Free Employee Timesheet Template for Excel (2026)
A ready-to-use timesheet with FLSA overtime auto-calculation, four supported pay periods, a 6-employee roster, and a payroll rollup that summarizes every hour into one clean paycheck total. Built in Excel with 266 formulas across 6 sheets — zero setup, works offline, edit anything.
Download the Timesheet Template
Free .xlsx download — no email required. Opens in Microsoft Excel, Excel Online, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice Calc.
Download timesheet-2026.xlsxExcel 2007+ compatible · Also works in Google Sheets & LibreOffice
Weekly Timesheet — the showpiece
The Weekly Timesheet is the anchor of this workbook. Fill in the daily In/Out times, and Excel calculates daily hours, splits Regular vs. Overtime per FLSA rules, and totals pay against the employee's hourly rate — all in one view.
Employee Weekly Timesheet
| Day | Date | Time In | Time Out | Break (h) | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Jan 12 | 08:30 | 17:15 | 0.75 | 8.00 |
| Tue | Jan 13 | 08:45 | 17:30 | 0.75 | 8.00 |
| Wed | Jan 14 | 08:15 | 18:30 | 1.00 | 9.25 |
| Thu | Jan 15 | 08:30 | 17:15 | 0.75 | 8.00 |
| Fri | Jan 16 | 08:00 | 16:45 | 1.25 | 7.50 |
| Sat | Jan 17 | — | — | — | 0.00 |
| Sun | Jan 18 | — | — | — | 0.00 |
| Weekly Total | 40.75 | ||||
Total Pay = =MIN(Hours,40)*Rate + MAX(0,Hours-40)*Rate*1.5 — that's regular pay for the first 40 hours plus time-and-a-half for anything over. Emma's 40 hours × $52 = $2,080, plus 0.75 OT hours × $78 = $58.50 → $2,138.50.
Payroll Summary — one row per person, auto-rolled
The Payroll Summary uses SUMIFS with a date-range filter to roll up every logged hour by employee, split it into Regular and Overtime, and calculate gross pay — so you can hand your accountant one clean sheet per pay period.
| Employee | Role | Rate | Reg. Hrs | OT Hrs | Gross Pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emma Thompson | Project Manager | $52.00 | 80.00 | 2.25 | $4,335.50 |
| David Kim | Software Engineer | $68.00 | 80.00 | 4.50 | $5,899.00 |
| Sofia Rodriguez | Designer | $48.00 | 78.50 | 0.00 | $3,768.00 |
| Michael Chen | Marketing | $42.00 | 80.00 | 1.75 | $3,470.25 |
| Aisha Patel | Customer Support | $35.00 | 72.00 | 0.00 | $2,520.00 |
| James Wilson | Analyst | $30.00 | 80.00 | 3.00 | $2,535.00 |
| Bi-Weekly Payroll Total | 470.50 | 11.50 | $22,527.75 | ||
Time Log — every entry, timestamped
The Time Log is the raw feed — one row per work session with employee, date, project, hours, and notes. Pre-filled with 60 sample entries across Jan 12–16 and Jan 19–23, 2026 so you can see exactly how the Payroll Summary pulls totals via SUMIFS.
| Date | Employee | Project | Category | Hours | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 12 | Emma Thompson | Q1 Roadmap | Planning | 3.50 | Sprint kickoff |
| Jan 12 | David Kim | Payments API | Development | 6.25 | Stripe webhook fix |
| Jan 12 | Sofia Rodriguez | Landing v3 | Design | 5.00 | Hero + pricing |
| Jan 13 | Michael Chen | Launch Campaign | Marketing | 4.75 | Ad copy A/B |
| Jan 13 | Aisha Patel | Ticket Queue | Support | 7.00 | 12 tickets closed |
| Jan 13 | James Wilson | Q4 Report | Analysis | 6.00 | Cohort retention |
| Jan 14 | Emma Thompson | Client Review | Meetings | 4.75 | Acme quarterly |
| Jan 14 | David Kim | Payments API | Development | 8.50 | Refund flow (OT) |
| … 52 more rows across Jan 12–23 | |||||
Grab the free Timesheet — no strings.
Ready-to-use .xlsx · 6 sheets · 266 formulas · FLSA overtime auto-calc.
What's inside — 6 sheets
Every sheet has a job. Open the workbook and you'll land on the Setup Guide first; from there it's a linear path through weekly tracking, bi-weekly rollup, raw logging, and payroll.
01Setup Guide
Welcome sheet with quick-start steps, a legend of every colored cell, and a 60-second orientation to the workbook. Read this first.
