How to Get a 60-Year-Old Formworker to Use a Timesheet App

Get him using a timesheet app by setting it up beside him, keeping the daily task under a minute, and proving the first pay is right. Do not make his age the problem. Fix the site process first.

A bloke who has spent 40 years building formwork is not scared of learning. He is wary of wasting time, losing pay, flattening his phone battery, or being watched without a clear reason. Fair enough too.

The quickest way to lose him is to hand over a login sheet and say, “It’s easy, mate.” The better approach is to show him on his phone, using his actual site and ordinary start time.

Start with what matters to him

Do not open with cost codes or payroll integration. Start with his pay.

Explain that the app records the hours he wants paid. It gives him a daily chance to check his start, finish, breaks and site. It also creates a record if there is a disagreement later.

Be clear about what it does and does not track. If location is captured only when he clocks on or off, say that. If supervisors can edit submitted time, explain the approval process. If the app tracks location all day, check the workplace surveillance laws applying in your state or territory and give any required notice.

Ask what would make the job difficult. Common answers include:

• Small buttons or text
• Gloves, wet hands or cracked screens
• Poor mobile reception in basements
• Passwords that are hard to remember
• Too many job codes
• Concern about using a personal phone
• Uncertainty about meal breaks, travel time or RDOs

These are site problems, not age problems.

Make the daily task very small

A formworker should not need to understand the whole payroll system. He needs to complete a few clear steps:

1. Open the app.
2. Select the current site.
3. Tap start and finish.
4. Confirm the break.
5. Add a short note only when something changed.

Set up his account before the first demonstration. Load his normal site, crew and cost code. Increase the phone’s text size if needed. Use fingerprint or face access where the phone and app allow it.

Do the first entry together at the actual clock-on point. Then let him do it while you watch. Do not grab the phone every time he pauses. That only teaches him to wait for help.

If workers are expected to use personal phones, have a site alternative. A shared tablet or supervisor kiosk is useful when a phone is flat, damaged, left at home or has no data. Nobody’s wages should depend on owning the right handset.

You can see the wider timesheets and site setup, including how site records should reach the payroll team. Before changing the crew’s process, use the time and pay calculator tour to map the fields payroll actually needs.

Paper versus a simple app process

Paper feels familiar, but familiarity can hide extra work. Show the difference without giving him a sales speech.

Daily issue	Paper timesheet	Well-set-up app
Start and finish	Written later, sometimes from memory	Entered when the shift starts and ends
Wet or dusty conditions	Sheet may tear, smudge or disappear	Phone or site tablet can be kept in a protected area
Overtime query	Worker and supervisor search old sheets	Submitted time and changes can be reviewed
Wrong site or job	Payroll has to call the supervisor	Normal site can be preselected
No phone or flat battery	Paper still works	Site kiosk or supervisor entry is needed
Payroll correction	Handwriting may be unclear	Worker can see the recorded entry before approval

The app only wins if the setup is simple. Twelve cost codes and a six-step login can be worse than paper.

Connect the app to Australian payroll rules

A timesheet is payroll evidence. It does not decide the employee’s legal entitlements.

Payroll still needs to apply the correct award, enterprise agreement, employment contract and National Employment Standards. For a formworker, that may involve ordinary hours, overtime, shiftwork, RDO arrangements, travel or fares, site allowances and meal entitlements. The applicable terms depend on the worker’s classification and industrial instrument.

Three numbers are worth keeping in view:

• The National Employment Standards provide a maximum of 38 ordinary hours a week for a full-time employee, plus reasonable additional hours, as at September 2026.
• The compulsory super guarantee rate is 12% of ordinary time earnings, subject to the usual eligibility and payment rules, as at September 2026.
• Fair Work employee records generally need to be kept for 7 years, as at September 2026.

These figures do not mean every 39th hour is automatically overtime. The award or enterprise agreement may average hours, include RDO arrangements, or set daily spans and overtime triggers. The app must collect enough detail for payroll to make the right calculation.

Do not ask the worker to choose whether a period is “double time” or “ordinary”. Ask for facts such as start, finish, break, site and task. Payroll should apply the rate.

Run a five-day trial with the whole crew

Do not single out the oldest bloke. Put the same process in place for everyone on the crew. Pair each worker with the supervisor for the first entry.

For the first five working days:

• Check entries before the crew leaves site.
• Fix access problems on the spot.
• Keep a temporary backup record.
• Ask payroll to review unusual hours before the pay run.
• Show each worker how a correction appears.

At the end of the first pay cycle, compare the approved app record with the payslip. Check ordinary hours, overtime, allowances, deductions and super. If something is wrong, fix it quickly and explain whether the issue came from the entry, approval or pay rule.

That first correct pay is the strongest training you can give. The worker sees that tapping the app protects his hours rather than threatening them.

Give the supervisor a job too

Most failed timesheet rollouts are not really worker failures. The supervisor forgets approvals, changes entries without a chat, or tells everyone to clock off while they are still packing up.

Set basic rules:

• Workers record the hours actually worked.
• Supervisors review entries daily.
• Changes have a reason and an audit trail.
• Workers can raise a missed entry without being mocked.
• Payroll has a cut-off and an escalation contact.
• No one works off the clock.

If he misses a clock-off, do not threaten to withhold the whole pay. Confirm the hours with the supervisor, correct the record, and coach him again. An app is a recordkeeping tool. It is not a reason to avoid paying for work performed.

Keep the respect, lose the fuss

An experienced formworker already handles drawings, tolerances, sequencing and safety risks. He can handle a timesheet app when it has clear buttons, a reliable backup and a direct link to accurate pay.

Sit beside him once. Let him do it himself twice. Check the first pay. Then leave him to get on with the job.