Hospitality staff work variable hours, late nights, weekends, and often across multiple roles in a single venue. Tracking those hours accurately matters for payroll, compliance, and controlling labour costs. TimeTally gives your team a simple way to log their hours from any phone, and gives you a clear record of who worked when. Approved timesheets export straight to Xero, QuickBooks, or CSV. From £2 per employee per month.
TimeTally is a timesheet tool, not a hospitality management platform — but accurate hour records are the foundation of paying staff correctly, staying compliant with employment law, and managing labour costs.
Hospitality is one of the UK's most labour-intensive sectors. Variable shift patterns, zero-hour contracts, seasonal staff, and late-night working all make it difficult to track hours accurately using paper timesheets or spreadsheets. When hours are wrong, payroll is wrong — and in an industry where margins are tight, that matters.
The Working Time Regulations 1998 limit average weekly working hours to 48 (calculated over a 17-week reference period) and require at least 11 consecutive hours of rest between shifts. Workers on shifts over 6 hours are entitled to a 20-minute uninterrupted break. These rules apply to hotels, restaurants, cafes, and catering companies alike — including staff on zero-hour contracts.
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 requires employers to distribute tips, gratuities, and service charges fairly and to keep records for three years. While TimeTally does not have a dedicated tips tracking feature, staff can use the notes field on timesheet entries to record tip amounts — giving you a basic written record alongside hours worked.
Employers must also ensure that total pay divided by total hours never falls below the National Minimum Wage (£12.21/hour for workers aged 21+ from April 2025). Inaccurate hour records make it impossible to verify this. HMRC can investigate and issue penalties where employers cannot demonstrate NMW compliance.
Accurate timesheets are not glamorous, but they underpin everything: correct pay, legal compliance, labour cost visibility, and trust with staff. In an industry with high turnover, getting the basics right helps retain the people you have.
TimeTally works for any hospitality business that needs to track staff hours and manage holiday requests. Download our shift rota template for planning rotas.
Front desk, housekeeping, hotel restaurants, night porters
Fine dining, casual dining, pubs, bars. See our pubs and restaurants page
Independent cafes, coffee chains, bakeries, delis
Event catering, contract caterers, wedding venues, corporate events
Hospitality staff are busy. TimeTally is designed to take less than 60 seconds. Staff enter start time, end time, and breaks for each shift — that is it. Works on any phone or a shared tablet behind the bar.
TimeTally is a straightforward timesheet and holiday management tool. Here is what it does and how it helps hospitality businesses.
Staff submit their shift start and end times at the end of each week. This works for any pattern — early mornings, late nights, weekends, or variable hours. Overnight shifts that cross midnight are handled correctly. Total hours and overtime are calculated automatically.
Set an hourly rate and overtime rate for each staff member. When timesheets are submitted, TimeTally calculates standard pay and overtime pay automatically. You can set daily or weekly overtime thresholds to match your business rules. Learn more about how overtime is calculated.
Hotel night porters and late-night restaurant shifts that run past midnight are tracked correctly. For split shifts (breakfast service then dinner), staff simply log separate timesheet entries for each portion. Total hours across all entries are added up automatically.
Use TimeTally's project tracking to assign hours to specific areas — front of house, kitchen, housekeeping, bar, events. If a member of staff works across two areas in a shift, they can split their hours accordingly. Reports show total hours and costs per area.
Export approved timesheets to Xero, QuickBooks, or CSV with one click. The export includes employee names, standard hours, overtime hours, pay amounts, and break deductions. No manual re-entry needed.
TimeTally works in any mobile browser. Staff do not need to download an app or install anything on personal devices. They can bookmark the page or use a shared tablet. There is also a native iOS app for those who prefer it. See our shift management page for more on managing hospitality schedules.
Managing holiday requests by text, WhatsApp, or scribbled notes is slow and error-prone — especially when you need to check who else is off before approving. TimeTally lets staff request time off from their phone. Managers see the team calendar and approve or decline with one tap. Remaining holiday entitlement is calculated automatically, including pro-rata for part-time and zero-hour staff.
Staff select dates and submit. Managers get a notification and can see who else is off before approving.
See your whole team's availability at a glance. Spot clashes before approving requests — essential during busy periods like Christmas and summer.
Statutory holiday allowance (5.6 weeks) is calculated automatically, including pro-rata for part-time staff, zero-hour workers, and mid-year starters. UK bank holidays are pre-loaded.
