Timesheet Template NZ: Free Downloads and How to Track Hours

A timesheet template is a ready-made spreadsheet or document that records the hours an employee or contractor works, so those hours can be turned into accurate pay. For New Zealand businesses, a good timesheet is not just an admin convenience: keeping wage and time records is a legal duty under the Employment Relations Act 2000, and the records have to be accurate enough to prove people were paid at least the minimum wage and given their correct leave. This guide explains what a compliant timesheet template needs for New Zealand, where to download one free, how to build your own in a spreadsheet, and the pay and record-keeping rules that sit behind it. Everything below is current as at 2026.

What is a timesheet template?

A timesheet template is a pre-formatted grid with the columns and formulas already set up, so you only fill in the hours rather than designing the sheet from scratch. A typical template has a row for each day in the pay period and columns for start time, finish time, breaks, total hours and, often, an automatic pay total. You download it once, save a copy for each employee or week, and reuse it every pay run.

Templates come in several file formats. Spreadsheet formats such as Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), Google Sheets and the open OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) format used by LibreOffice Calc can calculate totals automatically. Word documents and printable PDFs are simpler and suit staff who fill in a paper sheet that a manager later enters into payroll. The right choice depends on whether you want the sheet to do the maths for you or simply to capture the raw hours.

Why New Zealand businesses need timesheets

In New Zealand, keeping time records is a legal obligation, not an optional habit. The key reason is that employers must be able to show every worker was paid correctly, and a timesheet is the evidence. Even salaried staff and those on fixed hours are covered, because the records prove that leave, public holidays and any overtime were handled properly.

What the law requires you to record

Under the Employment Relations Act 2000 and the Holidays Act 2003, every employer must keep wage and time records and holiday and leave records for each employee. In practice a compliant record needs to show:

• The employee’s name.
• Their employment agreement type and their ordinary hours of work.
• The days worked and the number of hours worked on each of those days, where hours are needed to calculate pay.
• The wages paid each pay period and how the pay was calculated.
• Details of leave taken, leave paid and current leave balances.

A well-designed timesheet template captures the hours and days part of this list, which then feeds your payroll and leave records. Employment New Zealand notes that records can be kept electronically, so a spreadsheet saved securely is perfectly acceptable.

How long you must keep timesheet records

Wage, time, holiday and leave records must be kept for at least six years, even after an employee has left. An employee, or a person acting on their behalf such as a union representative or a labour inspector, can ask to see the records, and you must be able to produce them. Failing to keep or provide adequate records can lead to penalties imposed by the Employment Relations Authority of up to $20,000, so the humble timesheet is worth getting right.

What to include in an NZ timesheet template

A timesheet template for New Zealand should capture enough detail to calculate pay and satisfy record-keeping rules without becoming cluttered. The essentials are:

• Employee and employer details: worker’s name, role or department, and the business name.
• Pay period dates: the week, fortnight or month the sheet covers.
• Date and day for each working day.
• Start and finish times for each shift.
• Unpaid breaks so paid time is separated from meal breaks.
• Total hours per day and a running total for the period.
• Hourly rate and gross pay if you want the sheet to calculate pay.
• Leave columns to flag annual leave, sick leave or a public holiday, so those days are treated correctly.
• Sign-off: a space for the employee and manager to confirm the hours are accurate.

For contractors, add columns for the project or job code and, if they are GST-registered, a note of GST (currently 15%) so the timesheet lines up with the invoice they send you.

Free timesheet template formats compared

Choosing a format comes down to how much automation you want and which software your team already uses. Excel and Google Sheets are the most popular because they calculate totals instantly, while LibreOffice Calc gives you the same power with no licence cost. The table below compares the main free options and where to get each one.

If your team already lives in Google Workspace, a cloud sheet is the easiest to share and it saves automatically. If you prefer to work offline and avoid subscriptions, LibreOffice Calc opens and edits the same .xlsx files as Excel and is completely free. Whichever you pick, you can move between them: a sheet built in one program usually opens in the others, though very complex formulas occasionally need checking after conversion.

Where to get a free timesheet template in New Zealand

The safest free templates come from official and well-known business sources rather than random download sites. Three reliable starting points cover almost every need:

• Employment New Zealand publishes free wage and time record templates and a holiday and wage record spreadsheet. Because it is the government’s own record-keeping resource, it maps directly onto the legal requirements above.
• Accounting and payroll providers such as Xero offer free, customisable timesheet templates in Excel and PDF aimed specifically at New Zealand employers.
• Spreadsheet template galleries in Google Sheets and Microsoft’s own template site include ready-made weekly and monthly timesheets you can copy in one click.

Before you rely on any template, check that it separates paid hours from unpaid breaks, uses New Zealand date formatting (day/month/year) and does not lock you into a paid upgrade to see your totals. For a broader look at free spreadsheet tools, our guide to a free budget template for NZ covers similar ground for household and small-business finances.

How to build your own timesheet in a spreadsheet

Building a timesheet from scratch takes about ten minutes and gives you full control over the layout. The process is the same in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice Calc.

Step by step

1. Open a blank sheet and add a header block for the employee name, business name and pay period dates.
2. Create columns for Date, Day, Start, Finish, Break (minutes), Total Hours and Pay.
3. Enter the seven dates of the week (or the full fortnight/month) down the Date column.
4. Format the Start and Finish columns as time, and the Break column as a number of minutes.
5. Add a formula in the Total Hours column to work out worked time, then subtract the break.
6. Multiply Total Hours by the hourly rate in the Pay column.
7. Use a SUM at the bottom to total the hours and the pay for the period.
8. Add a row for the employee and manager to sign, then save a master copy and duplicate it each pay run.

