How to Approve Timesheets in WorkRoster

As a Manager or Admin in WorkRoster, approving timesheets is a core part of your weekly workflow. This guide walks you through reviewing, approving, and rejecting employee timesheets, handling edge cases, and keeping your approval queue clean.

Before You Begin

You need:

• A WorkRoster account with Manager, Admin, or Owner role
• At least one employee with submitted timesheets in your workspace

Where to Find Pending Timesheets

When employees submit timesheets, you'll receive an email notification with a direct link. You can also access the approval queue at any time:

1. Sign in to WorkRoster
2. Navigate to Timesheets in the left sidebar
3. Click the Pending Approvals tab (you'll see a count badge if there are pending items)

Alternatively, the Dashboard shows a summary of pending timesheets that need your attention.

Reviewing a Timesheet

Click any pending timesheet to open the review panel. You'll see:

• Employee name and the period covered
• Daily breakdown: Each day's start time, end time, break duration, and calculated total hours
• Weekly total: Sum of all approved hours for the period
• Overtime hours: Automatically highlighted if hours exceed your configured threshold
• Notes: Any context the employee added during submission
• Project assignments: Which projects hours were logged against (if your workspace uses projects)

Check these before approving:

• Do the hours look reasonable for the period?
• Is any overtime expected and authorized?
• Do the project codes match what you know the employee worked on?

Approving a Timesheet

Once you've reviewed the timesheet and everything looks correct:

1. Click Approve
2. The timesheet status changes to Approved immediately
3. The employee receives an instant notification
4. The timesheet is locked — it cannot be edited by the employee after approval

Approved timesheets are included in payroll exports and reports.

Rejecting a Timesheet

If something is wrong — incorrect hours, wrong project codes, missing information — reject the timesheet with a specific reason:

1. Click Reject
2. Enter a comment explaining what needs to be corrected (required for rejections)
   • Be specific: "Please correct Tuesday — you logged 10 hours but our records show you left at 4:30 PM"
   • Avoid vague rejections: "Incorrect" gives employees nothing to fix
3. Click Confirm Rejection
4. The employee is notified instantly with your comment
5. The employee corrects the timesheet and resubmits
6. The resubmitted timesheet returns to your approval queue

Important: Rejection comments are required. Clear, specific feedback reduces back-and-forth and speeds up the correction process.

Bulk Approvals

When you have multiple timesheets to review for the same period:

1. In the Pending Approvals tab, select the checkboxes next to multiple timesheets
2. Review each one individually (or click the period header to expand all)
3. Click Approve Selected to approve all checked timesheets at once

Use bulk approval carefully — it's fast, but it bypasses individual review. Only use bulk approval for employees with predictable, standard hours that you trust to be correct.

Handling Common Edge Cases

Employee is out sick and didn't submit a timesheet You can submit a timesheet on behalf of an employee. Navigate to Timesheets, select the employee from the dropdown, add their entry, and save. The entry is automatically marked as submitted by you (manager-submitted), which creates a clear audit trail.

Timesheet was submitted with wrong dates Reject the timesheet with a note to resubmit for the correct date range. WorkRoster enforces one timesheet per employee per day, so if the employee submitted for the wrong week, they'll need to delete the incorrect entry and submit a new one.

Employee disputes your rejection Navigate to the rejected timesheet — the full comment history is visible to both parties. If you need to re-open discussion, add a follow-up comment. For serious disputes, escalate to the workspace Owner.

Manager's own timesheets Managers cannot approve their own timesheets (WorkRoster prevents this). Manager timesheets are routed to the workspace Admin or Owner for approval. If no one else has approval access, the Owner can approve from Settings → Team Members.

Maintaining a Clean Approval Queue

Best practices for staying on top of approvals:

• Approve weekly, even if payroll runs monthly. Waiting until month-end creates a 20-timesheet backlog that's hard to review carefully.
• Set an approval deadline — tell your team you'll approve by every Monday morning. This gives employees a predictable rhythm.
• Configure email notifications — go to Settings → Notifications to ensure you're receiving approval request emails.
• Use the Dashboard widget — the pending approvals count on the dashboard is the fastest way to see if anything needs attention.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I approve timesheets from my phone? Yes — WorkRoster is fully mobile-responsive. Open the browser on your phone, sign in, and approve from the Pending Approvals tab. You receive the same email notifications with direct approve links.

What happens to unapproved timesheets at month end? They stay in the pending state indefinitely — they don't expire. However, unapproved timesheets are excluded from payroll exports. Ensure all timesheets are approved before running your payroll export.

Can I un-approve a timesheet? Yes, but only within the same pay period. Navigate to the approved timesheet, click the options menu (•••), and select Reopen. This returns it to pending status for correction. After the pay period closes (or the timesheet is included in a payroll export), reopening is locked and requires Admin access.

Can employees see that I rejected their timesheet? Yes — employees receive an instant notification when their timesheet is rejected, including your comment. All approval history is visible to the employee in their timesheet detail view.