02Weekly Timesheet
The showpiece. One employee, one week — daily In/Out, break deduction, auto Regular vs. Overtime split against the FLSA 40-hour threshold, and a totalled pay figure.
03Bi-Weekly Timesheet
Same layout, two weeks. Overtime is calculated per-week (as FLSA requires) — not against the 80-hour total — so a 45+35 week correctly generates 5 OT hours, not zero.
04Time Log
Raw session-level entries: one row per work block with date, employee, project, category, hours, and notes. 60 sample rows pre-filled.
05Team Roster
Employee master list: name, role, hourly rate, start date, pay period. Rates feed into the timesheets via VLOOKUP; add rows as your team grows.
06Payroll Summary
Date-range rollup. Pick a start and end date, and SUMIFS pulls Regular hours, OT hours, and gross pay for every person on the roster.
Features
Everything that separates this template from a blank spreadsheet.
FLSA overtime, automated
Anything over 40 hours in a workweek is auto-split into OT and paid at 1.5×. No manual formulas needed.
Four pay periods
Weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly — all supported by the same rollup logic.
Per-employee rates
Six people pre-loaded ($30–$68/hr). Add or edit rows in Team Roster and every sheet updates.
Payroll rollup
One-click date range → Regular hrs, OT hrs, gross pay per person. Hand-off ready.
Sample data
60 pre-filled Time Log entries across two weeks — see the formulas working before you touch anything.
Works everywhere
Excel 365, 2021, 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007. Google Sheets. Excel Online. LibreOffice Calc.
Who this is for
Built for teams too small to justify a payroll SaaS but too structured to run on paper.
Small business owners
You have 3–20 employees and don't want to pay $8/user/month for a payroll platform. Drop in your team, log hours weekly, hand the Payroll Summary to your bookkeeper.
HR & office managers
You need a clean audit trail for hours worked, overtime paid, and per-project breakdowns. The Time Log gives you row-level detail; Payroll Summary rolls it up.
Freelancers & consultants
You bill clients hourly across multiple projects. Use the Time Log to capture every session, then filter by project and hand the client a clean invoice.
FLSA overtime — the rule every US employer must know
Federal overtime law is simpler than it sounds, but the details around how it applies to bi-weekly and semi-monthly pay periods trip up almost every small business at least once.
The federal rule (Fair Labor Standards Act)
Under the FLSA, non-exempt employees must be paid at least 1.5× their regular rate for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek. A workweek is any fixed, recurring 168-hour period — most employers use Monday–Sunday or Sunday–Saturday.
The 40-hour threshold is per workweek, not per pay period. This matters a lot for bi-weekly payroll: if an employee works 45 hours one week and 35 the next, they're owed 5 hours of overtime — not zero — even though the two-week total is only 80.
Total pay = MIN(Hours, 40) × Rate + Overtime pay
The Weekly and Bi-Weekly Timesheets in this template both use this per-week formula. The Bi-Weekly Timesheet calculates Week 1 and Week 2 separately, so you never accidentally under-pay overtime.
Who is exempt (and who isn't)
The FLSA overtime rule applies to non-exempt employees. As of 2026, most salaried workers earning under the DOL threshold are non-exempt regardless of job title. Certain executive, administrative, professional, computer, and outside sales roles can be classified exempt if they meet both a salary test and a duties test.
- Non-exempt (owed OT): hourly workers, most support staff, most retail and service roles.
- Exempt (not owed OT): qualifying executive, administrative, and professional roles meeting DOL salary + duties tests.
- Independent contractors: the FLSA doesn't apply — invoice-based, not employment-based.
When in doubt, check with an employment attorney or the DOL's Wage and Hour Division. Misclassification is one of the most common — and expensive — payroll mistakes small businesses make.
State overtime rules that override federal
A handful of states require daily overtime on top of the weekly rule. If you employ people in these states, edit the OT formula on the Weekly Timesheet to add the daily threshold.
California
Daily OT (1.5×) after 8 hours in a workday, plus double-time after 12 hours. First 8 hours of the 7th consecutive workday are also OT.
Nevada
Daily OT after 8 hours in a 24-hour period for employees earning less than 1.5× the state minimum wage. Higher-paid employees revert to the 40-hour weekly rule.
Alaska
Daily OT after 8 hours in a workday for most non-exempt workers, plus the standard 40-hour weekly rule — whichever produces more OT wins.
Colorado
OT after 12 hours in a workday or 12 consecutive hours or 40 in a week — whichever gives the employee more.
