Since 2019 every company in Spain must record its staff's daily working hours. Many solved it with paper sheets, a spreadsheet or a generic app, and over time problems appear: forgotten clock-ins, untracked corrections, hours that do not match work reports and data that has to be copied by hand into payroll or invoicing.
This article explains what the law requires, what a good time tracking app needs and when an app adapted to your company pays off over a generic one. At the end, a real case from an electrical repair company in Alicante.
What the law requires
Article 34.9 of the Spanish Workers' Statute requires companies to record each employee's working day daily, with the exact start and end time.
- The record must be kept every day and for every person.
- It must be kept for four years.
- It must be available to employees, their representatives and the Labour Inspectorate.
Not keeping the record, or not being able to prove it, can lead to a fine after an inspection. That is why it matters that the system stores every clock-in and every correction in an orderly way.
What a good time tracking app needs
- Clock-in from a phone, the web or a fixed tablet at the entrance, depending on how each team works.
- Records that cannot be changed without a trace: if someone corrects a clock-in, it records who and when.
- Work reports with hours and tasks, so time records match what is invoiced to the customer.
- Holidays, absences and leave in the same place.
- Exportable reports for the Labour Inspectorate and the accountant.
- Role-based permissions: each employee sees their own data and managers see their team.
Our app does not use geolocation: it is not needed to comply with working-time records, and it avoids processing staff location data.
Generic app or an app adapted to your company
A generic time tracking app, priced per user, is usually enough if you only need to record clock-ins and clock-outs and your way of working is standard.
An adapted app pays off when time tracking has to go together with other things: on-site work reports, special schedules, invoicing based on hours or a connection to your management software. There, a generic app forces you to duplicate data or juggle several tools.
Real case: time tracking, work reports and paperless invoices
Electrical repair company · 10 to 50 employees · Alicante
The problem. Time tracking caused problems and invoices were done on custom paper forms. They spent many hours scanning documents and copying data into spreadsheets.
What we did. We built an application with time tracking, digital work reports and digital invoicing.
Timeline. One to two months.
Result. Paper disappeared from work reports and invoices, nobody scans or copies documents into spreadsheets any more, time tracking runs without incidents and invoices go out sooner.
How we deliver the time tracking app
We start from our own base that already covers working-time records (clock-in, work reports, holidays and absences, and reports) and adapt it to each company: its schedules, its types of work and the tools it already uses.
It works on phones, on the web and on a fixed tablet at the entrance. It is contracted with an initial implementation and a monthly maintenance fee.
Is time tracking creating more work than it should?
Tell us how you record working hours today and we will tell you whether a generic app is enough or an adapted one pays off.
Photo: Emmanuel Ikwuegbu on Unsplash.
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Frequently asked questions
Is recording working hours mandatory in Spain?
Yes. Since 2019, article 34.9 of the Workers' Statute requires recording the daily start and end time of each employee's working day.
How long must time records be kept?
Four years, and they must be available to employees, their representatives and the Labour Inspectorate.
Does the app need geolocation?
No. Geolocation is not required to comply with working-time records. Our app does not use it, so no staff location data is processed.
Can employees clock in on a tablet at the entrance?
Yes. Besides phones and the web, it can run on a fixed tablet so several employees clock in and out.
How much does an adapted time tracking app cost?
It depends on the number of employees and the features you need (work reports, holidays, connections to other software). It is contracted with an initial implementation and a monthly maintenance fee.
