Recording working time is no longer a “nice to have” but an obligation. This overview shows which requirements are relevant and how teamspace maps them – as a basis for decisions, not as a click-by-click guide.
The obligation to record working time
The ECJ (2019) and the Federal Labour Court (ruling of 13 September 2022) made it clear: employers must provide an objective, reliable and accessible system for recording the entire working time – not just overtime. Time tracking must therefore:
- record the start, end and duration of daily working time,
- be viewable by employees,
- prevent subsequent manipulation.
This article does not replace legal advice. Specific obligations depend on the sector, collective agreement and company arrangements.
How teamspace covers this
| Requirement | Function in teamspace |
|---|---|
| Complete recording | Check-in/check-out, time terminal, mobile app |
| Visibility for employees | Summary with working time, overtime, leave |
| Protection against manipulation | Locking and editing deadlines |
| Traceability | Corrections with editor and time stamp (audit trail) |
| Breaks & limits | Break rules and daily limits per category |
Audit reliability and GoBD
For tax-relevant documentation you can enable a GoBD mode: bookings are secured against changes via locking, while corrections remain traceable with the editor and a time stamp. This produces a continuous, auditable trail from recording through to billing.
Bridge to payroll
Clean attendance and absence data are the basis of preparatory payroll: overtime, supplements, leave and sickness feed into the data export. For this, teamspace offers a DATEV-certified interface and exports for payroll preparation – saving double entry and reducing errors.
Benefits beyond the obligation
- Billing: project times turn directly into an activity report and invoice.
- Management: target/actual comparisons, contribution margins and utilisation come from the same data (topic Controlling).
- Acceptance: recording by click, terminal or app lowers the barrier – the system is actually used.
Related topics
- Time tracking – introduction (with video) Time tracking Concept
- Lock time entries Time tracking How-to
- Working-time recording