Kentucky
Standard weekly 40-hour rule, but with a 7th-consecutive-day OT requirement — hours on day 7 of a workweek are OT regardless of weekly total.
Most other states
Follow the federal FLSA weekly 40-hour threshold. This template's default formulas are correct out of the box for these jurisdictions.
Weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly?
The four common pay periods differ in cadence, paycheck count, and cash-flow friction. Here's what each actually means in practice.
| Pay period | Paychecks per year | Cadence | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 52 | Every Friday (or fixed day) | Hourly workers, construction, hospitality — steady cash flow matters |
| Bi-weekly | 26 | Every other Friday | Most US small businesses — balance of admin cost and worker preference |
| Semi-monthly | 24 | 15th and last day of month | Salaried workforce — aligns with monthly rent, mortgage, subscription billing |
| Monthly | 12 | Once per month | Executive salaries, contractors on retainer — lowest admin overhead |
The Payroll Summary sheet in this template works with all four — you just change the date range on the input cells. The Weekly and Bi-Weekly Timesheet sheets are named for their most common use, but you can copy them for semi-monthly or monthly runs.
How the Regular vs. Overtime split actually works
The two formulas that do the work
Every cell that computes pay uses one of these two formulas. They're the reason you can drop in any number of hours and get a compliant paycheck.
Overtime hours = MAX(0, Total_hours − 40)
Total pay = Regular_hours × Rate + Overtime_hours × Rate × 1.5
Take Emma's 40.75-hour week at $52/hr:
- Regular =
MIN(40.75, 40)= 40.00 hours → 40 × $52 = $2,080.00 - Overtime =
MAX(0, 40.75 − 40)= 0.75 hours → 0.75 × $52 × 1.5 = $58.50 - Total pay = $2,138.50 ✓
For the Bi-Weekly Timesheet, the same formula runs twice — once against Week 1 hours, once against Week 2 — and the two results are summed. That's how a 45+35 bi-weekly correctly generates 5 OT hours (from Week 1 alone) rather than zero.
How to use the template in 4 steps
Zero setup — open the file and start on the Setup Guide sheet. Everything below assumes you've downloaded the .xlsx.
Update the Team Roster
Open the Team Roster sheet. Replace the 6 sample employees with your own — name, role, hourly rate, start date. Every other sheet pulls from this list via VLOOKUP.
Fill in the Weekly Timesheet
Pick an employee from the dropdown at the top. Enter Time In, Time Out, and Break for each workday. Regular hours, OT hours, and total pay calculate automatically.
Log ad-hoc sessions in the Time Log
Use the Time Log for project-level tracking — one row per work session with date, employee, project, category, hours, and notes. Great for freelancers billing by project.
Run Payroll Summary
Set the start and end dates on the Payroll Summary sheet. The rollup uses SUMIFS to pull Regular hrs, OT hrs, and gross pay per person. Export or hand off to your bookkeeper.
Customize it your way
Every formula and layout is open — nothing is protected. Here are the five most common edits.
Add California daily OT
On Weekly Timesheet, change the daily Hours formula to also flag OT after 8 hours per day: =MIN(Hours,8)+MAX(0,MIN(Hours-8,4))*1.5+MAX(0,Hours-12)*2. Adjusts for California's 8/12-hour daily thresholds.
Switch to semi-monthly
Duplicate the Bi-Weekly Timesheet. Change the two week labels to "1st–15th" and "16th–EOM". The OT formula stays per-week — the FLSA rule doesn't change with your pay period choice.
Add PTO / holiday tracking
Add columns after the Break column labeled PTO Hrs and Holiday Hrs. Update the Weekly Total row to include them: =SUM(Regular)+SUM(PTO)+SUM(Holiday). Adjust pay logic to keep PTO at 1× (no OT multiplier).
Change to your currency
Select all cells with a $ format. Home ▸ Number ▸ More Number Formats ▸ Currency and pick £, €, ¥, ₹, or your local symbol. All formulas stay identical — only display changes.
Add a manager approval field
At the bottom of the Weekly Timesheet, insert three rows: Employee Signature, Manager Signature, Date Approved. Use =TODAY() for the date to auto-stamp when opened.
Grow the team roster
Just add rows to the Team Roster sheet. The VLOOKUP and SUMIFS references use full-column syntax (Roster!A:D), so new employees are picked up automatically.
Ready to run payroll cleaner this week?
Free download · Excel + Google Sheets + LibreOffice · No email · No account · No watermark.
