Contractor timesheet approvals for recruitment agencies

For a recruitment agency, an approved timesheet is where the work turns into money. It is what the contractor is paid from and, in many arrangements, what the client is invoiced from. Yet the approval step is often the least organised part of the week: timesheets arrive by email, approvals come back as replies, and nobody is quite sure which version is final.

This guide covers what a good approval process looks like and how to set one up.

What approval is for

Approval answers one question: does this timesheet accurately reflect the work that was done? The person best placed to answer is usually the manager who oversaw the work, whether that is someone at the client or a manager inside the agency.

A good approval process makes sure that:

• every timesheet is seen by the right person,
• that person has what they need to check it,
• the decision is recorded, with a reason when something is returned,
• and approved timesheets are locked, so what payroll sees is what was approved.

Decide who approves what

Start by being explicit about who approves each contractor's time. Ambiguity is the most common cause of delay: a timesheet sits in a shared inbox because two people each assume the other will deal with it.

Assign every contractor to a named manager. If a manager is away, reassign rather than relying on someone noticing. In JN Tempo, admins assign contractors to managers, and each manager sees a single queue of work from their own contractors.

Give approvers the context they need

An approver who has to open three attachments and a spreadsheet to check a timesheet will put it off. Show the essentials together:

• the period and the placement it relates to,
• and hours by day, including breaks where relevant.

When the information is in one place, most timesheets can be checked in moments.

Make returning a timesheet useful

Sometimes a timesheet is not right. The hours may be on the wrong day, a break may be missing, or a day may have been entered twice. Rejecting it with no explanation just creates another round of emails.

Ask approvers to give a short, specific reason, such as "Tuesday shows 9 hours but the site closed at 3pm". The contractor can then correct it and resubmit straight away. JN Tempo asks for a reason whenever a timesheet is returned and emails it to the contractor.

Keep a clear record

Once a timesheet is approved, it should not change quietly. Payroll and invoicing depend on it, and questions sometimes come up weeks later. Keep a record of who submitted, who approved and when. An audit trail also helps if there is ever a dispute about hours.

Set a weekly rhythm

Approvals work best on a predictable schedule. A simple pattern:

1. Contractors submit by an agreed day and time.
2. Managers review during a set window.
3. Anything outstanding is chased once, at a set time.
4. Approved timesheets are exported for payroll and invoicing.

Share the schedule with contractors and managers, and keep to it. Consistency matters more than the exact days you choose.

Common problems and fixes

• Timesheets approved late. Check the approver's queue is not overloaded, and make sure there is cover for absences.
• The same errors keep appearing. Look at what is being returned and why. It may point to a confusing placement setup or unclear guidance for contractors.
• Approvals happening outside the system. An approval by email reply is hard to trace. Ask managers to approve in one place so the record is complete.

Where JN Tempo fits

JN Tempo gives each manager one approval queue, asks for a reason when a timesheet is returned, emails contractors about every decision and keeps an audit log of key actions. Approved timesheets can be exported to CSV or downloaded as PDFs. You can see how it works or start a free trial.