Harvest
Time Tracking
Sign up free

How to Do a Time Audit

Struggling with time management? Harvest helps you conduct effective time audits to uncover inefficiencies and boost productivity through detailed tracking and reporting.

Try Harvest Free

How many hours did you work this week?

Enter your clock-in and clock-out times for each day. The calculator handles breaks, overtime, and weekly totals automatically.

Day Clock In Clock Out Break Hours
Total hours this week 0h
Regular hours (≤40) 0h
Overtime hours 0h
Average hours/day 0h
Total break time 0h

Track time automatically with Harvest

How this work hours calculator works

It adds up the hours between each day's clock-in and clock-out, subtracts your breaks, and totals the week for you.

  • Daily hours = (clock-out − clock-in) − break time.
  • Weekly total = the sum of every day's hours.
  • Regular vs. overtime: hours up to 40 per week count as regular; anything above is overtime (US FLSA — thresholds vary by country and state).

Results update as you type, including your daily average and total break time.

Conduct a Time Audit with Harvest

See how Harvest's time audit tool tracks activities and analyzes data to enhance productivity through effective time management.

Harvest time audit tool interface showing tracked activities.

How to Do a Time Audit FAQs

  • A time audit is a structured process to analyze how time is allocated to tasks, aiming to identify inefficiencies and improve productivity. It involves tracking activities over a set period to understand time usage patterns.

  • A time audit is typically conducted over a period of several days to two weeks. This duration helps capture a representative picture of time allocation and identify trends, allowing for more accurate analysis.

  • You can use a variety of tools for a time audit, ranging from simple pen and paper to advanced time-tracking software like Harvest, which offers detailed reports and integrates with other productivity tools.

  • Analyze your time audit results by categorizing activities, identifying patterns, and spotting time wasters. Use frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks and develop strategies for better time management.

  • Common time-wasting habits include excessive meetings, frequent notifications, and multitasking. Identifying these activities in your time audit can help you reduce them and focus on high-priority tasks.

  • Harvest assists with time audits by providing tools to differentiate between billable and non-billable hours, detailed reporting for analysis, and integrations with popular productivity platforms to streamline tracking.

  • Yes, a time audit can improve work-life balance by identifying "time sinks" in daily routines and optimizing productivity, allowing more time for personal growth and relaxation.