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For teams in Norway

Meet Norway's working-hours rules without watching your team.

Every Norwegian employer must keep a written, up-to-date record of how much each employee works. The Data Protection Authority treats monitoring of employees' computer use as unlawful by default. Tyme does the first and never does the second: a simple timesheet, free for the whole team, with data stored in the EU.

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Legal facts last checked on against the official pages linked below.

What the law asks of you

Keep a record of hours. The law says what, not how.

The Working Environment Act sets the duty in one sentence. The Labour Inspection Authority's guidance fills in what the record must contain and who must be able to see it.

“Det skal foreligge en oversikt som viser hvor mye den enkelte arbeidstaker har arbeidet.”
There must be an overview showing how much each individual employee has worked.[1]
“Det er ingen krav til hvordan registreringen skal foregå, heller ikke til om den skal føres manuelt eller elektronisk.”
There are no requirements on how the registration is done, nor on whether it is kept manually or electronically.[2]

  • A written, up-to-date record of how much each person works

    The Act requires an overview showing how much each individual employee has worked. The Labour Inspection Authority says it must be written, kept up to date, and show actual working time per employee.[1][2]

  • Per employee: name, date, daily working time, overtime

    For each employee the record must hold the name, the date, the daily working time with start and end, and any overtime with start and end. Breaks that count as working time are included.[2] When other breaks are taken must be clear.[3]

  • Kept continuously, preferably daily

    The Authority recommends registering as you go, ideally every day, so the figures are right. Employees may self-report, but the employer stays responsible.[2]

  • Available to the Authority, the employee representatives, and the employee

    The record must be available to the Labour Inspection Authority and the employees' elected representatives, and the Authority adds that it must be available to the employee too.[1][2]

  • A work schedule or staff list does not count

    Asked whether a schedule or a staff list can replace the record, the Authority answers no to both. People in leading or particularly independent positions are exempt from the registration requirement.[2]

  • Any method, on paper or in an app

    There is no requirement on how the record is kept, nor on whether it is manual or electronic. Timesheets, access cards, apps and clock-in systems are all named as examples.[2]

What the law asks you not to do

Recording hours is required. Watching people is not allowed.

Any control measure needs an objective reason and must not be a disproportionate burden, and it has to be discussed with employee representatives as early as possible.[4][5] Monitoring of electronic equipment goes further: the Data Protection Authority's starting point is that it is unlawful.

“Arbeidsgiver kan bare iverksette kontrolltiltak overfor arbeidstaker når tiltaket har saklig grunn i virksomhetens forhold og det ikke innebærer en uforholdsmessig belastning for arbeidstakeren.”
The employer may only introduce control measures against an employee when the measure has an objective reason in the circumstances of the business and does not impose a disproportionate burden on the employee.[4]
“Overvåking av arbeidstakeres elektroniske utstyr er derfor i utgangspunktet ulovlig.”
Monitoring of employees' electronic equipment is therefore, as a starting point, unlawful.[6]

Only two exceptions

Monitoring is lawful only to manage the company's data network or to uncover or resolve security breaches in it. For any other purpose, however worthy, it is unlawful.[7]

Logs cannot be repurposed

The Authority's own example: using network logs collected for security to measure time spent on social media or news sites during the day breaks the purpose-limitation principle.[7]

Talk first, inform before, review regularly

Discuss the need, design and implementation with employee representatives as early as possible, tell affected employees its purpose, practical consequences and expected duration before it starts, and evaluate the need regularly together with the representatives.[5]

The Data Protection Authority places the monitoring ban in the regulation on email and electronic equipment (e-postforskriften). This page is a plain summary of the official pages linked at the bottom, not legal advice. For your own workplace, read them and talk to your employee representatives or adviser.

How Tyme fits

A record of hours that stays a record of hours.

Tyme was built for small teams that have to keep this record and would rather not install anything that watches people. Here is what it does against each requirement, and what it does not do.

