Bars · Restaurants · Hotels · Cafés

Time tracking for hospitality

Split shifts, public holidays, high season and staff who change every month. Ficha.Work records the working day of every waiter, cook or receptionist without paper or spreadsheets, and leaves you an inspection-ready report.

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Why time tracking in hospitality is different

In an office the day starts at 9 and ends at 6. In hospitality the same worker may start at 12, break at 4, come back at 8 and close after midnight, in a different venue from yesterday. A sign-in sheet behind the bar cannot keep up: it gets filled in at the end of the week, gets lost, or does not reflect the real hours.

Ficha.Work is time tracking software built for that reality: every worker clocks in from their phone in seconds, the manager sees in real time who has clocked in, and the company keeps the full working-time record for four years.

The usual hospitality headaches, solved

What bars, restaurants and hotels tell us most, and how Ficha.Work handles it.

Split shifts

Lunch service and dinner service with a long break in between: two clock-ins and two clock-outs on the same day that end up added wrong on paper.

With Ficha.Work: staff clock each block and the day is totalled automatically. Assign each worker a schedule by day of the week (split shift or continuous) and the dashboard compares clocked hours with planned hours.

Public holidays and weekends

You work exactly when everyone else rests, and every region and town has its own public holidays.

With Ficha.Work: work calendars for your autonomous community plus local holidays, assigned per worker or per venue. Hours worked on a public holiday are recorded; how they are compensated depends on your collective agreement.

High and low season

In summer or at Christmas your team doubles, and in low season you do not want to pay for people who are not working.

With Ficha.Work: add seasonal staff in minutes and pause them with one click when the season ends: you stop paying for them and their history is kept for the four years the law requires. Reactivate them when they come back.

Multiple venues

Two restaurants, a terrace and a central kitchen, each with its own manager and its own way of noting hours.

With Ficha.Work: one NFC base at the entrance of each venue and every clock-in lands in the same dashboard, at no extra cost per site. From one account you see in real time who has clocked in and where.

Changing staff

Weekend extras, waiters who switch shift or venue, new people every month.

With Ficha.Work: everyone has their own login and clocks in from their own phone: no cards to hand out, no shared passwords. If someone changes venue or shift, change their schedule from the dashboard.

Forgetting to clock out at closing

At 1 a.m. nobody remembers to clock out, and the day stays open.

With Ficha.Work: the worker gets a reminder after more than 8 hours clocked in, or 2 hours after their scheduled finish. If they still forget, they fix it with a correction request the manager approves, fully documented.

An NFC base at the door, not a terminal to maintain

Nobody in the kitchen or behind the bar wants to open an app. Stick an NFC base by the staff entrance: each worker taps their own phone on arrival and departure, and the clock-in is recorded with its time and location. It needs no power, no Wi-Fi and no technical setup, and it is not a shared screen everyone has to touch.

Each base costs €35 (one-time payment, no subscription). See how the NFC clock-in bases work.

Clock-in by schedule for fixed shifts

For staff on a stable shift you can enable automatic clock-in by schedule: the system records according to the assigned shift and the worker gets a reminder when it is time to clock in. If someone finishes late, they clock their real time and the dashboard flags it as outside schedule, which helps you keep overtime under control.

Create split-shift or continuous schedules, day by day, in schedules and shifts and assign each worker theirs. If someone changes shift, assign them another schedule from the dashboard.

What the time-registration law requires

Daily working-time registration has been mandatory for every company in Spain since 12 May 2019 (article 34.9 of the Workers' Statute, introduced by Royal Decree-Law 8/2019). It applies to a bar with three waiters exactly as it does to a group with several venues.

The exact start and end time of each worker's working day, every day.
Records kept for four years and available to workers, their representatives and the Labour Inspectorate.
For part-time contracts, day-by-day registration and a monthly total, with a copy of the summary handed over with the payslip (article 12.4.c of the Statute).
How the record is organised and documented is set by collective agreement, company agreement or, failing that, by the employer after consulting worker representatives.

Maximum hours, rest between shifts, compensation for public holidays or bonuses are set by your hospitality collective agreement (national, regional or provincial). Ficha.Work records the real hours; apply the rules according to your agreement or your advisor's guidance.

More detail on the legal obligation in our work time registration guide.

Source: Workers' Statute, arts. 12.4.c and 34.9 (BOE, consolidated text)

What it costs for a bar or restaurant

€1 per active worker per month + VAT, with every feature included: clock-in, schedules, calendars, vacations, corrections and reports. A restaurant with 12 staff pays €12 a month + VAT, and paused workers are not billed in low season. NFC bases are optional: €35 each, one-time payment.

Work out your exact quote on the pricing page.

FAQ: time tracking in hospitality

Is working-time registration mandatory for a bar or restaurant in Spain?

Yes. Since May 2019 every company with employees must record each worker's daily start and end time and keep those records for four years (art. 34.9 of the Workers' Statute). There is no exemption by size or sector.

How are split shifts clocked?

The worker clocks in and out of each block (for example lunch and dinner service). Ficha.Work adds up the day's blocks and compares them with the assigned split-shift schedule, so you can see at a glance whether the day adds up.

What about seasonal staff?

Add them when they start and pause them when the season ends. While paused they are not billed, and their clock-in, vacation and calendar history is kept to meet the four-year legal retention period. When they return, reactivate them with one click.

Do I need a time clock or terminal in every venue?

No. Each worker clocks in from their own phone (Android or iOS). If you want a fixed clock-in point at the door, a €35 NFC base (one-time payment) does that job with no cables or maintenance: the worker taps their phone and that is it.

How are hours worked on public holidays recorded?

They are clocked like any other day and recorded with their date. The assigned work calendar marks which days are public holidays in your region and town. How those hours are compensated (time off or pay) depends on your collective agreement and what is agreed in the company.

Does it work if there is no signal in the kitchen or basement?

Yes. The app records the clock-in on the phone with the exact time even without a connection and syncs it automatically as soon as signal returns.

Start recording your team's working hours today