Why a Spreadsheet Is the Riskiest Way to Track Right-to-Work

Side-by-side comparison

In practice

A hotel manager with fifteen staff on rolling visa leave runs the re-check dates in a shared spreadsheet. She goes on annual leave in August. Nobody else knows the file exists. A Home Office compliance officer arrives on site on 4 September. The spreadsheet has not been opened since July. There is no statutory excuse for the three workers whose leave expired in August.

A cleaning contractor tracks fourteen workers' Right-to-Work documents in a Google Sheet. One column flags expiry dates in red when they pass, but there is no formula that sends an alert to anyone. The contractor is on a client visit when the most recent expiry date passes. When a Home Office officer visits three weeks later, there is no audit trail to show that a re-check was ever scheduled or attempted.

A small construction firm uses StaffClock after a near-miss with a worker whose visa re-check fell due while the HR contact was off sick. The first alert arrives thirty days before the expiry date, then again at fourteen, seven, and one day out. When nobody marks it complete, the alerts continue daily. A second inbox also receives each one. The re-check happens on day twenty-two. The timestamp is logged. The statutory excuse is in place.

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