Moving off paper and spreadsheets
From the sheet on the wall to a tap on the phone.
Paper is allowed. But a sheet filled in at the end of the week, or a spreadsheet anyone can retype, is the weakest kind of record. Switching takes one morning, and the old sheets simply go in the drawer.
In short
Spanish law does not require a format for the working-time record: a paper sheet or a spreadsheet is allowed. What it asks is a reliable record, made each day. That is where paper is weak: times written up later, crossed out or retyped leave no trace of when, or by whom, and an inspector can question a record that looks filled in after the fact.
With Tiemio each person taps Start work and Finish work on their own phone, and the time is recorded at the tap. A mistake is fixed with a correction both sides see, never by overwriting. At the end of the month you download the PDF as the record and a spreadsheet for payroll, with nothing retyped.
The first month without the sheet
Day one, 08:30
Set up, then invite the team
Create your business and invite each person with a one-time code, shared from your phone or sent by email. They join from their own phone in a minute. Nothing to install on the wall.
09:00
The first taps
Everyone taps Start work as they arrive. On your phone you see who is working, on a break or not in yet, without walking to the staff room to check the sheet.
Wednesday
A mistake, without crossing anything out
Someone forgot to tap Finish work. They ask for a correction with the real time and the reason, and you approve it. The original stays, with the correction, who asked and who agreed beside it.
End of month
The month, ready for payroll
In Records, download the team's month: the PDF as the record, and the spreadsheet for your gestoría or payroll software. Send the month for sign-off, and each person signs it in the app instead of a sheet every day.
The old binders
The earlier sheets stay where they are
Tiemio holds what is recorded in it, from the first tap. Keep the paper sheets and spreadsheets of the months before for their four years; from now on, there is nothing more to file.
A sheet or a spreadsheet, and Tiemio
Paper or a spreadsheet
Written by hand, signed or saved later
- When the times are writtenOften at the end of the day, or the week
- A mistakeCrossed out, or a cell retyped
- Who can change itAnyone with the pen or the file
- SignaturesA signature every day, if nobody forgets
- Hours for payrollAdded up by hand, copied across
- Four years of recordsBinders, boxes and old files
With Tiemio
Recorded at each tap
- When the times are writtenAt the tap, as it happens
- A mistakeA correction beside the original
- Who can change itNobody, without the other side seeing
- SignaturesOnce a month, in the app
- Hours for payrollOne spreadsheet, the same columns every month
- Four years of recordsKept by Tiemio, people who have left included
What the switch gives you
A record nobody can quietly change
Every tap is stamped with the time Tiemio received it and carries a fingerprint of the tap before, so all of a person's records form one chain. Nothing is ever changed or deleted, and an edited or removed record would break the chain, and Tiemio checks every chain each day. A spreadsheet cell keeps no such trace.
Corrections instead of crossings-out
A forgotten tap or a wrong time is fixed with a new record: asked for with a reason by one side, approved by the other. The timesheet shows the original, the correction, who asked, who agreed and why.
The PDF for the record, the spreadsheet for payroll
Download the month as a PDF for each person or the whole team, and as a spreadsheet with one row per stretch of work: start, finish, minutes, and the DNI/NIE when given. The columns never move, so your gestoría's import keeps working. Each document can be checked at tiemio.com/verify.
Paper is allowed. Reliability is what the law asks.
No format is required today; a record that looks written afterwards is the weak point.
- each employee's start and finish
- Every day
- each employee's start and finish
- kept, and shown on request
- 4 years
- kept, and shown on request
- a digital record made at each tap, where any later change shows: the reliability the law asks for
- Tamper-evident
- a digital record made at each tap, where any later change shows: the reliability the law asks for
- the fine for no record, or a wrong one
- €751–€7,500
- the fine for no record, or a wrong one
Every employer records the time each employee starts and finishes work, every day, keeps it for four years and shows it to the employees, their representatives and the Labour Inspectorate on request (article 34.9 of the Workers' Statute). The article sets no format, and no rule requires the employee to sign the daily record. What the EU Court of Justice asks is a reliable record (case C-55/18): made each day, and impossible to change afterwards without it showing. Not keeping the record, or keeping it wrongly, is a serious infringement (article 7.5 LISOS), fined from €751 to €7,500 (article 40.1.b).
The Government has prepared a royal decree that would make the record digital. On 24 October 2026 it had not been approved or published; the drafts ask for an electronic record that cannot be altered and that the Labour Inspectorate can consult remotely. A team already recording digitally, with every change visible, has less to change if it is approved.
Key point
A paper sheet is not unlawful. A record written after the fact, or changed without a trace, is the one an inspector questions.
Checked against the law in force on 28 October 2026. This page explains the rules; it is not legal advice.
All the questions about the working-time recordWho must record, what, for how long, the fines, and the digital record that is coming.Questions
Is a signed paper sheet still legal?
Yes, today. The law sets no format, so paper and spreadsheets are allowed as long as the record is made each day and cannot be changed afterwards without it showing. The weak points of paper are times written up later, crossings-out nobody can explain, and sheets that go missing over four years.
Can I bring my old sheets or spreadsheet into Tiemio?
No. Tiemio holds what was recorded in it, from the first tap, so its record never mixes in times written elsewhere. Keep your earlier sheets and spreadsheets for their four years, as you do now.
Do my employees still have to sign every day?
No rule requires a signature on the daily record. In Tiemio you send the month for sign-off and each person signs it once in the app, or signs as not agreeing with the reason. Every answer is kept with the month.
Can my gestoría use Tiemio's spreadsheet for payroll?
Yes. The spreadsheet has one row per stretch of work with the day, start, finish, minutes and seconds, the person's name and their DNI/NIE when given. The columns are the same every month, so an import or a formula set up once keeps working.
What if someone has no smartphone?
They can tap from a computer in the browser, signing in with their email. Each person taps for themselves, so the record stays their own.
Also read
Put the last sheet in the drawer.
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