Whether online, by time clock, in an Excel list or not at all - every company handles the recording of working hours differently, because to date there has been little clarity in Germany regarding time recording at the workplace. Until now, there was no law requiring German companies to document the exact working hours of their employees. This is now officially changing: the Federal Labor Court has ruled that companies in Germany will be required to record the working hours of their employees from October 2022.
However, recording working hours is not difficult and there are a lot of digital alternatives to paperwork.
We've summarized everything you need to know about time tracking and explain why a software-based time tracking system is better for both employers and employees.
Working time recording at EU level: How it all began
Each EU country has national laws that regulate the labor market and its conditions. This means that decisions made at EU level can have an impact on national laws. This is currently the case with time recording. Back in 2019 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that employers are now obliged to systematically document their employees' working hours. The ECJ ruling also stipulated that EU states must implement this regulation in their labor laws - but without specifying any deadline. This issue finally came to a head when a Spanish trade union filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank in Spain. This lawsuit was about the demand to make the recording of working hours mandatory by law. However, Spanish labor law did not provide for such a law. As a result, the ECJ's ruling triggered a Europe-wide debate, as many EU member states had not previously had any legal regulations regarding time recording in their labor law systems.
In Germany, too, there was still uncertainty as to whether action should now be taken in accordance with the ECJ ruling or whether it should continue to proceed as before. After all, there has not yet been any official amendment to the German Labor Code.
The legal situation in Germany
The Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) finally made the decision in September 2020 to introduce an obligation to record working hours.
In this regard, the court refers to Section 3 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (§ 3 Para. 2 No. 1 ArbSchG). This obliges the employer to "take the necessary occupational health and safety measures, taking into account the circumstances that affect the safety and health of employees at work". This means that it has now been officially clarified that German companies are obliged to document their employees' working hours. However, the German government has not defined how companies should implement this.
Why is time tracking important?
More flexible working hours and breaks are important, especially during the pandemic, when many workers have had to switch from the office to working from home. In the meantime, working from home is no longer a former dream, but a socially acceptable option. With children bouncing around the house, it can be a real challenge to stick to fixed working hours. As a result, some people simply find it difficult to keep track of their hours when work and free time suddenly become blurred. In addition, accurate time recording makes both payroll and bookkeeping easier and provides transparency about the hours worked by the workforce. The administrative workload is minimized and the HR department can focus on other important tasks. In addition to regular time recording, project time recording is also becoming increasingly important in many companies. With such a function, individual projects or project-related working hours can also be recorded - closely linked to regular time recording. Learn more here here more about Microsoft's project management tool.
What are the options for time tracking?
Below we present a software-based Solution that enables working time recording. Of course, you can also document time recording manually, but we recommend a more careful and transparent way. We therefore explain why this is so important and present a special Microsoft Solution .
Digital Working time recording - with HR Management for Microsoft Dynamics 365
HR Management for Microsoft Dynamics 365 not only offers a digital time recording system - et is a complete solution for the entire HR department. From time management, recruiting, and managing vacations and absences to retirement - HR Management for Microsoft Dynamics 365 automates and digitizes all HR processes on one platform. Whether in Outlook, in the browser or mobile with all common end devices, you can work with it from anywhere. This means there are no more data islands, as all data is only recorded once in one system.
However, the following module Time Management in the foreground . It offers all the functions needed to record and evaluate the attendance and work performance of employees and to process them further. Since every company, every employee and every situation is different, different time recording options are required. In this Solution employees have six different options for recording time.
Time management & rules at the workplace
For compliance with occupational safety and -conditions with breaks and fair working hours. Supervisors and the HR department have an overview of current attendance at all times and can evaluate all data and correct it if necessary.
Each type of working time can be collected in different time accounts, which can be configured in detail. This means that, for example, overtime, overtime, night work etc. can be easily processed. It does not matter regardless of which country or industry-specific standards need to be observed. The Solution can also be optimally adapted to the requirements and wishes of the company. As a result, time accounts make the handling of working hours, overtime and overtime even more flexible and enable the HR department to view even more accurate analyses of their employees' working hours. In addition, time accounts can be individually adapted for each employee in the employment contract.
Standard integrations to common ERP systems and the Dynamics 365 Project Operations module module are also directly available. In addition, time management can be integrated into Microsoft Teams, which many companies already use and with which most employees are already familiar. This is a very practical addition and makes it easier for both managers and employees to record and track working times and absences.
These are the key features of Time Management at a glance:
- Complete solution for time recording and store floor data collection (SFDC)
- Integrated time management functions
- Mandatory break regulations
- Rules for time bookings incl. maximum working time
- Time accounts and overtime
- Current employee presences at a glance
- Overviews per day, week, month and year
- Transfer of times to payroll
- Automatic booking out incl. information to the supervisor
- Real-time dashboards and analyses as well as export to Excel
- Integration to Teams Shift for easy scheduling of shifts

Conclusion - Why choose a software-based time recording system?
Tablets, smartphones, social networks, cloud computing - technological progress, and digitalization are enabling companies to break new ground. Time recording is also undergoing a transformation as a result of digitalization. Internet-enabled devices and cloud computing make it possible to work anywhere in the world, while rigid working hours continue to dwindle. The manual documentation of working hours is moving more and more into the background, and with it the administrative effort for HR and employees.
There is now a suitable method of recording and managing working times for every company model. As every company works differently these days, an independent and flexible time recording system is required. Vompanies in particular need technologies that are modular and scalable, such as Microsoft technologies, which are known for their high scalability.
Especially if the home office is also your own home, you can sometimes lose track of the hours worked, and those to be worked.
With HR Management for Microsoft Dynamics 365, a good overview as well as the control of compliance with agreed working hours can be ensured. If you are already working with Microsoft Teams, the "changeover" is even easier and the login only requires a Windows password.
All in all, careful and systematic time tracking provides companies with more transparency, security and a more comprehensive and better overview. Time tracking is important for both employers and employees, as employers can better assess their resources, while hours worked for employees are no longer lost.