On This Page
- How to use this calculator
- How to calculate hours worked
- Calculate work hours and pay
- 8-hour work day patterns
- How many hours in a work year
- How to calculate hours worked in Excel
- Google Sheets equivalent
- Worked examples
- Frequently asked questions
How to Use This Calculator
The calculator opens with five pre-filled rows for Monday through Friday, each set to 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with a 60-minute break. Edit any row to match your actual schedule and the totals update instantly.
Enter your shifts
Each row has six fields: day label, start time, end time, break duration in minutes, an auto-calculated hours display, and a remove button. Type directly into the time inputs or use the browser time picker. For overnight shifts — for example 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM — the calculator detects the crossing automatically and adds the correct hours.
Add or remove rows
Click + Add shift to append a blank row for an extra day, a split shift, or a second job. Click the × button on any row to delete it. The running total adjusts with every change.
Include an hourly rate
Enter your rate in the Hourly rate field at the bottom if you want a pay estimate. The calculator applies your rate to regular hours and 1.5× to any hours beyond 40 in the week. Leave the field blank to skip the pay calculation.
Read the results
The results box shows total hours for the week, average daily hours, number of days worked, total break time, and any overtime hours. If you entered a rate, a pay row appears below showing regular pay, overtime pay, and estimated gross total.
How to Calculate Hours Worked
The core formula has three parts: your start time, your end time, and any unpaid break time in between. Subtract the start from the end, then subtract the break.
The tricky part is that time runs in base 60, not base 10. That's why you can't just subtract 9:15 from 17:45 as if they were regular numbers. Convert to minutes first, do the subtraction, then convert back.
The Step-by-Step Method
- Convert start and end to minutes since midnight. Multiply the hours by 60, then add the minutes. So 8:45 AM becomes (8 × 60) + 45 = 525 minutes. And 5:30 PM (17:30) becomes (17 × 60) + 30 = 1,050 minutes.
- Subtract start from end. 1,050 − 525 = 525 minutes on the clock.
- Deduct unpaid breaks. A 60-minute lunch leaves 525 − 60 = 465 minutes of actual work.
- Convert to hours. 465 ÷ 60 = 7.75 decimal hours (7 hours 45 minutes).
Why Decimal Hours Matter for Pay
Payroll software multiplies hours by a rate. You can't multiply "8 hours 20 minutes" directly, but you can multiply 8.333 decimal hours by $18 and get $150.
The conversion is minutes ÷ 60. So 20 minutes = 20 ÷ 60 = 0.3333 hours. At $18/hr: 8.3333 × $18 = $150.00 exactly. This is why the Time to Decimal Calculator on this site is a companion tool worth bookmarking alongside this one.
Accounting for Lunch and Break Time
Whether a break gets deducted depends on whether it's paid or unpaid. Most employers follow this split:
- Unpaid lunch break (typically 30–60 min): subtract from worked hours for pay calculation
- Paid rest breaks (typically 10–15 min): don't subtract, they're already included in pay
That distinction matters. A 45-minute unpaid lunch across five days removes 3.75 hours from your weekly total. At $20/hr, that's $75 you weren't going to get paid anyway, but it needs to be correctly entered so your gross pay figure comes out right.
Calculate Work Hours and Pay
Once you have total decimal hours, multiplying by the hourly rate gives gross pay. But there's a critical threshold to watch: 40 hours per week.
The Basic Pay Formula
That formula covers the first 40 hours. Past 40, US federal law (and many state laws) requires a different rate.
Overtime, Time and a Half
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees earn 1.5× their regular rate for all hours over 40 in a single workweek. Some states go further: California requires daily overtime for any hours beyond 8 in one day.
| Hours worked | Rate at $20/hr | Pay |
|---|---|---|
| First 40 hrs | $20.00 | $800.00 |
| Hours 41–45 (5 hrs overtime) | $30.00 (1.5×) | $150.00 |
| Total: 45 hrs | $950.00 |
The pay rate field in this calculator applies that 1.5× multiplier automatically for any hours past 40. No separate overtime column needed.
