Time Tracking: A Mandatory Duty and Digital Solution

Time Tracking: The Current Situation for Businesses

As things currently stand, time tracking is no longer a voluntary option in Germany but a legal obligation for employers. For many small and mid-sized businesses, this raises the practical question of how to document the start, end, and duration of daily working hours in an auditable way and with reasonable effort. This article puts the legal situation into context and shows what digital time recording can look like in day-to-day operations. One note upfront: this is not legal advice — for a binding assessment of your specific case, please consult a qualified professional.

The BAG Ruling of September 13, 2022

On September 13, 2022, the Federal Labor Court (BAG) ruled that employers in Germany are already required to systematically record their employees' working hours. The decision follows on from the so-called time-clock ruling issued by the European Court of Justice (EuGH) in 2019. The core of it, as things currently stand: employers are to record their employees' working hours systematically rather than documenting them only in a piecemeal fashion.

What a Legislative Clarification Is Meant to Bring

As things currently stand, a legislative clarification in the form of an amendment to the German Working Hours Act is in preparation. At its core, it concerns recording the start, end, and duration of daily working hours, generally in electronic form. The specifics, exemptions, and any transition periods may still change during the ongoing legislative process. Experience shows that businesses already relying on a clean, auditable solution today are better prepared for the requirements to come.

Why Paper Slips and Excel Lists Reach Their Limits

Handwritten timesheets and loosely maintained Excel lists appear to serve the purpose at first glance, but in practice they are error-prone and hard to prove when in doubt. Typical weak points:

• Transcription errors easily creep in when entries are typed up after the fact.
• Subsequent changes are difficult to trace.
• Missing or forgotten entries often only come to light at the end of the month.
• Evaluation takes up noticeable time and has to be totaled up by hand.
• In the event of a dispute, providing solid evidence is difficult.

Digital time tracking addresses exactly these issues: entries are created at the moment the work happens, remain auditable, and can be evaluated at any time.

Digital Time Tracking in Practice

Stella Workspace includes time tracking as an integral part of the software. The features are built to work both in the office and on the go, without the need for a separate add-on system.

Digital Time Clock

Employees clock in and out with a single click — at their workstation or on the move. This way, daily working hours are captured right at the start and end of the activity, instead of being reconstructed from memory later on.

Leave and Absences

Vacation, sick leave, and other absences are managed centrally and feed into the evaluation. This produces a complete picture of the hours worked and the hours planned, without having to maintain parallel lists.

Target/Actual Comparison with Balance

For every employee, Stella compares the agreed target hours against the actual hours recorded and shows the resulting balance. Overtime and undertime are therefore transparent at all times — for the employees themselves as well as for management.

Project-Based Time Tracking

Hours can be booked directly to projects and billed afterwards. The same records thus serve both documentation and business evaluation — recorded hours can be carried over into quotes and invoices without any detour.

Monthly Reports per Employee

Monthly reports are available for each employee, summarizing working hours clearly. This makes internal review, payroll, and documentation toward third parties easier.

What Businesses Should Watch Out for Now

Regardless of how the legislative process unfolds, there is a strong case for digitizing time tracking early. What matters is that the records are complete, capture the start, end, and duration, and remain auditable for everyone involved. Practicality counts just as much: a solution is only used consistently if it fits easily into the working day — in the office, in the home office, and on the construction site. It goes without saying that data protection and processing in line with applicable requirements must be observed. For a legal assessment of your specific case, please seek qualified advice; this article does not replace legal advice.

Digitize Your Time Tracking Now

With time tracking from Stella Workspace, your employees record working hours with a click, keep an eye on their balances, and evaluate hours per employee and project — all in one place. The best way to see the features is directly against your own use case, so request a demo.