You're contracted for 32 hours a week. By Wednesday afternoon, you should be near 19.2 hours of work. By Friday, near 32. By the end of the month, the running balance should sit roughly at zero. When it drifts, you want to know which direction and by how much, not at the end of the month, but on Wednesday afternoon.
That's what working time targets do in Timesheet. The contract carries your daily and weekly hours. The app does the math against the entries you log and shows a balance that moves with every saved task.
What "Target" Means in Timesheet
A target is what your contract says you owe in working time. Not what you must do every day, but what the agreement assumes over a typical week.
Two layers:
- Daily target hours (e.g., 8): the expected daily working time
- Weekly target hours (e.g., 40): the expected weekly working time
These are set on the Contract entity. Every contract has its own pair of numbers, which means a part-time team member at 30 weekly hours has a different daily target (6) than a full-time colleague (8).
Every time entry has concrete start and end times. The app sums effective working time per day and per week, compares against the targets, and produces a running balance.
Why a Daily and Weekly Number Exist Separately
A weekly target without a daily target leaves Friday hanging. A daily target without a weekly one breaks four-day weeks. Both are needed for the most common schedules:
| Schedule | Daily | Weekly | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time | 8 | 40 | Standard five-day week |
| Part-time 30h | 6 | 30 | Spread across five days |
| Part-time 20h | 4 | 20 | Standard half-time |
| Four-day week | 10 | 40 | Same weekly target, longer days |
| Compressed schedule | 9 | 36 | Four 9-hour days |
| Variable schedule | 0 | 38 | Daily target zero, only weekly matters |
Setting daily to 0 turns off the daily warning and balance line. The weekly balance still works.
The Balance: Up, Down, and Drift
The balance is the running difference between target time and actual effective working time. Positive means you're ahead of plan, negative means you owe time.
For example, with a 40-hour weekly target and 4 days at 8 hours, you're at +0. Drop Friday to 4 hours of actual work, the weekly balance becomes -4.
Three balances are tracked:
- Daily balance for today and any past day
- Weekly balance for this week and any past week
- Monthly balance as the rollup of all daily balances in the month
The monthly balance is the most useful number for most people. It absorbs short blips while still flagging real drift.
How Effective Working Time Is Counted
Working time for the balance is wall-clock time, the same calculation that drives HR warnings.
- Pauses are subtracted (only relative duration counts toward the balance)
- Overlapping tasks are merged so a 09:00 to 12:00 and a 10:00 to 12:00 task contribute 3 hours, not 5
- Tasks crossing midnight are split at midnight and counted against the right day
- Tasks in another organization do not count against this contract's balance
- Running tasks are counted against the contract balance up to "now"
For the math behind overlapping tasks, see the HR warnings post.
Where the Balance Shows Up
Timer Screen
The timer screen carries a small "Balance: +1h 12m" indicator. The number is the weekly balance by default; tap to switch to daily or monthly.
Web Dashboard
The dashboard widget shows daily, weekly, and monthly balances side by side, with a trend line for the last 12 weeks. Useful for spotting drift over a quarter.
Statistics Reports
Statistics > Working Time > Balance shows a per-day table with target, actual, and balance columns. Export to Excel or CSV via the standard export flow.
Chronis Replies
Ask "what's my balance?" and Chronis answers from the same data, including the projected end-of-day total if a timer is running.
Setting Up Targets
Step 1: Define the Contract
- Open the Web App at my.timesheet.io
- Go to Settings then Contracts
- Click New Contract (or open an existing one)
- Set:
- Daily Hours (e.g., 8)
- Weekly Hours (e.g., 40)
- Timezone (the contract's local time)
- Week Start Day (Monday for most of the world; Sunday for some US use cases)
- Valid From and Valid To (open-ended is fine)
- Save
The balance starts counting from the contract's valid-from date. Historical data before that date does not affect the balance.
Step 2: Link to an Employment Model (Optional)
If you also want legal-maximum warnings and tiered break rules, link the contract to an Employment Model. This is covered in the HR warnings post.
If you skip the Employment Model, target balances still work fully; only legal-maximum warnings are unavailable.
Step 3: Verify on the Timer Screen
- Open the app
- Track an entry today (e.g., 09:00 to 13:00)
- The balance should show -4h (assuming 8h daily target)
- Track another entry (e.g., 14:00 to 18:00)
- The balance returns to 0
If the numbers don't move as expected, check that the contract is active for today and that the timezone is set correctly.
Real-World Patterns
Part-Time Staff With Variable Days
A consultant works Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 10 hours each. Daily target stays at 8 (used for warning thresholds), weekly target is set at 30. The balance accumulates roughly +6 over the week, which is intentional and tracked.
Some agencies set the contract this way for shift workers and reconcile through formal overtime adjustments at the end of the month.
Four-Day Week
Daily target 10, weekly target 40. Friday off shows up as -10 to the daily balance for that day, balanced out by +2 each of Mon-Thu. The weekly balance lands on 0.
Flex With Core Hours
Some Employment Models enforce flex schedules with core hours (e.g., everyone present between 10:00 and 15:00). The target stays daily 8 / weekly 40, and the rest of the schedule floats. The Compliance system flags missed core-hour windows separately.
Long Vacation
Vacation days are recorded as Absences. By default, a vacation day counts as the daily target toward the balance, so the balance does not drift negative over a planned holiday. This is configurable per absence type.
Common Patterns That Work Well
Set targets early, not late. Define the contract on day one. Retroactive contracts work, but the balance starts cleanest from the start.
Use timezone deliberately. A contract's timezone determines day boundaries for the balance calculation. Set it to the employee's primary working timezone, not the server's.
Reset expectations, not the balance. The balance is not designed to be cleared at year-end. It's a running difference; if it drifts persistently, the contract probably needs updating.
Use the monthly balance as your North Star. Daily and weekly bounce around; monthly absorbs the noise and shows real trends.
Combine with overtime balances. On Business plans, separate Overtime Balance entries can be created from positive drift, with payout or time-off-in-lieu rules. Targets feed the upstream calculation.
Common Questions
Can I have multiple contracts per user? Yes. Each contract belongs to one organization; a user with contracts in two organizations gets one balance per contract.
What happens when a contract ends? The balance freezes at the contract's valid-to date. A new contract for the same user starts a fresh balance.
Can I retroactively change a daily target? You can edit the contract, but the change applies prospectively. To restate the past, end the current contract on the change date and create a new one starting the next day.
Are weekends counted? Only if you track on weekends. The balance simply sums what you logged minus what you targeted; weekends with no entries contribute 0 to actual time, and no daily target is applied unless your contract defines a target for that day.
What about public holidays? Public holidays are handled via Absence types. A public holiday counts as the daily target toward the balance by default, so the balance does not drift over the holiday.
Summary
- Working time targets live on the contract, with daily and weekly hours
- The balance runs live, in three views: daily, weekly, monthly
- Effective working time uses wall-clock time with overlapping tasks merged
- Pauses and absences are handled correctly
- Available on Business plan and up
Where to Go Next
- HR warnings: get notified about working time violations to add the limit-side alerts to your contract targets
- Track breaks and see your real working hours so pause data feeds the balance correctly
- Comp time vs overtime pay: what's legal where for the regulatory side of positive drift