Cost of unlogged hours calculator: billable time never recorded
Billable hours that are worked but never recorded are never invoiced. Enter your team's hours, the share that is billable, your own estimate of how much of it goes unrecorded and your charge-out rate. The calculator shows what slips away each year, in hours, in minutes for each person each week, and in revenue.
Worked out for the example. Change the boxes to make it yours.
| Hours at work a year (8 x 40 hours x 45 weeks) | 14,400 hours |
|---|---|
| Billable hours a year (70%) | 10,080 hours |
| Billable hours never recorded (5%, your estimate) | 504 hours |
| For each person, each week | 84 minutes |
| At $150.00 an hour, 90% of it billed and paid | $68,040 |
| Each month | $5,670 |
| Each 1% of billable hours recorded is worth | $13,608 a year |
- Every figure here is your own estimate, worked out as entered. It is revenue before GST and before any cost of doing the work, which you have already paid for.
- Hours worked but missing from the record are a gap in the wages and time record too, which must show the hours worked each day in a pay period unless agreed usual hours are worked (Employment Relations Act 2000, section 130).
Team timesheets shows who has not logged this week, and the hours staff choose to share, by person, project and task, with a CSV ready for payroll, optional approvals and your own billable rates. It never reads the pay or rates in anyone's own account, and has no rosters.
See Team timesheetsHow the cost is worked out
The calculator multiplies the people by their hours a week and the weeks they work to get the hours at work in a year, takes the billable share of those, and then your estimate of the share that never reaches a timesheet. Those hours times your charge-out rate, times the share of recorded time you actually bill and are paid for, is the revenue not billed. It is revenue before GST, and the work behind it is already paid for in wages, so most of it would have been margin. Every input is your own estimate, so the answer is only as good as they are.
Where the estimate comes from
The hardest figure is the share never recorded, because by definition nobody wrote it down. Three ways to get close: compare a fortnight of logged hours with the hours people were at work and on client work; look at jobs where the recorded time is well under what the work took; or ask the team to log as they go for two weeks and compare that with the fortnight before. The weeks a year are 52 less leave: at least 4 weeks of annual holidays after each 12 months under the Holidays Act 2003, up to 12 public holidays, and sick days.
Missing hours are a records gap too
An employer must keep a wages and time record showing the hours each employee worked each day in a pay period and the pay for those hours, unless agreed usual hours are worked (Employment Relations Act 2000, section 130), and Employment New Zealand says to keep it for 6 years. Where the record is missing and that harms an employee's claim for wages, the Employment Relations Authority may accept the employee's account of the hours as proved unless the employer shows it is wrong (section 132). Penalties for not keeping records reach $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a company (section 135). Our article on wage and time records covers what to keep, and the records checklist puts it on one page. From 6 August 2028 the Employment Leave Act 2026 adds a leave record that also needs the hours worked each day.
Questions
How much do missing timesheets cost a business?
It depends on your hours, rates and how much goes unrecorded. For 8 people working 40 hours over 45 weeks, 70% billable at $150 an hour, with 5% of billable time never recorded and 90% of recorded time billed and paid, it is 504 hours and $68,040 a year.
How do I estimate how many hours are not logged?
Compare a fortnight of logged hours with the hours people were at work, check jobs where recorded time is well under what the work took, or ask the team to log as they go for two weeks and compare. Use the middle of what you find, not the worst week.
Do I have to record my employees' hours in NZ?
Yes. The wages and time record must show the hours worked each day in a pay period and the pay for them, unless agreed usual hours are worked and stated (Employment Relations Act 2000, section 130). Employment New Zealand says to keep it for 6 years.
What happens if my time records are incomplete?
If an employee claims unpaid wages and the missing record harms their claim, the Employment Relations Authority may accept their account of the hours unless you prove it wrong. Penalties for not keeping records reach $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a company.
Can I see who has not logged their hours this week?
Team timesheets at jobtracker.co.nz shows who has not logged this week, and the hours staff choose to share, by person, project and task, with a CSV ready for payroll. It has no rosters, and never reads the pay or rates in anyone's own account.
Sources
- Employment Relations Act 2000.
- Employment New Zealand: record keeping.
- Holidays Act 2003.
- Employment New Zealand: managing public holidays as an employer.
- Employment Leave Act 2026.
More free tools: see all the calculators.