Reporting hours when working from home is the same attendance record the employer keeps on office days, except that the employee clocks in from the computer or the phone instead of the clock at the entrance. Hybrid work is no longer unusual: two days at home, three in the office, and sometimes a day at home because a child is sick. The hours of those days should be recorded like any other hour, and reach payroll without WhatsApp messages and without guessing at month end.
In this guide: what the law asks of the employer on home days, how to write a work-from-home policy that works, how reporting works in practice, and what to check before sending to payroll.
The employer's duty on work-from-home days
Since 1 February 2009, when Amendment No. 24 to the Wage Protection Law took effect, the employer has been required to keep an attendance record for its employees, showing each employee's presence and absence separately. Under the Hours of Work and Rest Law, the record covers working hours, weekly rest and overtime, and is kept on an ongoing basis according to the hours the employee actually worked.
The law makes no distinction between a day in the office and a day at home. The employee is the same employee, and the duty to record their hours stays.
What about the exclusion in the law?
The Hours of Work and Rest Law excludes several types of employees, among them employees whose working conditions leave the employer no supervision at all over their hours of work and rest. That is where the common mistake comes from: "whoever works from home doesn't need a record". The exclusion does not automatically apply to everyone who works from home. It depends on the circumstances of each employee.
So the safe way for the employer is simple: record the home days too, like any workday.
Why the record is worth it
As a rule, when there is a dispute over working hours and the employer has not produced attendance records, it is the employer who has to prove that the employee did not work those hours. When someone works from home, nobody saw them come and go, so the record is the only proof. A home day with no record is a day that is hard to explain later.
This is general information. For your business's own case, check Kol Zchut (the Israeli rights information site) or consult a payroll advisor or an employment lawyer.
A work-from-home policy: one page that saves arguments
Most of the mess around working from home comes not from the law but from expectations nobody wrote down. A short policy that the whole team knows solves most of it. What it should include:
- Who works from home and when. Fixed days each week, or on request with the manager's approval. That way everyone knows who is in the office today.
- Hours and availability. Which hours the employee is available by phone and email, and when it is fine to finish earlier.
- How to report. Clock in and out from the computer or the phone, as on the office clock. Not a message in a group chat and not an email at the end of the week.
- Breaks. Popping out to pick up the kids from kindergarten? Clock out, and clock back in when you return.
- Forgot to report. Enter the missing time as a correction, and the manager approves. That way the correction is documented, not left as something said out loud.
- Overtime. Only with the manager's advance approval. At home it is easy to carry on for "just another half hour", so it should be clear to both sides.
- Equipment. What the company provides (computer, phone) and what the employee brings.
- Travel. Travel expense reimbursement is usually paid only for days the employee came in to the workplace, so it's worth writing in the policy how home days affect it.
Write the policy, send it to the whole team, and update it when something changes. A simple policy everyone follows beats a long document nobody read.
How reporting hours from home works
The principle: the same system, the same record, just a different way to clock in.
- From the computer. The employee logs in to the system in the browser and clocks in and out. Nothing to install and no hardware needed.
- From the phone. An app for Android and iOS, and the location is recorded when clocking in. It suits especially someone who starts the day at home and carries on to a client meeting.
- On office days, on the clock at the entrance. Clock-ins from the time clock go into the same employee record.
One hybrid week, one report
- Sunday and Monday, in the office. The bookkeeper puts a finger on the clock at the entrance.
- Tuesday, from home. She opens her computer and clocks in through the browser. At noon she goes to pick up her daughter from kindergarten, clocks out, and clocks back in when she returns.
- Wednesday, at home and then at a client's. She clocks in from home, and at one o'clock leaves for a meeting. She clocks out at the end of the day from her phone.
- Thursday, in the office. Back on the clock.
Five days, three ways to clock in, one record. For how this looks from the manager's side, see attendance in hybrid work. The manager sees all the reports in the same attendance system, with no need to piece together a clock, a spreadsheet and phone messages.
Hours on projects and tasks
A lot of work from home is focused work: a quote, a client report, planning. When hours are split between clients and projects, it pays to assign them while working, in hours reporting by client, project and task, and not to reconstruct at month end where Tuesday went.
A month-end check: what to look at on home days
Before sending to payroll, go through each employee's monthly report, paying attention to the home days:
- Empty days. A day with no report at all: a home day nobody reported, or an absence that wasn't marked? Find out now, not after the payslip.
- A clock-in with no clock-out. People forget to clock out at home more than in the office, because there is no door to walk out of. Fill it in as a correction, with the manager's approval.
- Unusually long days. A clock-in left open until night is usually a slip, not overtime. Check with the employee.
- Overtime. Does it match what was approved in advance under the policy?
- Absences. Vacation, sick leave and reserve duty are marked on days that were supposed to be home days too.
- Home days versus office days. They determine the travel reimbursement on the payslip, so make sure every day is marked correctly.
When the check is done through the month and not only at the end, it takes minutes.
Reporting hours from home with ProperTime
In ProperTime, a web-based attendance system, home days and office days are recorded in the same place:
- Report from anywhere. From the web interface, from the Android and iOS app, or from a physical time clock, including the location of the report from the phone.
- Attendance, absences and tasks in one place, for every employee separately.
- The manager sees and approves the reports at any moment, without waiting for month end.
- A reminder for employees who forgot to report, so no days are left empty.
- A payroll-ready file at month end, to load into leading Israeli payroll systems.
Want your home days to reach payroll in order too? Leave your details and we'll set up a free 14-day trial for you, with real people supporting you along the way. No commitment, no credit card.