The difference
| Schedule | Timesheet | |
|---|---|---|
| Made | Before the week | During and after it |
| Shows | Planned start and end | Actual start, end and breaks |
| Used for | Coverage, availability, planned cost | Pay, overtime, actual cost |
| Changes when | You edit and publish | Someone clocks in or out, or a manager corrects a punch |
One person's three days
These rows come from a sample attendance export: Jordan, scheduled 11 AM to 7 PM for three days, with a 30-minute unpaid lunch. The person and dates are illustrative.
| Day | Scheduled | Clocked | Worked | Paid (after lunch) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon Jan 11 | 11:00–19:00 · 8.00 | 11:02–19:01 | 7.98 | 7.48 |
| Tue Jan 12 | 11:00–19:00 · 8.00 | 10:57–19:05 (clock-out added after a missed punch) | 8.13 | 7.63 |
| Wed Jan 13 | 11:00–19:00 · 8.00 | 11:00–19:06 | 8.10 | 7.60 |
| Total | 24.00 | 24.21 | 22.71 |
- The scheduled 8 hours include lunch. Paid time is worked time minus the unpaid break, so 22.71, not 24.
- Small early starts and late finishes add up: 0.21 hours over three days.
- Tuesday needed a correction. The timesheet keeps the note; the schedule never knew.
When there's no punch at all
If someone works but never clocks in, some systems fill the day from the schedule so the hours aren't lost. In the same sample, a day like that came through as 8.00 paid hours, marked Assumed, with no break. Once the real times were confirmed, it was 7.50. An assumed row is a question to answer, not a record of work.
Reading the differences
- Consistently late finishes on one shift: the shift is too short for the work.
- Early clock-ins before opening: decide whether that time is needed, then schedule it or stop it.
- Missing breaks: check whether people are getting them.
- Big one-off differences: often a missed punch. See the payroll timesheet checklist.
To keep a paper record, use the employee timesheet template. To put a cost on the difference, the scheduled vs actual labor cost worksheet splits it into hours and rate.