Calculate hours worked

Start with elapsed time

Paid minutes = elapsed minutes − unpaid break minutes. Record the actual start and finish, including their dates. A scheduled eight-hour shift does not prove that eight hours were worked or paid: an early finish, a late handover or an unpaid break can change the total.

Keep the calculation in minutes until the end. Adding 7h 45m and 6h 30m gives 14h 15m. Adding 7.45 and 6.30 as decimal numbers gives the wrong answer because minutes use a base of 60.

A daytime example

A fictional shift runs from 09:00 to 17:00 on the same date. That is 480 elapsed minutes. Subtract a 30-minute unpaid lunch: 480 − 30 = 450 paid minutes. The result is 7h 30m, or 7.50 decimal hours.

A paid 15-minute rest break stays inside those paid hours. Do not subtract it again merely because it appears as a separate entry in your record.

Use the work hours calculator with your dates.

Keep the overnight date

For 22:00 on Monday to 06:00 on Tuesday, count two hours before midnight and six after it: eight elapsed hours on an ordinary night. A 30-minute unpaid break leaves 7h 30m paid.

Writing 22:00 and 06:00 against the same date reverses the interval. Set the finish to the next date explicitly. A tool should explain the error instead of silently deciding which day you intended.

Convert minutes correctly

Decimal hours = whole hours + minutes ÷ 60. Round only to the precision required for the task. The table is a conversion reference, not an employer rounding policy.

On a narrow screen, scroll the table horizontally to see all columns.

Seven hours and thirty minutes is 7.50 hours. The value 7.30 decimal hours means seven hours and eighteen minutes.

Check clock changes

When clocks change, matching local times can enclose a different amount of real time. For example, midnight to midnight can be 23 or 25 elapsed hours in a place observing a one-hour seasonal change. Travel between time zones introduces another possible difference.

Use the time zone of the work record and resolve any repeated or nonexistent local time before calculating. The dated work-hours, shift-pay, night-shift, time-card, break-time and shift-differential tools default to your device’s time zone and let you select a different IANA time zone. These tools reject an ambiguous start or finish rather than guessing an offset.

Compare like with like

An employer may record exact minutes, round individual clock events or round a period total under the rules that apply to the employment. Those methods can produce different displayed totals. Keep your original times so you can identify where a difference starts.

Before comparing a payslip, check the period dates, paid-break treatment, corrected shifts and unit used. A decimal value can look different while describing the same duration.

Review your record

• Include both dates and the time zone.
• Use actual worked times, keeping the planned rota separately.
• Subtract each unpaid break once.
• Keep paid breaks inside paid time.
• Convert the final minutes to decimal hours only when needed.
• Compare the same pay period and ask payroll about unexplained differences.

The arithmetic here assumes hourly time records. It does not decide whether a break must be paid or which employer rounding rule is permitted.