Mandatory time tracking in Spain 2026: what the law requires
Practical guide to mandatory time tracking in Spain in 2026: who must clock in, which data to keep, retention and common mistakes.
Daniel García
Co-founder · CTO @ Orquiva · Upd. 12 Jun 2026
Time tracking remains mandatory in Spain. The question is no longer whether employees must clock in, but whether your system is objective, accessible, retainable and useful during inspection. This guide summarises what matters in 2026.
Who must record working time
As a general rule, every employee must have a daily working-time record. This includes office work, remote work, mobile workers, managers and flexible schedules.
What the record should contain
- Identified worker
- Date
- Exact start time
- Exact end time
- Change traceability
- Access for worker and inspection
How long to keep it
The record must be kept for 4 years and be available to the worker, legal representatives and the Labour Inspectorate.
Common mistakes
- Recording only monthly totals.
- Using editable spreadsheets without traceability.
- Excluding remote workers.
- Not documenting corrections.
- Being unable to export a clear per-employee report.
How Orquiva helps
Orquiva lets teams clock in from web or mobile, retain history, export records and connect attendance with absences and payroll variables.