Short answer: a good timecard approval workflow has three stages. Employees review and confirm their own hours, managers resolve exceptions and approve, and payroll locks the period before processing. Each stage has a fixed deadline worked back from payday, and every change keeps a reason and an approver.
Most payroll problems in hourly teams are not calculation errors. They are approval problems: a manager approves everything at 11 PM the night before payroll, a missed punch is discovered after the money is paid, or nobody is sure who was supposed to sign off on the location where the regular manager was on vacation. A clear workflow fixes most of that.
The three stages of timecard approval
- Employee review. At the end of the pay period, each employee checks their own timecard, reports anything missing and confirms the hours. Employees know their own week best, so this is the cheapest place to catch a missed punch.
- Manager approval. The manager resolves exceptions first, then approves. The manager is the person who knows who actually worked, who stayed late and who swapped shifts.
- Payroll lock. Payroll or HR does a final check, locks the period so nothing changes during processing, and exports payroll-ready reports.
Plan your approval deadlines
Deadlines work best when they are worked back from payday, not set by habit. Use the planner to build a schedule for your next pay period.
Approval deadline planner
Enter your pay period end and payday. The planner works back to the deadlines your team needs.
Weekends are skipped. Add your holidays manually. Many payroll providers need hours 1 to 4 business days before payday; check yours.
Approval rhythm by pay frequency
The same three stages work for any pay schedule. What changes is how much time you have between the end of the period and payday.
- Weekly payroll: the window is short, so a daily exceptions check is almost essential. Employees confirm on the first business day after the week ends, and managers approve the same or next day.
- Biweekly payroll: add a mid-period check at the end of the first week. It catches overtime early, because overtime is still calculated per workweek even when you pay every two weeks.
- Semimonthly payroll: periods end on fixed dates such as the 15th and the last day of the month, which can fall on a weekend. Set the employee and manager deadlines in business days so they move with the calendar.
Whatever the frequency, write the deadlines down, put them in managers’ calendars and name who covers when the approver is away.
Who approves what
- Direct manager or shift supervisor: approves timecards for their team and resolves exceptions.
- Backup approver: covers when the manager is off. Name one for every location.
- Payroll or HR: final check, period lock, and corrections after approval.
- Employees: review and confirm their own hours, request corrections, but do not edit approved records.
For multi-location businesses, keep approvals with the people closest to the work and give payroll one view across all sites. Our guide to multi-location time tracking covers how to set that up.
The manager’s approval checklist
Review exceptions first. Everything that matches the schedule and has no flags can be approved together afterwards.
- Missed punches and open shifts, including forgotten clock-outs.
- Punches far from the schedule, such as early clock-ins and late clock-outs.
- Missing or short meal breaks. See missed meal break punches.
- Overtime for the week. Check it against the FLSA overtime rules and any state daily overtime.
- Edited punches: each one should have a reason.
- The right job, location and pay rate for each shift.
- PTO, holidays and other paid leave recorded correctly.
Common approval mistakes
- Bulk approving without looking at exceptions. It is fast until a wrong timecard is paid and has to be corrected after approval.
- Fixing problems by text message. Keep requests, reasons and approvals in the timekeeping system.
- Waiting until the end of the period. A daily or twice-weekly exceptions check turns one big review into a few small ones.
- No backup approver. One sick day should not delay payroll.
- Editing without a reason. Every change should say who made it and why. Federal rules require employers to keep time cards for at least two years and payroll records for at least three.
Make approvals faster with the right tools
EZTime sends missed-punch alerts the same day, lets employees request corrections from the mobile app, compares hours with the schedule, and flags overtime with labor rule alerts. Managers spend their time on the few timecards that need attention, and payroll gets clean hours on time.
Try EZTime free for 14 days. Plans start at $2 per employee per month.
Frequently asked questions
Who should approve employee timecards?
Usually the direct manager or shift supervisor, because they know who worked and when. Payroll or HR then does a final check and locks the period. For multi-location teams, assign one approver per location with a backup for days off.
How often should timecards be approved?
At least once per pay period, before payroll is processed. Many teams also do a quick daily or weekly exceptions review, so missed punches and overtime are caught while the week is still open.
Should employees approve their own timecards?
Employees should review and confirm their own hours, but a manager should give the final approval. Employee review catches missed punches early and shows the employee saw their hours.
What should a manager check before approving a timecard?
Missed or edited punches, hours that differ from the schedule, overtime, missing meal breaks, early or late punches, and the correct job, location and pay rate. Everything that matches the schedule can be approved in bulk once the exceptions are resolved.
What happens if a timecard is approved with a mistake?
Reopen it, correct it with a reason, recalculate the workweek and pay any difference as an adjustment. See our guide to correcting an approved timecard for the steps.
This article is general information for US employers, not legal advice. Wage-and-hour rules vary by state and change over time.