Let’s dive in.
What is an Employee Attendance Sheet?
An employee attendance sheet is a spreadsheet that documents an employee’s attendance data. You can organize this data as presence, absence, leave, or with any other system that your organization follows.
An attendance sheet can also include additional information like:
- Employee name.
- Contact information.
- Time entries for clock in and clock out.
- Total working hours.
- Signature.
Usually, attendance sheets are created and maintained using spreadsheet software like MS Excel and Google Sheets.
And while you can create attendance sheets from scratch, it can be tedious and time-consuming — especially if you manage a large team. Instead, you can download free templates available online and customize them to suit your company’s needs.
3 Free Printable Employee Attendance Sheet Templates
Here are three different types of attendance sheet templates that you can customize according to your needs:
1. Daily Attendance Sheet
The daily employee attendance template is a simple Google Sheets or Excel spreadsheet that maintains a record of each employee’s time in, time out, and total hours.
You can use this attendance tracker template to simply record if an employee has clocked in for work or not.
Download: Google Sheet • Excel Template
2. Weekly Attendance Sheet
A weekly employee attendance sheet template contains the attendance record for all days in a week. It also shows the total work hours for that week.
You can use this Google Sheets or Excel template if your employees work on a weekly schedule.
Download: Google Sheet • Excel Template
3. Monthly Attendance Sheet
The monthly employee attendance tracker template provides the attendance for each day of the month. It also shows the total number of days the employee was present in that month.
Use this spreadsheet template as an attendance tracker for employees who get paid monthly.
Download: Google Sheet • Excel Template
3 Key Advantages of Attendance Spreadsheets
Let’s take a look at three benefits of using digital attendance spreadsheets like MS Excel and Google Sheets:
1. Easy to Use
The best thing about using an attendance sheet for tracking attendance is that it’s easy to use.
You don’t need to go through complex training courses to use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheet.
All you need to do is open a worksheet, create columns for the days of the week, and manually enter attendance for each day. You can also include time entries, break times, and more.
And if you don’t want to create an employee attendance tracker sheet from scratch, you can use pre-made templates and customize them for your needs.
Moreover, if you’re part of a larger team or want to add more information to your attendance sheet, you can use formulas and charts. This can help you avoid carrying out complex calculations manually and keep the system organized.
2. Accessibility
A spreadsheet-based employee attendance tracker makes it easier to access information.
You can save the files to your device, store them to the company’s servers, or upload them to the tool’s cloud-based storage for real-time editing and constant reviews.
Moreover, if you’re a small business with a limited budget, you’ll find its minimal setup costs quite affordable.
3. Free to Use
Both Excel and Google Sheets are free tools.
While Excel comes bundled with Microsoft Office packages, Google Sheets is a web-based spreadsheet part of Google Workspace’s suite of tools.
And with the free templates provided above, you can get started right away. You don’t have to pay any additional money to buy any new software or app to create attendance sheets.
5 Powerful Alternatives to Traditional Employee Attendance Sheets
Traditionally, companies use Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheets to manage employee attendance.
Sure, spreadsheet-based tools are an easy and free way to track attendance.
However, they can be highly limiting.
As attendance spreadsheets require a lot of manual effort, it’s prone to human error and inaccuracy. Additionally, you can’t use it to:
- Streamline leave management.
- Calculate overtime hours.
- Monitor employee productivity.
- Generate accurate payroll and invoices.
Fortunately, employee attendance tracking software takes care of all these concerns.
Here’s a detailed look at five such useful tools:
1. Time Doctor
Time Doctor is a powerful, user-friendly employee productivity solution designed for businesses of all sizes. It helps you track the time spent on tasks, manage employee attendance and schedules, and even gain deep insights into their productivity.
A. Key Features
- Easily track employee time manually or automatically.
- Detailed attendance reports help monitor attendance in real-time.
- Work Schedules feature helps create and edit employee shifts and schedules.
- Categorize websites and apps based on productivity levels.
- Gain valuable insights into performance with accurate reports.