Biweekly and Monthly Pay Periods
Most US employers pay every two weeks (biweekly, 26 pay periods per year). To estimate your biweekly gross from weekly hours:
For salaried employees working out an effective hourly rate: Annual salary ÷ 2,080 = hourly equivalent. A $60,000 salary works out to $28.85 per hour on a standard 40-hour week.
The 8-Hour Work Day Calculator
Eight hours is the cultural and legal baseline for a full workday in most countries. But what actually counts as an 8-hour day depends almost entirely on how breaks are handled, and most people get this wrong.
The 9-to-5 Trap
A 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM shift spans 8 hours on the clock. But if lunch (1 hour unpaid) is deducted, that's only 7 hours of paid work. Most office workers call it "an 8-hour day" because that's the length of the shift, not the hours they're paid for. This is arguably the most common payroll misunderstanding.
Common 8-Hour Shift Patterns
| Shift type | Start | End | Unpaid break | Net paid hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard office (9-to-5) | 9:00 AM | 5:00 PM | 60 min | 7h 0m |
| Early industrial | 7:00 AM | 3:30 PM | 30 min | 8h 0m |
| Retail / service | 10:00 AM | 6:30 PM | 30 min | 8h 0m |
| Healthcare 12-hr | 7:00 AM | 7:30 PM | 30 min | 12h 0m |
| 4-day week (10-hr) | 7:00 AM | 5:30 PM | 30 min | 10h 0m |
When Shifts Cross Midnight
Night shift workers hit a wall with simple subtraction. A 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM shift gives a negative number if you just subtract: 6:30 − 22:00 = −15:30. That's wrong.
The fix: when end time is earlier than start time, add 24 hours (1,440 minutes) to the end.
- Start: 22:00 = 1,320 minutes
- End: 6:30 = 390 minutes → 390 + 1,440 = 1,830 minutes
- Difference: 1,830 − 1,320 = 510 minutes = 8h 30m
- Minus 30-min break = 8h 0m net
The calculator handles this automatically, just enter the times and it detects the midnight crossing.
How Many Hours in a Work Year?
The standard answer: 2,080 hours (52 weeks × 40 hours per week). That's the figure used for converting annual salary to hourly rate and for most payroll, HR, and budget calculations.
But 2,080 is a ceiling, not a floor. Real productive hours are lower once you account for time off:
| Hours category | Hours/year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gross work hours | 2,080 | 52 × 40, no deductions |
| Minus federal holidays (US) | −80 | 10 holidays × 8 hrs |
| Minus typical PTO | −80 | 10 days × 8 hrs |
| Productive hours | ~1,920 | Realistic billable year |
Converting Annual Salary to Hourly Rate
- $50,000 ÷ 2,080 = $24.04/hr
- $75,000 ÷ 2,080 = $36.06/hr
- $100,000 ÷ 2,080 = $48.08/hr
- $120,000 ÷ 2,080 = $57.69/hr
Part-Time Annual Hours
Not everyone works 40 hours. Here's the annual total at common part-time schedules:
- 20 hours/week → 1,040 hours/year
- 25 hours/week → 1,300 hours/year
- 30 hours/week → 1,560 hours/year
- 32 hours/week → 1,664 hours/year
How to Calculate Hours Worked in Excel
Excel stores time as a decimal fraction of a 24-hour day. Midnight is 0, noon is 0.5, 6:00 PM is 0.75. That means a raw time subtraction gives you a fraction of a day, not hours. One step fixes it: multiply by 24.
The Basic Formula (Start in A1, End in B1)
Format the result cell as Number, not Time. If you leave it as Time format, 8.5 hours will display as 8:30 AM instead of 8.5.
Deducting Break Time (Break minutes in C1)
That formula converts the break from minutes to hours before subtracting. If your break is stored in hours instead of minutes, drop the /60.
Handling Overnight Shifts in Excel
Adding 1 when the end is earlier than the start adds exactly one full day (24 hours) to the end time, correcting the midnight crossing. Works reliably as long as no shift exceeds 24 hours.
