Hours Calculator

About Hours Calculator

How the Calculation Works

Value	Formula	Example (9:00 AM - 5:15 PM, 45 min break)
Gross duration	End time - Start time	8h 15m
Net duration	Gross - Break	8h 15m - 45m = 7h 30m
Decimal hours	Hours + (Minutes / 60)	7.50
Total minutes	Hours x 60 + Minutes	450 minutes
Pay	Decimal hours x Hourly rate	7.50 x $20 = $150

When the end time is earlier than the start time (e.g. 10 PM to 6 AM), the calculator treats it as an overnight shift and adds 24 hours to the end time automatically.

Multiple Time Entries

Add a row for each time block - shifts, meetings, tasks, or study sessions. The calculator sums all individual durations into a grand total. This is useful when your day has multiple segments with breaks in between:

Entry	Start	End	Break	Net Hours
Morning shift	8:00 AM	12:00 PM	0 min	4h 00m
Afternoon shift	1:00 PM	5:30 PM	15 min	4h 15m
Evening session	7:00 PM	9:00 PM	0 min	2h 00m
Total				10h 15m (10.25 decimal)

Decimal Hours Explained

Decimal hours express time as a single number instead of hours and minutes. Many payroll and invoicing systems require decimal format because it simplifies multiplication with hourly rates.

Hours : Minutes	Decimal Hours	Conversion
0:15	0.25	15 / 60 = 0.25
0:30	0.50	30 / 60 = 0.50
0:45	0.75	45 / 60 = 0.75
1:20	1.33	1 + (20 / 60) = 1.333
7:30	7.50	7 + (30 / 60) = 7.50
8:45	8.75	8 + (45 / 60) = 8.75

The general formula is: decimal hours = whole hours + (minutes / 60). Round to 2 decimal places for most payroll purposes.

Pay Calculation

Enter your hourly rate and select your currency to see total earnings. The calculator supports USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, INR, JPY, and CHF. Pay is calculated as: total decimal hours x hourly rate. This gives you a quick estimate that works for freelancers, hourly employees, and contractors billing by the hour.

Hours Worked	Rate	Total Pay
7.50 hours	$15/hr	$112.50
7.50 hours	$25/hr	$187.50
7.50 hours	£20/hr	£150.00
40.00 hours	$30/hr	$1,200.00

Common Scenarios

Scenario	How to Use
Freelance time tracking	One row per client task, sum at end of day for invoicing
Shift work	Enter shift start/end with break for accurate payroll hours
Study sessions	Log start and end of each study block to track total revision time
Meeting audit	Log each meeting to see how much of your day is spent in calls
Overtime check	Sum weekly hours to see if you have crossed the overtime threshold

Rounding Conventions

Many employers round time entries to the nearest increment. The most common rounding intervals:

Interval	How It Works	Example (clocked in at 8:07 AM)
Nearest 15 minutes	Round to 0, 15, 30, or 45	Rounds to 8:00 AM
Nearest 6 minutes (1/10 hour)	Round to 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54	Rounds to 8:06 AM
Nearest 5 minutes	Round to 0, 5, 10, 15, etc.	Rounds to 8:05 AM
Exact (no rounding)	Use the actual clock time	8:07 AM as entered

This calculator uses exact times as entered. If your employer rounds, adjust your entries accordingly before entering them.

Overtime Thresholds - US and UK

Overtime kicks in once weekly hours pass a legal threshold, and the threshold differs between countries. In the US, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay non-exempt employees 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked over 40 in a fixed seven-day workweek. The current federal salary threshold for the executive, administrative, and professional exemption is $684 per week ($35,568 per year) in 2026, reverted after a federal court blocked the 2024 rule change. States including California, Colorado, Maine, New York, and Washington set higher thresholds.

In the UK, the Working Time Regulations 1998 cap average weekly hours at 48 across a 17-week reference period. Workers can opt out in writing, and sectors like emergency services, hospital staff, and transport have exceptions. UK law does not require a fixed overtime multiplier - overtime pay is down to the employment contract - but most contracts pay time-and-a-half or double time for hours beyond the standard 37.5 or 40-hour week.