Zero-hour workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks statutory holiday, calculated pro-rata based on hours worked. TimeTally handles this calculation automatically.
The team calendar gives managers a clear view of the entire team — submitted timesheets, approved holidays, and absences — all in one place. Plan ahead for busy weekends, spot staffing gaps during peak seasons, and make informed decisions about approving leave.
TimeTally is a timesheet tool, not a compliance system — but accurate timesheet records are the foundation of meeting your legal obligations. Here is how the data TimeTally captures supports compliance.
TimeTally records all hours worked, including overtime and night shifts. This gives you the data you need to monitor the 48-hour weekly average (over a 17-week reference period), 11-hour rest between shifts, and the 20-minute break entitlement for shifts over 6 hours. You can export this data at any time if HMRC or the HSE request records.
Accurate hours tracking ensures your effective hourly rate does not fall below the National Minimum Wage (£12.21/hour for workers aged 21+ from April 2025). This is especially relevant in hospitality where unpaid overtime or incorrect break deductions could push the rate below the legal minimum.
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 requires employers to keep tip records for three years. TimeTally does not have a dedicated tips feature, but staff can use the notes field on timesheet entries to record tip amounts alongside their hours. This provides a basic record, though you may need a separate system for detailed tronc management.
HMRC requires employers to keep records of hours worked for at least two years. TimeTally stores all timesheet data digitally with timestamps and approval records — a complete audit trail that you can export whenever needed.
All UK workers get 5.6 weeks statutory holiday (28 days for full-time). This includes zero-hour contract workers, whose entitlement is calculated pro-rata based on hours worked. TimeTally calculates this automatically, including for mid-year starters.
Under UK law, workers on shifts over 6 hours are entitled to a 20-minute uninterrupted break. Use our break time compliance calculator to check your obligations. TimeTally tracks breaks separately and deducts them from total hours, so you have a record that breaks were taken and payroll figures are accurate.
One price. Every feature. No surprises.
Yes. TimeTally works in any mobile browser — no app download or installation needed. Staff can bookmark the page on their phone or use a shared tablet behind the bar or in the kitchen. There is also a native iOS app on the App Store for those who prefer it.
TimeTally handles overnight shifts correctly. If a bartender starts at 6pm and finishes at 2am, the system calculates 8 hours without any issues. Start and end times can cross midnight. Total hours and overtime are calculated automatically.
Yes. Staff create separate timesheet entries for each portion of a split shift — for example, one entry for 7am-11am breakfast service and another for 5pm-10pm dinner service. TimeTally adds up all entries for the day and week automatically. There is no specific split shift mode; it is simply multiple entries per day.
TimeTally does not have a dedicated tips tracking feature or tronc management system. However, staff can use the notes field on each timesheet entry to record tip amounts alongside their hours. This gives you a basic written record. If you need detailed tronc administration, you would need a separate system for that.
TimeTally works well for zero-hour and casual staff. They log whatever hours they actually work each week. Holiday entitlement is calculated pro-rata based on hours worked — zero-hour workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks statutory holiday. TimeTally handles this calculation automatically.
Yes. Each staff member has their own hourly rate and overtime rate. When timesheets are submitted, TimeTally calculates standard pay and overtime pay based on these individual rates. You can update rates at any time from the employee settings.
Yes. TimeTally has project tracking where you can create areas like kitchen, front of house, bar, housekeeping, or events. Staff assign their hours to the relevant area when submitting their timesheet. Reports show total hours and costs per area.
Staff tap 'Book Time Off', select their dates, and submit. Their manager gets a notification and can see the team calendar to check for clashes before approving. Remaining holiday allowance is shown in real time. Statutory entitlement (5.6 weeks) is calculated automatically, including pro-rata for part-time and zero-hour staff.
TimeTally exports to Xero, QuickBooks, and CSV/Excel. The export includes employee names, standard hours, overtime hours, pay amounts, and break deductions. Most payroll systems can import CSV files if a direct integration is not available.
No. TimeTally uses weekly timesheet entry — staff record their hours at the end of each week (or day, depending on your preference). It is not a live clock-in/clock-out system. Staff enter start times, end times, and breaks for each shift, then submit for manager approval. This approach is simpler and works well for hospitality teams where staff may not have easy access to a terminal at the start of every shift.
Guides and tools for UK hospitality businesses
