Which timesheet template should I use?

Match it to your pay cycle. Weekly pay, the weekly timesheet. Fortnightly pay, the second most common cycle here after weekly, the fortnightly timesheet, which keeps each week’s subtotal visible. If your crew changes daily, the daily time clock sheet puts the whole team on one page. The attendance register is a different job: it tracks days and reasons across a month, not hours.

What is the difference between a timesheet and an attendance register?

A timesheet records how long someone worked. A register records whether they were there and why they were not. The wage and time record required by the Employment Relations Act 2000 needs the hours, so a register on its own does not satisfy it. Most employers end up keeping both — the register for the month at a glance, the timesheet for payroll.

Are these templates free?

Yes. No signup, no email, no limit. Download the .xlsx and use it. They open in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc.

Which breaks do I deduct from paid hours?

Only the unpaid meal break. The 10-minute rest breaks are paid working time under the Employment Relations Act 2000 and stay in. The entitlement runs by hours worked: 2 to 4 hours gets one paid 10-minute rest break; more than 4 and up to 6 gets that plus a 30-minute unpaid meal break; more than 6 and under 10 gets two paid rest breaks plus the meal break.

How do I record a public holiday someone worked?

As two obligations. The hours actually worked are paid at a minimum of time and a half. Separately, if the day would otherwise have been a working day for that person, they earn a whole paid day off — an alternative holiday. Record it the day it is earned: it does not expire, and any balance is paid out on termination.

Is there a legal overtime rate in New Zealand?

No. New Zealand has no award system, so any overtime, weekend or night premium comes from the employment agreement. The one hard floor is the minimum wage — $23.95 an hour for adults and $19.16 for starting-out and training rates from 1 April 2026 — which must be met for every hour actually worked.

How long must I keep timesheets in New Zealand?

At least six years, and you must be able to produce them on request. That applies to both the wage and time record under the Employment Relations Act 2000 and the holiday and leave record under the Holidays Act 2003.

What happens if I cannot produce the record?

Section 132 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 is explicit: where an employer fails to keep or produce the records, the Employment Relations Authority may accept as proved the claims the employee makes about their hours. A labour inspector can require the records, and not having them is itself a breach — but the more common cost is simply losing an argument about hours you had no way to evidence.

Is the Holidays Act changing?

Yes. The Employment Leave Act 2026 replaces the Holidays Act 2003 on 6 August 2028, moving annual leave from a weeks-based entitlement to hours-based accrual from day one. Accrual will be calculated from hours actually worked, which makes an accurate hours record more important rather than less. Our Holidays Act leave calculator covers the rules as they stand now.

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Free timesheet and attendance templates for New Zealand

Four Excel sheets built around the record New Zealand law actually requires you to keep — hours worked each day, the unpaid meal break deducted properly, and alternative holidays recorded when they are earned.

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4 Excel templates No signup or email ERA and Holidays Act rules included

Updated September 2026. Break rules, public holiday entitlements and wage rates checked against Employment New Zealand.

These templates are record-keeping tools, not legal or payroll advice. They do not calculate annual holiday pay, public holiday pay or alternative holiday balances, and they do not check that minimum wage has been met. Check Employment New Zealand, or take advice, before relying on a spreadsheet for compliance. It does not constitute legal, HR, or professional advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice specific to your business, workforce, or circumstances.

References HR Hub disclaimer Employment New Zealand Inland Revenue

New Zealand is unusual in naming the record. In Australia and the United Kingdom the duty to keep track of hours is inferred — from minimum wage rules, from working time limits — and no statute says “keep this document”. Here two of them do.

The Employment Relations Act 2000 requires a wage and time record for every employee: the hours worked each day and in each pay period, and the wages paid for them. The Holidays Act 2003 requires a separate holiday and leave record: leave taken, leave owing, and the payments made. Both must be kept for six years and produced on request.

That changes what a timesheet is for. It is not an internal convenience that helps payroll — it is the document a labour inspector asks for, and if you cannot produce it, the employee’s account of their hours is the account that tends to stand.

The templates

Four sheets, covering the day, the week, the fortnight and the month

Employee attendance register

A month grid of who was in, who was away and why. Present, absent and leave counted per person as you type the codes.

