Time Tracking for Hybrid Work: A Practical Guide for Spanish SMEs

What hybrid work means for time tracking

Hybrid work mixes office days with remote days within the same week. Unlike pure teleworking, the employee alternates locations, which demands a flexible and reliable clock-in system. The duty to record working time comes from Royal Decree-law 8/2019 and Article 34.9 of the Workers Statute, which require logging the start and end of each worker day regardless of where the service is performed.

Legal basis for mixed models

Spanish law does not distinguish between the office and the home: the recording duty is identical. Remote days also fall under Law 10/2021 on remote work, which reinforces the right to digital disconnection and requires a written agreement when remote work exceeds 30% of the working day over a three-month reference period.

The record must be objective, reliable and accessible, and kept for four years for the Labour Inspectorate.

Configuring schedules for split weeks

• Define shift templates per day (office or remote) and assign them in each individual calendar.
• Allow multi-device clock-in: mobile for remote days and a terminal or browser at the office.
• Record breaks and rest periods to prove compliance with working-time limits.
• Link the remote-work agreement to every affected employee.

Limits of geolocation

Geolocation may be used to verify the clock-in location, but it is subject to the GDPR and the Spanish data-protection act LOPDGDD. It must be proportionate, transparent and limited to the moment of clocking in: continuous tracking throughout the day is not lawful. Document this processing in the privacy policy and in the remote-work agreement.

Best practices for SMEs

1. Adopt a digital system instead of paper: it reduces errors and eases audits.
2. Train managers to review incidents weekly.
3. Document flexible hours and availability windows.
4. Respect digital disconnection outside agreed hours.

With RegulaKit you can assign hybrid calendars, allow clock-in from any device and generate inspection-ready reports. To estimate the risk of a penalty for faulty records, try our penalty calculator.

Common mistakes

The most frequent errors are failing to log remote days, confusing flexibility with the absence of control, and skipping the remote-work agreement. Any of these can lead to penalties that, under the Spanish LISOS, range from 751 to 7,500 euros per serious infringement.