Useful timesheet formulas

A few simple formulas turn a static grid into an automatic calculator. To find the hours between a start time in cell C2 and a finish time in D2, minus a break in minutes in E2, use =(D2-C2)*24-(E2/60). Multiplying that total by an hourly rate gives gross pay, and a =SUM() across the week totals the period. If you are new to spreadsheet maths, our practical guide to Google Sheets formulas walks through SUM, IF and the time functions that timesheets rely on, and the same logic works in Excel and LibreOffice Calc.

Weekly, fortnightly or monthly: which timesheet suits you?

Match the timesheet period to your pay cycle so the totals line up with each pay run. A weekly timesheet suits hourly and shift workers whose hours change often, because it keeps the maths small and errors easy to spot. A fortnightly sheet fits the many New Zealand employers who pay every two weeks. A monthly timesheet works for salaried staff on steady hours, where the sheet mainly records exceptions such as leave or overtime rather than every shift. Whichever cadence you choose, keep one row per day rather than lumping a week into a single figure, so you can always show the hours worked on a specific day if asked.

Timesheets, pay and the minimum wage

A timesheet only does its job if the pay it feeds meets New Zealand’s pay laws. As at 1 April 2026, the adult minimum wage is $23.95 per hour, and the starting-out and training minimum wage is $19.16 per hour. When you divide total pay by total hours on a timesheet, the result must not fall below the rate that applies to that worker, which is a common reason payroll teams check timesheets closely.

Two other pay rules interact with timesheets. First, work on a public holiday must be paid at no less than time and a half, and if the public holiday would otherwise have been a working day the employee also earns an alternative day off, so your template should flag public holidays clearly. Second, under the Holidays Act 2003 employees earn four weeks of paid annual leave after twelve months of continuous work, and accurate hour records make it far easier to calculate the correct holiday pay. Deductions such as PAYE tax, KiwiSaver and student loan repayments are worked out from the gross pay your timesheet produces, so an error in the hours ripples through every part of the pay run.

Common timesheet mistakes to avoid

Most timesheet problems come from small habits rather than big failures. Watching for these keeps your records clean and your pay runs accurate:

• Not recording unpaid breaks. If breaks are not subtracted, staff are overpaid and the hours will not match the roster.
• Rounding aggressively. Rounding every shift to the nearest half hour can quietly push pay below the minimum wage over time.
• Filling sheets in from memory. Completing a week’s timesheet on payday invites errors; record times as shifts happen.
• Forgetting leave and public holidays. Leaving these off the sheet leads to underpaid holiday pay and missed alternative days.
• Overwriting the master file. Editing one shared file each week destroys your history; copy the template for every period instead.
• Storing records for too short a time. Deleting old timesheets breaches the six-year retention rule.
• No sign-off. Unapproved hours are hard to defend if a pay dispute arises later.

Spreadsheet templates versus timesheet apps

A spreadsheet template is free, flexible and enough for most small teams, while a dedicated time-tracking app adds automation that larger or mobile workforces often need. Apps can clock staff in by phone, calculate overtime automatically, integrate with payroll and reduce copying errors, but they usually charge per employee each month and store your data on their servers. A template costs nothing, keeps the data in your own files and is easy to audit, but relies on people entering hours honestly and on time. Many small New Zealand businesses start with a free spreadsheet and only move to an app once the manual entry becomes a bottleneck.

Privacy and storing timesheet data

Timesheets contain personal information, so they fall under the Privacy Act 2020. The core duty is to collect only the hours and details you actually need for pay and record-keeping, keep them secure, and let employees see their own records on request. In practice that means storing timesheet files where only authorised people can open them, using strong passwords or access controls on shared cloud sheets, and not keeping the records longer than the six years the law requires before disposing of them safely. If you use a cloud service, check where the data is held and who can access it, the same considerations that apply to any staff information your business keeps.

If you would rather work in a free, offline suite to keep timesheet files on your own computer, our comparison of LibreOffice and OpenOffice explains the free spreadsheet options, and our roundup of office suite alternatives covers cloud and desktop tools side by side.

Disclaimer: This article is general information about timesheets and record-keeping in New Zealand, not legal or employment advice. Employment law changes, and individual situations differ. For decisions about pay, leave or record-keeping obligations, check the current rules on employment.govt.nz or seek advice from a qualified employment law or payroll professional.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is there a free official timesheet template for New Zealand?

Yes. Employment New Zealand publishes free wage and time record templates and a holiday and wage record spreadsheet that are designed to meet the country’s record-keeping rules. Accounting providers such as Xero and the built-in template galleries in Google Sheets and Microsoft’s site also offer free timesheet templates you can copy and customise.

How long do I have to keep timesheet records in New Zealand?

You must keep wage, time, holiday and leave records for at least six years, even after an employee has left the business. The records can be stored electronically, and you must be able to produce them if an employee, a labour inspector or a union representative asks to see them.

What should a New Zealand timesheet include?

A compliant timesheet should show the employee’s name, the pay period, the date and day worked, start and finish times, unpaid breaks, total hours per day, and ideally the hourly rate and pay. Columns for annual leave, sick leave and public holidays help ensure those days are paid correctly, and a sign-off line confirms the hours are agreed.

Can I use Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice for timesheets?

Yes. All three can run a timesheet and calculate totals automatically using simple time and SUM formulas. Excel and Google Sheets are the most common, while LibreOffice Calc is a free desktop option that opens the same files. A sheet built in one program can usually be opened in the others, though complex formulas are worth checking after converting.

What is the minimum wage a timesheet must reflect in New Zealand?

As at 1 April 2026, the adult minimum wage is $23.95 per hour and the starting-out and training rate is $19.16 per hour. When total pay is divided by total hours on a timesheet, the result must not fall below the rate that applies to the worker. Work on a public holiday must be paid at no less than time and a half.