Work Hours Calculator
Calculate total work hours across one or multiple shifts with automatic break deduction. Shows both hours:minutes and decimal hours for payroll.
Enter Work Periods
Formula
Work Hours = (End Time − Start Time) − Break Duration
Subtract the start from the end to get gross duration, then deduct unpaid break time. For overnight shifts, the calculator adds 24h to the end time automatically.
Worked Example
Scenario: Calculate a 5-day working week for payroll.
Mon 09:00–17:30 (30m break) = 8h 00m
Tue 08:30–17:00 (30m break) = 8h 00m
Wed 09:00–18:00 (60m break) = 8h 00m
Thu 09:00–17:30 (30m break) = 8h 00m
Fri 09:00–15:00 (0m break) = 6h 00m
Total: 38h 00m = 38.00 decimal hours.
Common Mistakes
- Entering break time in hours instead of minutes. The break field expects minutes. A 30-minute lunch break is entered as 30, not 0.5.
- Forgetting to enter a break at all. If an employee takes an unpaid lunch break, it must be entered to avoid overpaying hours.
- Using hours:minutes totals in payroll software. Most payroll systems require decimal hours. Use the decimal value shown in the result.
How to Use
- 1
Enter start and end times
Add clock-in and clock-out times for each work period or day.
- 2
Enter break minutes
Enter unpaid break time in minutes. Leave as 0 if no break applies.
- 3
Add rows for more days
Click "Add row" for each additional day or shift to total a full week.
- 4
Calculate
Get the total in hours and minutes plus the decimal equivalent for payroll entry.