Recording working hours: paper or digital? Frequently asked questions

Since 2019, every Spanish company has been required to record the working hours of its employees, without exception. The question we get asked time and again is not whether it must be done, but how: is a paper sheet where each employee notes their start and finish times enough, or is it worth making the leap to a digital system? In this article we answer the most frequently asked questions about time recording and compare both methods so you can choose the one that best suits your small business.

What is the record of working hours?

The working time record is the document that keeps evidence of the hours worked by each employee, as required by employment law. As a minimum, it must capture the exact start and finish time of each person’s working day, day by day.

This record serves to document both ordinary hours and overtime, a point that has become especially relevant since its enforcement was tightened. The aim of the rule is twofold: to protect workers against unpaid excess hours and to bring transparency to the employment relationship.

The obligation applies to all companies, regardless of their size or sector, and to all employees. Failing to comply is no small matter: penalties for breaches relating to time recording range from 751 to 7,500 euros per affected workplace, depending on the severity.

Who can access the record?

The record must be available to the people the law specifies:

• Employees, who may consult their own data.
• The workers’ legal representatives (representantes legales) and trade unions.
• The Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (the Spanish Labour and Social Security Inspectorate), which may request it at any time.

If, during an inspection, you cannot produce the record in a clear and verifiable way, the company is exposed to a penalty, even if the actual hours were worked correctly.

How long must the working time record be kept?

The company is required to keep the records for four years. Throughout that period, they must remain available to employees, their representatives and the Labour Inspectorate.

This apparently simple requirement is one of the biggest headaches with paper records: accumulating and safeguarding four years of signed sheets, sorted by employee and by day, takes up space, deteriorates and is easily misplaced just when the Inspectorate asks for it.

How to record working hours?

The rules do not impose a specific format. They do not say “do it on paper” or “do it with such-and-such software”: what they require is that the system, whatever it is, be reliable, objective and accessible. Beyond that, the company is free to choose. Let’s look at the most common options.

Recording working hours on paper

The most traditional method consists of a printed template on which each employee notes their start and finish time and signs each day. It is legally valid, requires no upfront investment and anyone can understand it straight away.

The problem is that it is tedious and inefficient, especially once you have a certain number of employees:

• It relies on each person remembering to sign every day; forgetfulness is constant.
• It is easy to alter after the fact (handwritten dates and times carry no reliable timestamp).
• Safeguarding and organising four years of sheets becomes unmanageable.
• It does not work for anyone who works remotely or is out of the office: there is no physical sheet to sign.

For a company of two or three people in a single location it can work on an ad hoc basis. For everyone else, it almost always ends up being a source of problems.

Recording working hours in digital format

An intermediate step is to keep the record in shared spreadsheets (Google Sheets, Excel on OneDrive or similar). This allows remote access, automatic synchronisation across devices and does away with paper.

It is quicker than paper, but it shares a fundamental weakness with it: a spreadsheet is editable. Anyone with access can change a time without leaving a trace, and that is precisely what an audit sets out to prevent. An open Excel file offers neither the tamper-proof timestamping nor the traceability that provides guarantees before the Inspectorate.

Apps for recording working hours

The most complete option today is a dedicated time-tracking app. Unlike paper and spreadsheets, an app tackles the weak points of the other methods at their root: the record is automatic, secure and tamper-proof, and it works just as well for someone in the office as for someone working remotely or out on the road.

With LapsoWork’s time-tracking software the employee clocks in with a single click and the system takes care of the rest:

• Clock in from anywhere, with the mobile app or from a computer, ideal for remote work and staff on the move.
• Tamper-proof timestamping: the time cannot be edited by hand; any correction is audited with author, date and reason.
• PDF reports and Excel export ready to hand over to the Inspectorate at any time.
• Optional geolocation and a photo of the clock-in when the role requires it.
• Automatic retention for the four required years, without accumulating paper.
• Integrated management of holidays and leave, a document manager and electronic signature, all in the same tool.

This way, the record stops being an administrative burden and becomes something that just happens, while the company gains the peace of mind of complying with the law effortlessly.

Paper or digital: which is right for you?

In short, all three methods are legal, but they do not all offer the same guarantees or require the same effort:

• Paper: valid, cheap and simple, but tedious, easy to tamper with and hard to safeguard. Only advisable for very small, on-site teams.
• Spreadsheet: quicker and accessible remotely, but editable and without reliable timestamping, which weakens your position before the Inspectorate.
• Time-tracking app: automatic, secure, with full traceability and valid for any type of work (on-site, remote or hybrid). It is the option that best meets the current rules with the least effort.

If your workforce is growing, you have remote workers or you simply want to stop chasing signatures, the answer to “paper or digital” is becoming ever clearer. You can try LapsoWork free for 30 days and see for yourself just how easy it is to leave the paper sheet behind.