- Track inactivity to monitor employee productivity levels better.
- Use the Chrome browser extension to track time spent on other apps like Asana and ClickUp.
B. Pricing
Time Doctor’s paid plans start at $7/user per month. It also offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card required).
C. User Ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (185+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (330+ reviews)
2. Connecteam
Connecteam is a workforce management system that offers time management, operations, onboarding, and internal communications solutions. It serves various industries like retail, healthcare, hospitality, construction, and more.
A. Key Features
- Timesheets with geofencing features to see who’s working on what and from where.
- Remind team members to punch in and out with push notifications.
- Auto clock-out for employees who exceed their set daily limit.
- Review, accept or reject absence requests from within the app.
- Mobile time clock app for Android and iOS devices to clock in during field jobs.
B. Pricing
Has a free plan. Paid plans start at $47/month.
C. User Ratings
- G2: 3.8/5 (10+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (110+ reviews)
3. Hubstaff
Hubstaff is a time and attendance tracking software that helps teams with productivity management. It can track the amount of time your team spends on projects and individual tasks.
A. Key Features
- Generate attendance reports and accurate timecards based on tracked employee hours.
- Keep projects organized with automated Kanban workflows.
- GPS tracking lets you track your team’s time and location on the move.
- Automate and send payments within the app.
- Offers desktop app for Apple, Microsoft, Linux, and Chromebook devices.
B. Pricing
This attendance system offers a free plan for one user. Paid plans start at $7/user per month.
C. User Ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (340+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1100+ reviews)
4. TimeCamp
TimeCamp is a time tracking software suitable for teams of all sizes. It also offers attendance tracking functionalities to manage your staff attendance with ease.
A. Key Features
- Clock in and out from the office as well as remote location with just one click.
- Easily add, edit, or delete time entries in automatic timesheets.
- Keyword-based time tracking to avoid switching between multiple tasks.
- Idle time tracking to track time spent on offline activities like meetings.
- Define project budget, timeline, and other costs.
B. Pricing
TimeCamp offers a limited free plan. Paid plans start at $7/user per month.
C. User Ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (60+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (520+ reviews)
5. QuickBooks Time
QuickBooks Time, formerly TSheets, is an employee time and attendance tracker app designed for teams of all sizes. It can help streamline workflow and boost the overall productivity of your company.
A. Key Features
- Easily create, edit, and publish employee schedules by shifts or jobs.
- GPS and geofencing features to ensure employee accountability.
- Gain insights with detailed reports like payroll, employee hours, and projects.
- Online time clock kiosk with biometric facial recognition to control buddy punching.
- DCAA (Defence Contract Audit Agency) and DOL (Department Of Labor) compliance for tracking time.
B. Pricing
Pricing plans start from $12.50/month. It also offers a 30-day free trial.
C. User Ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (1300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (5400+ reviews)
6. factoHR
factoHR is an all-in-one solution for workforce management that offers an authenticated attendance management platform to all businesses. It helps to track the in/out timings of the employees accurately, emphasizing punctuality in the workplace.
A. Key Features
- Allows employees to mark their attendance using the biometric, mobile app, and web portals.
- Generates a detailed attendance summary report
- Gives liberty to the employees to apply for regularization for missed punches
- Offers OT and Comp-off application facility to the workforce
- Helps to form the approval structure and authorities to accept or reject the regularization, OT, and Comp-off requests.
- Handles multiple shift schedules to form error-free and organized shift planning for the workforce.
B. Pricing
factoHR offers different plans as per the specific requirements of the business. You can personally contact and get more details about their pricing plans that suit your needs.
C. User Ratings
- G2: 4.3/5
- Capterra: 5/5
6 Proven Tips to Boost Employee Attendance
Even if you have the right tools, managing employee attendance can be challenging if you don’t have a good system in place.
Here are six simple tips to help you enhance employee attendance at your workplace:
1. Draft an Employee Attendance Policy
An employee attendance policy is an official document that addresses all attendance-related information for your employees, like expected attendance levels, leave structure, and more.
