How to track employees' labor time?

This guide explains how employees clock in/out on mobile and how administrators review, correct, approve, and export timesheet data.

Written By Francois Jullien

Last updated 12 days ago

1) Employee Guide (Mobile)

A. Clock in (start a shift)

  1. Open the Employee App.

  2. Tap Timesheets.

  3. Tap Start New Shift.

  4. Tap Clock In.

  5. Confirm the clock-in.

✅ The system will automatically detect the project based on your location (when available).

If you are an admin and want to use our timesheet, we also suggest creating a new employee profile (so you will have two profiles). This will allow you to easily create shifts from your admin portal on desktop or from the employee portal on mobile.


B. Clock out (end a shift)

  1. When you’re done working, return to Timesheets.

  2. Tap Clock Out.

  3. Enter your break time (example from the video: set break to 0 if none).

  4. (Optional) Add notes.

  5. Confirm the clock-out.

📌 After clocking out, you may be prompted to create a Daily Log / report.

  • You can skip it if needed (it’s covered in another guide/video).

Note: Your employees can set their default break duration to zero. This option is currently only available in the employee mobile portal after clocking out.


C. Review your shifts (pending approval)

  1. After clocking out, you’ll return to the Timesheets screen.

  2. Review:

    • Shifts that need approval

    • Shifts that were approved

    • Shifts that were rejected


2) Administrator Guide (Web/Admin View)

A. See who is clocked in (live visibility)

  1. Go to the Admin Timesheets view.

  2. You’ll be able to see when an employee clocks in and which project they’re on.


B. Understand location status (icon colors)

In the admin view, shifts can show different location statuses:

  • Blue = Employee clocked in/out on-site (location matches the project)

  • Red = Employee clocked in/out not on-site (location doesn’t match the project)

  • Gray = Location could not be collected

    • Common reason: an administrator created the shift manually for the employee


C. Create a shift for an employee (if they forgot to clock in/out)

  1. Go to Timesheets (Admin).

  2. Create a shift for the employee (example in the transcript: employee forgot due to phone/notifications).

  3. Select the correct project.

  4. Enter the shift times.

  5. Click Save.


D. Edit a shift (fix clock-out time, etc.)

  1. Find the employee’s shift.

  2. Click Edit.

  3. Update the time (example in the transcript: change end time from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM).

  4. Save changes.


E. Approve or reject shifts

  1. Open the Timesheets area where shifts are listed.

  2. For each shift, choose Approve or Reject.

Bulk approval (faster):

  • If many shifts are ready, use the Approve All button to approve everything at once.


3) View Labor Cost & Export Reports

A. View labor cost by project

  1. Go to Projects.

  2. Search and select the project (example: “123 AdWords Street”).

  3. Open the project’s Timesheet section.

  4. Review:

    • Total hours for the selected period

    • Total labor cost


B. Change the pay period/date range

You can switch between:

  • Current week

  • Last two weeks

  • Custom date range


C. Filter by employee (admin)

  1. Go to the main Timesheets page.

  2. Apply Employee filters to view only specific team members.


D. Export to Excel

  1. In the project timesheet or main timesheet page, click Export.

  2. Download the Excel file.

  3. Share it with your bookkeeper or use it for accounting/payroll.

4) Create an expense from timesheet

  1. Go to your project and select the timesheet tab

  2. Click on “Convert to expense.”

  3. You may associate that expense with a specific cost-code

  4. Once the expenses are created, you can invoice your client

  5. To invoice your client, create a new invoice and select “add from” expenses.

Note: At this time, we only track the internal cost without margin. You will need to add your margin to the invoice to reflect the client’s hourly rate.

We do not currently support project-specific hourly rates; however, you can edit each shift individually.

Deleted employees

If you have removed employees from your account, their timesheet data will no longer be visible to you; however, Billdr retains the data. To restore deleted employees, navigate to the My Team page and scroll to the bottom. You can also download their data directly from this page.