Weekly timesheet

One person, one week, Monday to Sunday. Start, finish, unpaid meal break and paid hours that add themselves up.

Fortnightly timesheet

Two weeks on one sheet with separate weekly subtotals, then a fortnight total — one sheet per person per fortnight.

Daily time clock sheet

One day, the whole team on one page, with a column for staff to initial their own row at the end of the shift.

What every template includes

The same New Zealand conventions across all four

The meal break comes out, the rest breaks stay in

10-minute rest breaks are paid working time. Only the 30-minute meal break is deducted — the arithmetic a generic template gets wrong.

PH and PHW are separate

A public holiday worked is not a public holiday taken. One triggers time and a half and may earn an alternative day; the other does not.

The retention rule printed in the file

Six years, and producible on request, on the Instructions tab of every workbook.

Real formulas, not typed totals

Paid hours, weekly subtotals and attendance counts calculate. Every workbook is read back and its formulas asserted before release.

NZD and current minimum wage

$23.95 adult and $19.16 starting-out and training from 1 April 2026, with the reminder that NZ has no award system.

A shared code legend

P, A, AL, SICK, BEREAVE, PH, PHW, ALT and OFF mean the same thing across all four sheets and the roster templates.

Who these are for

New Zealand employers who have to be able to produce the record

Hospitality

Retail

Aged care and health

Trades and construction

More free New Zealand resources

Tools and product pages that sit alongside the timesheet

Free staff roster templates

Weekly, fortnightly, monthly, daily and blank rosters in Excel — the planning side of the same job.

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Free tools

Calculators and builders for rostering, labour cost and payroll readiness.

See all tools

Knowledge base

Step-by-step help articles for rostering, time tracking and payroll export.

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NZ employment glossary

Alternative holidays, otherwise working day, agreed hours and the rest of the vocabulary that decides pay.

Browse the glossary

Doing it in software instead

The product pages behind each part of the job

Time and attendance

Payroll and pay rules

Leave and records

Sources

The New Zealand rules referenced in these templates

Employment New Zealand — Keeping accurate records Employment New Zealand — Rest and meal breaks Employment New Zealand — Public holidays and anniversary dates Employment New Zealand — Minimum wage rates

The three things a generic timesheet template gets wrong here

It deducts the wrong break. Most templates carry a single “break” column and subtract all of it. Under the Employment Relations Act 2000 the 10-minute rest breaks are paid — they are working time and must not come out of paid hours. Only the 30-minute meal break is unpaid. Deducting 50 minutes where 30 is correct understates paid hours on every shift over six hours, every day, for everyone.

It has no code for an alternative holiday. Work a public holiday that would otherwise have been a working day and the employee earns a whole paid day off, on top of at least time and a half for the hours worked. Australian and British templates have no code for this because neither country has the entitlement — so the day gets worked, the hours get paid, and the day off owed is never written down. It does not expire, and it is paid out on termination.

It treats the record as optional. A US or UK template frames a timesheet as a payroll input. Here it is a statutory record with a named retention period, and the consequence of not having it is not administrative inconvenience — it is that the employee’s version of their hours becomes the version that stands.

Or stop collecting timesheets altogether

A timesheet is filled in after the fact. RosterElf timestamps the clock-in and clock-out as they happen, deducts the meal break, keeps the six-year record without anyone filing anything, and sends approved hours to Xero or Smartly.

Start free trial See time and attendance software

FAQ

Timesheet and attendance questions

Match it to your pay cycle. Weekly pay, the weekly timesheet. Fortnightly pay, the second most common cycle here after weekly, the fortnightly timesheet, which keeps each week’s subtotal visible. If your crew changes daily, the daily time clock sheet puts the whole team on one page. The attendance register is a different job: it tracks days and reasons across a month, not hours.
A timesheet records how long someone worked. A register records whether they were there and why they were not. The wage and time record required by the Employment Relations Act 2000 needs the hours, so a register on its own does not satisfy it. Most employers end up keeping both — the register for the month at a glance, the timesheet for payroll.
Yes. No signup, no email, no limit. Download the .xlsx and use it. They open in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc.

Free timesheet and attendance templates for New Zealand