Working-time records in Spain: a practical starting point

The legal starting point

Record daily start and finish times; retain records for four years and make them available to workers, representatives and inspection. Part-time workers also receive a monthly hours summary with their payslip.

Before the first clock-in

Agree how the company will explain starts, finishes, breaks, forgotten entries and reviews. In your SLNTask test workspace, create one fictional employee and walk through a complete day before inviting a wider team.

A plan and a record have different purposes

Use shifts to organise expected work. Use attendance to record what happened. For example, a planned 09:00 start does not explain a missing clock-in: the employee and responsible person need to resolve the exception.

Review the period

Check unfinished days, missing explanations and corrections awaiting review. Keep the original entry and the reason for an accepted correction understandable. Record a break according to the applicable policy rather than automatically treating all time on site as working time.

Prepare information for its recipient

An employee, payroll adviser and inspector may need different views. Confirm the purpose and the information required before sharing. SLNTask’s unified report centre and direct official submission are still in preparation.

Keep the rules current

This guide was reviewed against the sources shown below on 18 October 2026. Check official publications before changing a company policy; an announcement or proposed reform is not itself an enacted obligation.

Official sources

General guidance for Spain. Check the rules and collective agreement that apply to your company with your adviser.

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