Work hours calculator

How to calculate hours worked

Enter your clock-in and clock-out times and the calculator works out the time between them, subtracts any break, and shows the result as both hours and minutes and a decimal number of hours. Add an hourly rate to see your gross pay for the shift. If your end time is earlier than your start time, it assumes an overnight shift and rolls over midnight.

Doing it by hand

Convert both times to the 24-hour clock, subtract the start from the end, then take off the break. A 6:30 to 14:30 shift is 14:30 − 6:30 = 8 hours exactly; with a 30-minute unpaid lunch you are paid for 7.5 hours.

The awkward part is minutes, because time is base 60 and payroll is base 10. Forty-five minutes is not 0.45 of an hour, it is 0.75. Divide the minutes by 60 to convert: 45 ÷ 60 = 0.75.

Minutes to decimal hours

What payroll systems expect. Round to two places unless your employer says otherwise.

Common shifts and what they pay out at

Total elapsed time, and the paid figure once a 30-minute unpaid break is removed.

The last two rows cross midnight. An overnight shift is calculated the same way once you add 24 hours to the end time: 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM is 30:00 − 22:00 = 8 hours.

Hours between shifts

Rest time between shifts matters for scheduling and, in some jurisdictions, for the law. Count from the end of one shift to the start of the next: clocking out at 10:00 PM and back in at 6:00 AM is 8 hours of rest. A shift ending at 11:00 PM followed by a 7:00 AM start leaves 8 hours; the same shift followed by a 6:00 AM start leaves only 7.

Several US states and many other countries set a minimum rest period or require premium pay when shifts are scheduled too close together — sometimes called a "clopening". Check your local rules, since the threshold varies.

Overtime and the weekly total

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees earn 1.5× their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Overtime in the US is generally weekly, not daily — a 10-hour Tuesday does not trigger it on its own unless your state says so. California is the well-known exception, with daily overtime past 8 hours.

Total each day with this calculator, add the decimal figures for the week, and anything past 40 is overtime.

Who uses a work hours calculator

Hourly employees use it to total a timesheet and check their pay before payday; freelancers and contractors use it to bill clients accurately by the hour; and managers use it to add up shifts across a week or to confirm overtime. To add together several separate durations rather than two clock times, use the time calculator.