  • One record per person, kept daily

    A one-click timer, a day view and a week grid, with a reminder list of days not yet filled in. Every entry keeps a history of who changed what, and when.

  • Start and end times where you need them

    Timer entries record when work started and stopped. Hours typed straight into the week grid record the amount only, so if your routine needs daily start and end times, use the timer.

  • Approved weeks are locked

    People submit their week, a manager approves it or sends it back, and approved time cannot be edited. Admins can lock older periods so the record for a past month stays fixed.

  • Ready to show an inspector or a tillitsvalgt

    Any period exports to CSV or Excel or prints to PDF, grouped by person. Each person can see their own hours at any time.

  • Hours, not activity

    Tyme never records which apps or websites anyone uses, never takes screenshots and never logs keystrokes. There is nothing in it that monitors a person's equipment.

  • Data in the EU, under GDPR

    Every workspace is stored in the Netherlands, and the GDPR applies in Norway through the EEA.

See the full feature list, or how Tyme compares with Clockify, Toggl and Harvest.

Common questions

Do small companies in Norway have to record working hours?
The Working Environment Act requires an overview showing how much each individual employee has worked, and the Labour Inspection Authority says the employer must at all times have a written, up-to-date record of actual working time for each employee. The pages we read state no exemption by company size; the only exemption named is for leading or particularly independent positions.
Can I keep the record in a spreadsheet or on paper?
Yes. The Labour Inspection Authority says there is no requirement on how registration is done, nor on whether it is manual or electronic. Timesheets, access cards, apps and clock-in systems are all given as examples. What matters is that it is written, up to date, per employee, and available to the Authority, the employee representatives and the employee.
Is it legal to monitor what my employees do on their computers?
The Data Protection Authority's position is that monitoring employees' use of electronic equipment is unlawful as a starting point, with two exceptions: managing the company's network, and uncovering or resolving security breaches. Monitoring for any other purpose, however worthy, is unlawful. Separately, the Working Environment Act says any control measure needs an objective reason, must not be a disproportionate burden, and must be discussed with employee representatives as early as possible.
Does using Tyme count as monitoring?
Tyme records the hours people log, with the project and any note they add. It does not record apps, websites, keystrokes, screenshots or location, so there is no activity data in it to monitor. Whether any time-registration routine is a control measure in your workplace is a question for you and your employee representatives; the sources on this page are the place to start.

Sources

  1. [1]Arbeidsmiljøloven § 10-7, Oversikt over arbeidstiden (Lovdata)(https://lovdata.no/lov/2005-06-17-62/%C2%A710-7)
  2. [2]Arbeidstilsynet: Registrering av arbeidstid(https://www.arbeidstilsynet.no/arbeidstid-og-organisering/arbeidstid/registrering-av-arbeidstid/)
  3. [3]Arbeidstilsynet: Working hours (English)(https://www.arbeidstilsynet.no/en/working-hours-and-organisation-of-work/working-hours/)
  4. [4]Arbeidsmiljøloven § 9-1, Vilkår (Lovdata)(https://lovdata.no/lov/2005-06-17-62/%C2%A79-1)
  5. [5]Arbeidsmiljøloven § 9-2, Drøfting, informasjon og evaluering av kontrolltiltak (Lovdata)(https://lovdata.no/lov/2005-06-17-62/%C2%A79-2)
  6. [6]Datatilsynet: Overvåking av ansattes bruk av elektronisk utstyr(https://www.datatilsynet.no/personvern-pa-ulike-omrader/personvern-pa-arbeidsplassen/overvaking-av-ansattes-bruk-av-elektronisk-utstyr/)
  7. [7]Datatilsynet: Unntak fra forbudet(https://www.datatilsynet.no/personvern-pa-ulike-omrader/personvern-pa-arbeidsplassen/overvaking-av-ansattes-bruk-av-elektronisk-utstyr/unntak/)

Quotes are short extracts from the official pages, with our English rendering under each. If a rule changes or a rendering is off, tell us and we will fix it.

Keep the record. Skip the surveillance.

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