Frequently asked questions
Fourteen questions covering the practical, the legal, and the "why isn't my formula working" — answered.
Is this timesheet template really free?
Yes. Free for personal and commercial use. Download the .xlsx, use it for as many employees and pay periods as you need, and modify it however you want. No email required, no watermark, no attribution needed.
Does it work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the .xlsx to Google Drive and open with Google Sheets. All 266 formulas convert cleanly because we intentionally use only Excel 2007-compatible functions (SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS, VLOOKUP, IF, MIN, MAX, TEXT, TODAY, WEEKDAY, INDEX/MATCH) — no XLOOKUP, FILTER, or dynamic arrays that would break in older Excel or Sheets.
How does the FLSA overtime calculation actually work?
Federal law requires 1.5× the regular hourly rate for every hour worked over 40 in a single workweek. This template splits hours automatically: MIN(Hours, 40) is Regular, MAX(0, Hours − 40) is Overtime, and Total Pay = Regular × Rate + Overtime × Rate × 1.5. The Bi-Weekly Timesheet applies this per-week, not across the two-week total.
What if I'm in California, Nevada, or Alaska with daily overtime rules?
The default template uses the federal weekly-only rule. To add daily OT, edit the daily Hours formula to include a threshold at 8 hours per day (and 12 hours for double-time in California). See the Customize section above for the exact formula — it's one line to change on the Weekly Timesheet.
Can I add more than 6 employees?
Yes. Add rows to the Team Roster sheet — name, role, hourly rate, start date. Because the timesheets use VLOOKUP(...Roster!A:D...) with full-column references, new employees appear in the employee dropdowns automatically. Tested up to 500+ rows without issue.
Does it handle semi-monthly and monthly pay periods?
Yes. The Payroll Summary uses a date-range input, so any pay period works — just change the start/end dates. For semi-monthly, use the 1st–15th and 16th–EOM. For monthly, use the 1st–EOM. Overtime is still calculated per-week internally, which is what FLSA requires regardless of pay period.
How do I handle unpaid breaks?
The Weekly Timesheet has a Break column (in hours) that's automatically deducted from each day's total. For a 30-minute unpaid lunch, enter 0.5. For a 15-minute paid break, enter 0. The daily Hours formula is: (TimeOut − TimeIn) × 24 − Break.
Can I track PTO, holiday, and sick hours?
Not out of the box, but adding it takes 5 minutes. Insert new columns after Break for PTO Hrs, Holiday Hrs, and Sick Hrs, then update the weekly total formula to include them. Keep them at 1× rate (no OT multiplier) so PTO doesn't accidentally trigger overtime pay.
What's the difference between the Weekly and Bi-Weekly Timesheets?
The Weekly Timesheet is one employee, one 7-day week. The Bi-Weekly Timesheet is one employee, two 7-day weeks — with overtime calculated per week, not across the 14-day span. This matters: a 45+35 bi-weekly correctly produces 5 OT hours, not zero, because FLSA overtime is a weekly threshold.
Why did my formulas break when I inserted a row?
Usually this is SUMIFS range boundaries. If a formula reads SUMIFS(Log!E2:E100, ...) and you insert a row at position 101, it's outside the range. Fix by using full-column syntax: SUMIFS(Log!E:E, ...). All the shipped formulas in this template already use full-column references for exactly this reason.
Is this compliant for the IRS or Department of Labor?
The template computes gross wages correctly under FLSA. It does not compute payroll taxes, withholdings, benefits deductions, or generate W-2s or 1099s. Hand the Payroll Summary output to your bookkeeper, accountant, or payroll processor for final compliance and filing.
Can I use this for salaried employees?
Yes, but overtime only applies to non-exempt salaried employees. If your salaried worker is exempt (meets the DOL salary and duties tests), set the OT hours to 0 on the summary. For non-exempt salaried workers, treat their salary as an equivalent hourly rate (annual salary ÷ 2,080 hours) and the template calculates OT correctly on any hours over 40 per week.
How do I share this with my accountant?
Two easy options. (1) Save a copy with only the Payroll Summary sheet visible — right-click other tabs and Hide. (2) Export just Payroll Summary as its own .xlsx: File ▸ Export ▸ Change File Type ▸ Save As. Some accountants prefer CSV: File ▸ Save As ▸ .csv.
Do I need Microsoft 365 to open this?
No. This template is deliberately built with Excel 2007+ compatibility, which means it opens in Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 365, Excel for Mac, Excel Online, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice Calc. No subscription required.
Related templates
More free downloads that pair well with the Timesheet — most already live, a couple coming soon.
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