How we do timesheets

We work with high flexibility and want you to work when suits you best. We’re also a consultancy and bill our clients on a time basis. There’s a delicate balance on how you manage these both without compromising the other. Here’s how we do it:

• We bill clients on a daily rate rather than hourly basis

• We assume 8 hours is a standard working day

• We recognize value is more related to outcome, and so do our clients

Now of course there are nuances, so let’s unpack:

Daily rate: We bill on a daily rate, so it doesn’t feel like we’re tracking your every hour. If there’s a (rare) need for a client to be billed in hourly or in half day increments, we’ll discuss it and find the best way.

8 hours: We trust you to deliver what you think is a day's work, we don’t want to track your time like that. But it is a concern of ours if you overwork. There is real risk of team burning out working remote, and we need to look out for each other.

Value is more related to outcome: There will be days when you put in extraordinary “value” to a client and days where you feel it was a bit “meh”. Given the motivations of the people we employ (we usually over-deliver), no-one will mind your “meh” days. So, don’t worry about your “meh” days; we know you hold the same values in delivery.

Timesheet logistics:

• Enter the hours you’ve actually worked

It won’t matter if you’ve worked 6 hours one day and 10 hours the next, please log the time you actually worked. This is for our side of things to avoid team over working and the potential for burn out.

• Your time will be manually averaged to 8 hours each day and invoiced to clients

Clients accept our daily rate (viewing it as 8 hours a day) and they know from proposal we work remote, flexibly, and are outcomes driven. Unless exception or otherwise agreed, we will assume 8hrs/day/5days. We don’t normally have any difficulties here but if you’ve communicated differently to a client, please let us know.

Q&A:

What counts as your working day?

• Things we count in your working day are the same behaviours you might have in an office at a product company with reasonable discretion. We generally see it as, if it’s taken you away from work for more than two hours, this should be communicated. In terms of timesheets, we trust you to be pragmatic.

• Sometimes it's harder to see the boundaries between work and non-work activities because we're working remotely. So, don't forget that all of these things are still considered part of your working day:

  • checking emails, SixPivot or client accounts

  • internal meetings

  • helping another SixPivot person with their project

  • working on internal SixPivot projects and initiatives

Should my total weekly hours add up to 40 hours?

• Yes, the goal should be. It could be Monday or Tuesday with 6 hours and Thursday or Friday 10 hours respectively, whichever combination works for you.

How often should I log my time?

• Ideally at the end of each day.

• Definitely by the end of each week.

• There are various internal and external processes which rely on timesheets being completed (such as payroll, invoicing, etc) and so if you can keep them up to date it means that other team members can do their regular tasks without having to chase a heap consultants for their timesheets.

Exceptions:

What if my time does not reach 40 hours for a week?

• Half a day or more, perhaps we’re missing a leave form? Notify your manager and make sure you have appropriate communications with your client. It’s probably ok, just make sure we’re aware of it.

What should I do if I take off half a day due to sickness or personal time?

• We trust that you're going to do the right thing. If you're not feeling well and need to take half the day off, just submit a leave request for 1/2 a day.

• If you're just not feeling motivated one afternoon and think you'll probably make it up over the rest of the week, then there's no need to submit a leave request. We expect people to be professional and reasonable in this respect.

What if I worked more than 40 hours during the week?

• We’ll check in with you that you’re ok. We shouldn’t be putting you in positions where you need to work beyond 40 hours. Occasionally if something major has cropped up, we will need to have overtime pre-approved so we can invoice for it. But it’s important to us that your wellbeing is being looked after and you don’t burn out. Maybe you need help? Maybe you are overworked?

What if I notice a team member is working more than 40 hours during the week?

• Encourage them to log their timesheets correctly and share with a trusted team member. It’s important we avoid burn out.

Technically can’t I just enter 8 hours over the five days, and no one will notice?

• Yes, technically you can but this means you manage the exceptions. We trust you to be pragmatic.

What about things like SixPivot internal meetings and tech interviews?

• Not all billable time will be client facing! Customer code reviews, quality assurance, internal meetings related to client work are all critical to the success of the clients project.

• We account for and include some internal meetings as billable work. We trust you to be pragmatic with it.

• As a general guideline, if you have more than 2 hours of internal meetings in a day, you can put it down separately as non-billable.

• We have specific timesheet codes for certain internal activities such as professional development (PD) and internal projects. If you don't have access to these timesheet codes, reach out to Jayne.

What if I need to do client-specific timesheets?

• We try to follow the above guidelines when tracking timesheets, however, we do sometimes have clients that require additional information for their internal budgeting or cost allocation.

• In these circumstances we try to track high-level hours in the SixPivot timesheet system, and then specifics within the client system. The client system should reflect actual hours worked, unless you are directed otherwise.