Spain To Scrap Paper Timesheets By 2026

Spain is getting fresh to opportunity goodbye to insubstantial timesheets erstwhile and for all. From 2026, each institution successful nan state – astir 3 cardinal of them – will person to move to integer clock-in systems nether caller labour rules designed to make working hours much transparent and harder to manipulate.

It’s a large change, particularly for smaller businesses that person agelong relied connected insubstantial forms aliases Excel sheets. But nan Ministry of Labour insists nan move is basal to modernise nan strategy and protect some employers and employees.

“Paper is nary longer enough,” said officials from nan Ministry. “We request reliable, traceable systems that can’t beryllium tampered with.”

Paper timesheets are retired – and nan timepiece is ticking

From January 2026, handwritten logs, Excel documents and immoderate manual strategy will officially go invalid. The authorities says these methods are excessively easy to change and excessively difficult to audit.

Instead, each moving hours – from clock-in to clock-out, including breaks and overtime – must beryllium recorded utilizing an physics system. These integer records will besides person to beryllium kept for astatine slightest 4 years and made accessible to labour inspectors astatine immoderate time, moreover remotely.

The thought is to make moving hours wholly transparent. If an worker stays late, nan strategy will show it. If personification clocks successful early, that excessively will beryllium connected record. For galore companies, this intends a afloat move to cloud-based time-tracking tools.

What’s allowed (and what’s not)

The caller rule allows respective integer options for search hours – arsenic agelong arsenic they are unafraid and can’t beryllium manually changed. Acceptable systems include:

• Time-tracking apps and software
• Company intranet aliases web platforms
• QR codification aliases PIN-based terminals
• GPS check-ins for mobile workers

But immoderate celebrated devices will nary longer beryllium acceptable. Fingerprint scanners and facial nickname systems are banned nether nan caller rules because of privateness and information protection concerns.

In different words, Spain wants to spell integer – but not astatine nan costs of employees’ privacy.

Ignoring nan rules could get expensive

Companies that don’t make nan move could look fines ranging from €751 to €7,500 per worker affected. That intends sticking pinch insubstantial aliases editable Excel sheets isn’t conscionable risky – it’s costly.

For smaller businesses, nan alteration mightiness sound daunting. But experts opportunity location are now plentifulness of affordable, easy-to-use apps available.

Tools for illustration Kronjop, for example, let workers to timepiece successful from their phones and automatically log hours successful nan cloud. Bigger companies thin to usage QR systems aliases beingness terminals, while teams that activity remotely often trust connected apps pinch GPS search specified arsenic Hubstaff.

It’s a increasing marketplace – and by nan look of things, it’s astir to boom.

A measurement towards fairness and modernisation

Beyond nan tech upgrades, nan extremity of this betterment is fairness. Digital records make it harder for employers to hide overtime aliases underreport hours, and easier for inspectors to verify that labor are being treated fairly.

For workers, it’s besides a measurement to protect their clip and debar unpaid other hours. For employers, it’s impervious of compliance – a clear, timestamped grounds that tin beryllium shown if questions arise.

The caller rule is besides portion of Spain’s push to modernise workplace regulations and align them pinch today’s integer economy. In short, nan days of signing a insubstantial expanse astatine nan extremity of your displacement are numbered.

Come 2026, Spain’s workplaces will officially time off nan clipboard down – and move their clocks to nan cloud.