Trust-based working time, and records
The objection we hear most from professional-services firms: we do not clock people, we trust them. Fine. That is not actually in tension with keeping a record — and the reason why is more interesting than the usual sales answer.
What the law actually leaves you
Since 1 January 2024, regulation 9(2) lets you keep records in whatever format you reasonably think fit, and regulation 9(3) says you need not record each worker’s daily hours if you can demonstrate compliance without doing so. Great Britain has deliberately stepped back here. The detail.
So a firm of twelve salaried people on trust-based hours, with an opt-out register and a holiday system, may well be able to demonstrate compliance without a clock. We would rather say that than sell you something you do not need.
Where trust alone stops working
- Someone claims overtime two years later. Without a record it is one memory against another, and you are the one who has to demonstrate compliance.
- A person quietly burns out. Nobody set out to work them into the ground; there was simply no number anyone was looking at.
- The 48-hour average. The opt-out register under regulation 4(2) is compulsory whether or not you record hours.
- Anyone paid hourly, part-year or near the minimum wage. There, records are not optional in practice.
The version that keeps the trust
There is a wide gap between a clock at the door and surveillance, and trust-based firms usually want something in the middle:
- People record their own day, in the browser, in seconds — not a turnstile.
- The balance belongs to the person: they see their own hours and their own time in lieu, and so does their manager. Nobody else.
- No screenshots, no activity scoring, no location. We do not build them.
- Flexitime with a corridor rather than a fixed start, so the record follows the policy you actually have.
The test of whether you got this right is simple: if the record is something your team uses to see their own time, it works. If it is something done to them, they will route around it and you will end up with a worse record than you had.
Questions we get
Can we keep trust-based hours and still have records?
Yes, and in Great Britain more easily than in most of Europe. Regulation 9(3) says you need not record each worker’s daily hours where you can demonstrate compliance without doing so. Trust-based working and a defensible position are not mutually exclusive here.
So why record anything?
Because the burden of demonstrating compliance is still yours, and because trust runs both ways. Most people on trust-based hours undercount their own time, not the reverse — and without a record they cannot prove the overtime they are owed either.
Does recording hours destroy the arrangement?
Only if it is framed as checking up. The same record that shows a manager the team is fine also shows a person that they worked eleven days straight, which is usually the first time anyone notices.
Free for up to 3 employees, forever
Thirty days with everything included, AI assistant and all, no card and no automatic renewal. When the trial ends, companies with up to 3 employees simply keep working for free. And within the first 60 days you get your money back if it does not fit.
Questions? Write to time@irot.com. We answer on working days, usually by the next one.