How to use the work hours calculator
Pick one of two modes. Repeat one shift is for a steady schedule: enter the shift once and choose how many days it repeats. Seven-day timesheet is for weeks where every day is different. Switch each day on or off and give it its own start, end and break.
Add an hourly rate if you want gross pay. The overtime setting splits hours above a weekly threshold you choose (40 by default) and pays them at your multiplier, or you can turn the split off.
- Choose Repeat one shift or Seven-day timesheet.
- Enter start and end times. If the end is earlier than the start, the shift is counted as ending the next day.
- Enter the unpaid break minutes for each shift. Add multiple breaks together, such as 30 + 15 = 45.
- Add your hourly rate, overtime threshold and multiplier if you want pay figures.
- Check the daily table against your time card, then read the weekly total.
Time card calculator with breaks: an example week
Here's a week with different start times and breaks each day. The calculator works out each day's clock span, subtracts the unpaid break and adds the days together. This week comes to 42.5 paid hours.
With a $20 rate and overtime at 1.5x after 40 hours, that's 40 regular hours ($800) and 2.5 overtime hours at $30 ($75). Gross pay for the week is $875 before tax.
| Day | In | Out | Unpaid break | Paid hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 8:00 AM | 4:30 PM | 30 min | 8.00 |
| Tuesday | 8:00 AM | 5:15 PM | 45 min | 8.50 |
| Wednesday | 7:30 AM | 4:00 PM | 30 min | 8.00 |
| Thursday | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM | 60 min | 9.00 |
| Friday | 8:00 AM | 5:30 PM | 30 min | 9.00 |
| Week total | 3 hr 15 min | 42.50 |
Hours to decimal conversion
Payroll systems and invoices usually want hours as decimals, not hours and minutes. To convert, divide the minutes by 60 and add them to the whole hours. 7 hours 45 minutes is 7 + 45/60 = 7.75 hours. The calculator shows both formats for every day and for the week.
Don't just put a decimal point between hours and minutes. 8 hours 30 minutes is 8.5 hours, not 8.30. At $20 an hour, that slip pays $166 instead of $170.
| Minutes | Decimal hours | Minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0.08 | 35 | 0.58 |
| 10 | 0.17 | 40 | 0.67 |
| 15 | 0.25 | 45 | 0.75 |
| 20 | 0.33 | 50 | 0.83 |
| 25 | 0.42 | 55 | 0.92 |
| 30 | 0.50 | 60 | 1.00 |
Work hours formulas
Each time is turned into minutes after midnight, so there's no borrowing or carrying to get wrong. Time is totaled first and pay is worked out last, so rounding money never changes your hours.
Shift span = end time - start time (add 24 hours if the result is negative)Paid time = shift span - unpaid breakWeekly hours = sum of paid minutes for all active days / 60Overtime hours = max(0, weekly hours - weekly threshold)Gross pay = regular hours x rate + overtime hours x rate x multiplier
Overnight shifts
When a shift crosses midnight, enter the times as they appear on the clock. A 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM shift spans 8 hours because the end time belongs to the next day. With a 30-minute unpaid break, that's 7 hours 30 minutes paid. Four of those shifts make a 30-hour week.
The daily table labels these rows as overnight so you can spot them. If the start and end times are the same, the calculator asks you to fix it, since that could mean zero hours or a full 24.
Payroll hours and overtime
The results show regular hours, overtime hours, regular pay, overtime pay and the premium part on its own. You also get weekly and biweekly gross, plus monthly and semimonthly averages based on the number of workweeks you choose.
The 40-hour threshold and 1.5x multiplier are a common U.S. federal starting point, and you can change both. Under the federal FLSA, overtime for covered nonexempt workers is counted per workweek, and two weeks generally can't be averaged together. Some states, contracts and countries count overtime differently, including by the day.
When to double-check your hours
The calculator only subtracts the break minutes you enter. Whether a break should be unpaid depends on the rules where you work. U.S. Department of Labor guidance says short rest breaks are usually paid, and a meal break can be unpaid only if you're fully relieved from duty.
It also assumes each shift is under 24 hours and doesn't adjust for a daylight saving clock change in the middle of a night shift. It doesn't apply your employer's rounding rules, daily overtime, shift differentials or tax. Your employer's time records and pay stub are the official version.
Sources
These official pages cover hours worked, breaks, overtime and the records employers must keep.