How to calculate work hours
- For one shift, enter your start and end times in Quick hours. Leave the break blank or turn it off when there is no unpaid break.
- For a schedule, select Advanced and add a start date and times for each shift. Add separate entries for split shifts. Duplicate a shift, then change its date or times before including it in your totals.
- Choose an inclusive date range and your week’s starting day. Entries outside the range stay saved. Daily and weekly totals include only the selected shifts.
- Open Goals, overtime & earnings to enter optional targets, a daily or weekly overtime threshold, and an hourly rate. These are your settings, not jurisdiction-specific payroll rules.
- Copy results, download the CSV, or print. To save a PDF, choose Save as PDF in your browser’s print dialog.
Subtract unpaid breaks
Worked minutes equal end time minus start time, less unpaid break minutes. A 09:00–17:00 shift spans 480 minutes. Subtracting a 30-minute unpaid lunch leaves 450 minutes, or 7 hours 30 minutes. Paid breaks stay in worked time; do not subtract them again.
Overnight shifts, dates and daylight saving
An end time earlier than the start means the following day. A 22:00–06:00 shift spans eight clock hours. All of its worked minutes belong to its start date for date filters, daily goals and week grouping. Equal times mean zero, not 24 hours. Enter shifts shorter than 24 hours and dates from 1900 through 2100. The calculator has no time-zone input and does not adjust for daylight-saving transitions. If the clock changed during a shift, verify its actual elapsed duration separately; this clock-time estimate is not suitable for that adjustment.
Convert work hours to decimals
Divide total worked minutes by 60. Seven hours and 30 minutes is 450 ÷ 60 = 7.50 hours, not 7.30. The calculator adds integer minutes before rounding the displayed decimal hours to two places. Pay estimates use the unrounded minute total.
Track goals across a flexible schedule
Daily and weekly goals compare your entered hours with a target you choose. Remaining hours never go below zero. A daily target applies only to days with entered shifts, and a weekly target applies to weeks with entered shifts. Blank days are not assumed to be workdays. Partial date ranges do not reduce the target automatically. Decimal-hour targets and thresholds are rounded to the nearest minute.
Estimate overtime without assuming payroll law
Choose either a daily threshold or a weekly threshold; they are never stacked. Minutes above that threshold are estimated overtime. Each week begins on your selected day. Filtering a week to only some shifts changes the estimate, so include the full week when you need a weekly comparison. Overlapping shifts are flagged instead of counted twice. Breaks have no recorded position within a shift and cannot resolve an overlap.
Estimate gross earnings
Regular pay equals regular minutes ÷ 60 × hourly rate. Overtime pay equals overtime minutes ÷ 60 × hourly rate × your multiplier. Both amounts are rounded separately to two decimal places and then added. Amounts use the same currency units as your input; no currency conversion is performed. These are gross estimates before taxes, deductions, premiums or employer rules, not legal payroll determinations.
Work hours calculation examples
A day with a lunch break
09:00–17:00 minus 30 unpaid minutes = 7 h 30 min, or 7.50 decimal hours.
Two shifts on one date
08:00–12:00 and 14:00–18:30 with no unpaid breaks total 8 h 30 min. Against a 9-hour daily goal, 30 minutes remain.
An overnight shift
Monday 22:00–Tuesday 06:00 minus 45 unpaid minutes = 7 h 15 min. All 435 worked minutes count toward Monday’s date and week.
A custom overtime estimate
With 10 hours worked, an 8-hour daily threshold, rate 20 and multiplier 1.5: regular pay is 160.00 and overtime pay is 60.00, for an estimated gross 220.00 currency units. These are illustrative settings, not statutory thresholds.
Work hours calculator questions
How many hours is 9 to 5 with a 30-minute lunch?
Eight clock hours minus half an hour is 7 hours 30 minutes, or 7.50 decimal hours. Subtract the lunch only if it is unpaid.
Can I calculate hours between two times without a break?
Yes. In Quick hours, turn off Subtract an unpaid break or leave the break field blank. In Advanced, a blank break field means zero unpaid minutes.
Can I add multiple shifts on the same day?
Yes. Use Advanced and add an entry for each shift with the same start date. The daily total combines them. Overlapping time intervals must be corrected before copying, exporting or printing results.
How do I calculate weekly work hours for a custom schedule?
Add dated shifts in Advanced, choose your week start day and select your date range. The weekly breakdown groups included shifts by their start dates. It works with rotating schedules and split shifts without assuming five workdays.
Why does 7 hours 45 minutes show as 7.75?
Decimal hours express minutes as a fraction of 60: 45 ÷ 60 = 0.75. Adding seven full hours gives 7.75. Decimal hours are not hours and minutes separated by a dot.
Will my shifts still be here after a refresh?
Both modes save separately within this tool in your browser’s local storage. They are not synced across devices or shared with the Time Card Calculator. Private browsing, blocked storage or clearing browser data can remove that saved copy. Export important records.
Is the earnings estimate suitable for payroll?
It is a planning estimate using your settings. It does not determine legal overtime eligibility, taxes, deductions, daylight-saving adjustments or employer policies. Verify payroll against the rules that apply to your work.
Need a traditional weekly timesheet?
Use the Time Card Calculator for a fixed weekly or biweekly grid, with daily totals and a printable timesheet.
Open Time Card Calculator