Paper vs digital timesheets for temp agencies

Matt Stephens, Founder · Published 23 October 2026 · 5 min read · Time and pay

A paper timesheet can be signed by whoever is holding the pen. A digital week in Shiftbrook ties the hours to a site pin, shows the client only their sites, and keeps the rejection reason with the shift. The CSV is still hours, not an invoice.

Paper collects a signature. It loses the site.

A paper timesheet on a clipboard at a warehouse gate can be the right tool for a day. It becomes a poor tool when the sheet is photographed, retyped, and argued about on Friday. The signature does not say which site pin the person was standing in. It does not say the shift was the one you published. It does not keep the client's objection next to the line they objected to.

A blank week you can still print lives on the timesheet template. Use that when you want a file. Use Shiftbrook when the hours should come from a published rota or from a clock, and when the client should approve them before you lock the week.

What the digital week actually stores

The temp clocks in on their phone. The phone is checked against the site pin. The default radius is 100 metres, and you can set it from 25 to 1000. Outside the pin, the punch is refused, or flagged if you have chosen that, with a reason. There is no photo and no face scan. The phone is not followed between punches.

The client sees the resulting hours for their sites. They approve, or they reject with a reason. You lock after they approve. Download CSV is the hours. Approved hours can be sent to Xero Payroll UK as draft timesheets on the paid plan. Shiftbrook does not approve a pay run.

That is the whole gain. It is not invoicing, not pay, not a charge rate, and not a stack of worker documents.

The spreadsheet in the middle

A spreadsheet is paper with a grid. Someone still types the start and the end. The site pin is a column they can leave blank. The client's objection is a cell that gets overwritten. The published week, if it lives in another file, is not the sheet they signed. When the two disagree, you are arguing about which file is newer. Shiftbrook keeps the published shift, the punch and the rejection on the same week. The temp was shown the published shift. The client is shown the hours that followed.

A blank file is still useful. The timesheet template is that file, and it does not ask for an email address. It does not know the pin, and it does not know which shifts you published. Use it for a week you are not running in the product. Do not treat a filled template as client approval. Approval is the login.

What it costs, in the product

The first organisation is free for up to 5 staff. The paid plan is £3 per user per month, with a £15 minimum. You can use the paid plan for 14 days before the first payment, and that period does not ask for a card. On an agency, staff and managers are the active workers. Owners, admins, HR and client approvers are not charged. Someone who has left, and someone who is paused, is not billed. Ten active workers is £50 in a month. Forty is £200. One hundred and fifty is £750. The minimum is £25, which is five workers. There is no price for the client's login.

That price buys the pin, the published week and the approval. It does not buy an invoice, a pay run, a charge rate, a stack of worker documents, or a counter for the 12-week rule. If those are the job, this is the wrong tool. A timesheet bundle that lists invoicing is a different product, and the dated figures sit on the comparison pages. They are not a saving this article is claiming.

A worked week is ordinary. You publish three shifts at one pinned site. The temp clocks in inside 100 metres. On another day the phone is outside the pin and the punch is refused, so you add a flagged time with a note. The client approves two shifts and rejects the flagged one with a reason. You lock the two. The flagged shift stays out of the locked hours until you agree it. The CSV is those hours. Any invoice is written somewhere else.

Where paper still wins

Paper needs no battery and no invite. A supervisor who will not open a login will still sign a sheet. If that is the client you have this month, do not pretend the software removed them. You can still type a flagged time, with a note, so the week is not blank. The note is the point. A typed time without a story is how paper's problems move into the screen.

The clock-in page describes the pin. The agencies page describes the client login. TimeGenie, read on 23 October 2026, sells timesheet bundles and lists invoicing. That is a different product. Shiftbrook stops when the hours are agreed.

What this means for your rota

If the paper sheet and the published rota disagree, the temp was shown the rota. Publish the week you mean, including the site. A shift at the wrong site is a wrong approval, because the client only sees their own sites. An open shift with no name should not be on the sheet you ask them to sign, on paper or on screen, until someone is actually working it.

The Timesheet Portal comparison is the other directory price that was readable on 23 October 2026. It is not a reason to keep the clipboard. It is a price, dated, next to a product that does not raise invoices.

Is a signed paper sheet useless?

No. It is evidence of a sort. It does not show whether the person was at the pin, and it is easy to separate from the rota the temp was actually shown.

Does digital mean the client is billed automatically?

No. The client approves hours. You download a CSV. Invoicing stays outside Shiftbrook.

What if the phone has no signal at the gate?

Clock-in needs a location reading at that moment. A manager can add a flagged time later, and that time needs a note.

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