7,500, depending on the degree and the circumstances. And be warned: the penalty applies per workplace affected, so in companies with several sites the figure adds up quickly.

On top of this comes an indirect risk: without a reliable record, if an employee claims overtime, the company starts at a disadvantage when it comes to proving the hours actually worked.

On the employee’s side, refusing to clock in when the company has a system available can also lead to disciplinary sanctions under the collective agreement, from a formal warning through to suspension of employment and pay.

How should you clock in at work?

The law requires you to record working hours, but it does not impose a specific method. The company is free to choose the system, provided it is reliable and reflects the real times of arrival and departure. The most common options are:

Manual recording on paper or by signature: legal, but impractical and easy to manipulate.
Physical terminals with a card or fingerprint at the entrance to the workplace.
Time-tracking software, which lets employees clock in from a computer or phone and centralises all the data.

Whatever the option, the system must capture the actual working day, including breaks and rest periods, and be available to the Inspectorate. With flexible schedules or teleworking, time-tracking software is, in practice, the only straightforward way to keep everything squared away.

Requirements for a time-tracking system

Before choosing a tool, check that it meets these points:

Reliable and objective: it must record the real working hours, without allowing opaque changes.
Accessible and intuitive: if it is complicated, people don’t use it properly and the record loses value.
Retention for four years and consultation available to employees, representatives and the Inspectorate.
Flexible: able to handle breaks, shifts, rest periods and the unexpected without becoming a headache.
Integrated: ideally connected to the management of holidays and absences and to payroll, so you don’t duplicate work.

At LapsoWork we have designed clocking in to meet all these requirements out of the box: employees clock in from the mobile app or the browser, the record is saved automatically and you have the reports ready for any inspection. That way you stop chasing spreadsheets and focus on your business.

In summary

Clocking in is compulsory for practically every company since 2019, and in 2026 the requirement is stepping up with the digitalisation of the record. The exceptions are few and strict, the penalties for non-compliance are rising, and the best insurance is to have a reliable, simple time-tracking system. If you are still keeping it on paper or in a spreadsheet, now is a good time to make the leap.