It also contains the company’s attendance rules and guidelines and the importance of regular attendance and punctuality.
And to deal with cases of absenteeism and rule violation, it lays down disciplinary actions. This helps your employees understand their attendance expectations and encourage them to follow.
Moreover, as this policy covers various attendance issues and their consequences, you can use it as a legal document.
2. Track Employee Attendance
An attendance tracker helps maintain a reliable record of employee attendance. You can use this record to monitor employee attendance in real-time, regardless of your physical location.
Along with keeping track of attendance, attendance records also help you monitor a few things, like:
A. Overwork
Overworking employees can easily lead them to burnout — which not only affects employee productivity but also the whole teams’.
You should regularly monitor your team’s workload to see how tasks are assigned and reassign if an employee has too much on their plate. You can also track employees’ leaves and encourage those who haven’t taken a leave in a long time.
B. Absenteeism
With an employee attendance record, you can spot cases of absenteeism among team members.
Schedule a meeting for a quick follow-up to find out the reason for such behavior. You could provide a mutual solution if it’s due to some unavoidable circumstances or issue a warning if the employee was simply slacking.
C. Leaves
You can’t simply approve an employee’s request for a leave. Before doing so, you should ensure the eligibility of requested leave against the leave policy.
And for that, you need the employee’s attendance records. You can also use it to schedule time-offs for employees in advance while ensuring the availability of enough staff members during that time.
3. Identify the Cause of Absence
Is your employee missing work only on Mondays?
Or are they leaving early on Fridays?
That’s a pattern, and you should bring this to the attention of the concerned team member as soon as you spot it. You can have a detailed discussion to determine the reason behind missing work on certain days.
And to back your claim, you can use the attendance tracker data. This can help you find out the cause of excessive absenteeism.
For example, the absent employee might be a working parent, and they have to pick up their child from daycare or have an elderly to care for.
Use the discussion to reach a solution that can act as a middle ground — like work from home or working on weekends to make up for the missed hours.
4. Create a Healthy Work Environment
Usually, high absenteeism is related to workplace stress or job dissatisfaction.
If an employee finds the work environment too tiresome or feels out of place, they’re more likely to avoid it and take sick leave.
To avoid this, you need to create a pleasant and welcoming work environment. You can adopt a few measures like:
- Allow working hour flexibility.
- Remind employees to take regular breaks.
- Establish a culture of accountability among employees.
- Promote regular informal chats and discussions.
- Appreciate and reward employees’ achievements.
- Conduct team-building activities.
5. Allow Flexible Work Schedules
A flexible work schedule doesn’t follow the usual nine-to-five routine, allowing employees to work at any time they want.
But remember, they need to work for the required number of hours in a day or month.
This flexibility of timings allows employees to structure their work schedules around their most productive periods. They can prioritize work and accommodate other personal activities in their schedule while creating a better work-life balance.
However, not all flexible work arrangements can be suitable for all types and sizes of organizations. For example, telecommuting, where employees can work from any location, isn’t feasible for real estate companies.
6. Provide Incentives for Good Attendance
Providing attendance incentives motivates employees to attend work regularly and encourages them to actively contribute towards achieving organizational goals.
Here are a few ideas about the incentives you can use:
- Extended lunch breaks or an outdoor lunch with all the employees.
- Annual cash bonuses or gift cards for perfect attendance.
- An extra day of leave for employees who meet the schedule adherence requirements.
- Special gifts for employees who never missed work in a calendar year.
Offering incentives also gives you the opportunity of recognizing dedicated and hard-working employees.
Wrap Up
Employee attendance sheets are free and easy to use.
But they come with their own limitations. Even if you use templates, you won’t be able to track trends and other important attendance-related metrics.
Fortunately, there are various attendance tracker software solutions available today.
Not only do they help in recording attendance, but they also provide detailed data to analyze employee productivity. You can use a tool from the above list to simplify and streamline attendance management today.