Jurisdiction	Standard Week	Overtime Rate	Source
US Federal (FLSA)	40 hours	1.5x regular rate, mandatory for non-exempt	29 USC 207
California	8 hours/day, 40/week	1.5x after 8h daily, 2x after 12h or after 8h on 7th consecutive day	CA Labor Code 510
UK	48 hours (average)	Contractual, often 1.5x	Working Time Regs 1998
EU	48 hours (average)	Contractual	Working Time Directive
Canada (federal)	40 hours	1.5x	Canada Labour Code
Australia (Fair Work)	38 hours	Award-dependent, typically 1.5x	Fair Work Act 2009

Is Time Rounding Legal?

Time rounding is legal in the US under 29 CFR 785.48(b) provided it is neutral and does not systematically favour the employer. The best-known version is the 7-minute rule: punches at 1 to 7 minutes past the quarter-hour round down, punches at 8 to 14 minutes round up. Over time, this must average out so workers are paid for all time actually worked. Courts have ruled against employers whose rounding policies consistently shaved minutes off the clock - in the 2018 AHMC Healthcare case and the 2021 California Supreme Court Donohue v AMN Services ruling, California rejected rounding for meal periods entirely.

Worked rounding example: an employee clocks in at 8:52 AM (rounds up to 9:00 AM) and out at 5:07 PM (rounds down to 5:00 PM). That is 8 hours paid. Next day they clock in at 9:04 AM (rounds down to 9:00 AM) and out at 5:14 PM (rounds up to 5:15 PM). Again 8.25 hours paid. As long as the pattern balances both ways over a pay period, the rounding is compliant. If your employer uses a timekeeping system, the raw decimal figure from this calculator tells you whether you have been under- or over-credited after rounding.

Payroll Worked Example

Say you work five weekday shifts, each 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM with a 30-minute unpaid lunch, at £18 per hour.

• Gross per day: 5:30 PM - 9:00 AM = 8 hours 30 minutes
• Net per day: 8h 30m - 30m break = 8h 00m (8.00 decimal hours)
• Weekly hours: 8.00 x 5 = 40.00 decimal hours
• Gross pay: 40.00 x £18 = £720.00

Add a Saturday overtime shift 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at time-and-a-half (£27/hr): 4.00 hours x £27 = £108.00. Weekly gross becomes £828.00. After UK tax at the basic 20% rate and 8% National Insurance, take-home for a week like this is roughly £650 assuming income sits in the basic band. The salary calculator handles the full UK or US tax breakdown from an annualised figure.

Common Timesheet Mistakes

The American Payroll Association estimates that timesheet errors cost US employers 1-8% of gross payroll annually, with manual calculations and unrecorded overtime leading the list. The most frequent mistakes to avoid:

• Forgetting overnight shifts cross midnight. If you log 10 PM to 6 AM and use a plain subtraction, you get a negative number. This calculator adds 24 hours automatically when end time is before start time.
• Mixing decimal and minute formats. 7.30 decimal hours is not 7 hours 30 minutes - it is 7 hours 18 minutes (0.30 x 60 = 18). Always clarify which format you are using on an invoice.
• Not deducting unpaid breaks. In the US, bona fide meal periods of 30 minutes or more are typically unpaid. In the UK, the statutory 20-minute rest break for shifts over 6 hours is usually unpaid too. Failing to deduct inflates hours and causes payroll disputes.
• Rounding in one direction only. Always rounding up is overpayment risk; always rounding down is wage-theft risk. Use neutral rounding or log exact times.
• Combining travel time. Under FLSA, non-exempt employees must be paid for travel between job sites during the workday but not for normal commute time.

Decimal vs Minute Format - Why It Matters

Decimal hours are standard on US Form W-2 reporting, UK PAYE submissions, and most cloud payroll systems (Gusto, ADP, Xero, QuickBooks) because multiplication is cleaner. Minute format is easier for humans to read on timesheets. The confusion happens at the handover between the two. A row showing 7:45 (hours:minutes) becomes 7.75 decimal hours, not 7.45. The conversion table earlier in this page gives the exact values. If you are invoicing clients, always state the format explicitly on the invoice, for example "7.75 hours at $60/hr" rather than "7:45 at $60/hr". For split-day billing across multiple clients, use the time card calculator for a Monday-to-Sunday layout with overtime tracking, or the work days calculator to count billable working days excluding weekends and bank holidays. All calculations here run in your browser with no data stored or sent anywhere.

Sources

• US Department of Labor - Overtime Pay
• 29 CFR 785.48 - Rounding Practices
• GOV.UK - Maximum Weekly Working Hours
• Acas - Working Time Rules
• California DIR - Overtime FAQ
• IRS - Overtime Compensation Rules