Weekly Total and Pay Formula
Assuming daily hours appear in D2:D6 (Monday to Friday) and the hourly rate is in G1:
- Total hours: =SUM(D2:D6)
- Regular pay: =MIN(SUM(D2:D6),40)*G1
- Overtime pay: =MAX(0,SUM(D2:D6)−40)*G1*1.5
- Gross pay: Sum of the above two cells
Excel Formula for Hours Worked Using 24-Hour Clock
The formula is the same whether you use 12-hour (AM/PM) or 24-hour clock input, Excel converts both to the same internal decimal fraction. Enter 17:30 or 5:30 PM; either gives you the same cell value of 0.729167. The ×24 step handles the conversion identically.
How to Calculate Work Hours in Google Sheets
Google Sheets uses the same base-24 time system as Excel. The core formula is identical:
One practical difference: Google Sheets is more lenient about auto-detecting time format when you type values like "9:00" or "17:30". Excel sometimes needs the cell pre-formatted as Time first.
For a full week in one formula using Google Sheets' ARRAYFORMULA:
Where A = start times, B = end times, C = break durations in minutes. This calculates all five rows simultaneously and sums them in one cell.
To check hours worked in Google Sheets: confirm the result cell is formatted as Number (not Duration or Time) or the output will display incorrectly.
Worked Examples
Example 1, Standard Office Shift With Lunch
Inputs: Start 8:45 AM, End 5:30 PM, 60-minute unpaid lunch
- Start: 8:45 = (8 × 60) + 45 = 525 min
- End: 17:30 = (17 × 60) + 30 = 1,050 min
- Raw time on clock: 1,050 − 525 = 525 min
- Deduct lunch: 525 − 60 = 465 min
- Result: 7 hours 45 minutes (7.75 decimal hours)
- At $22/hr: 7.75 × $22 = $170.50 gross pay
Example 2, Night Shift Crossing Midnight
Inputs: Start 11:00 PM, End 7:30 AM, 30-minute break
- Start: 23:00 = 1,380 min
- End: 7:30 = 450 min, but 450 < 1,380, so add 1,440 → 1,890 min
- Raw time: 1,890 − 1,380 = 510 min
- Deduct break: 510 − 30 = 480 min
- Result: 8 hours exactly (8.00 decimal hours)
Example 3, Full Week, Five Shifts
Setup: Mon–Fri, 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM, 45-minute unpaid lunch each day
- Each day raw: 17:30 − 9:00 = 8h 30m = 510 min
- Each day net: 510 − 45 = 465 min = 7h 45m (7.75 hrs)
- Weekly total: 7.75 × 5 = 38.75 hours
- No overtime (38.75 < 40)
- At $19/hr: 38.75 × $19 = $736.25 weekly gross
Example 4, Week With Overtime
Setup: Five 9-hour shifts (8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, 30-min lunch = 9h net each day)
- Weekly total: 9 × 5 = 45 hours
- Regular pay: 40 hrs × $20 = $800.00
- Overtime pay: 5 hrs × $30 (1.5 × $20) = $150.00
- Total gross pay: $950.00
Example 5, Calculate Average Hours Worked Per Week
Four-week period: Week 1 = 38.5 hrs, Week 2 = 42.0 hrs, Week 3 = 40.25 hrs, Week 4 = 39.75 hrs
- Total: 38.5 + 42.0 + 40.25 + 39.75 = 160.5 hours
- Weeks: 4
- Average: 160.5 ÷ 4 = 40.125 hours per week
Week 2 triggered overtime (2 hours past 40). The average sits just above the 40-hour threshold, which matters for budgeting labor costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate hours worked from start and end time?
Convert both times to total minutes since midnight, subtract start from end, then subtract any unpaid break time. Divide by 60 to get decimal hours. Start 9:00 AM = 540 min. End 5:30 PM = 1,050 min. Difference = 510 min. Minus 30-min lunch = 480 min ÷ 60 = 8.0 decimal hours. This calculator does all that for every shift simultaneously, just enter your times and the result appears instantly.
How do I calculate work hours with a lunch break?
Enter the break duration in minutes in the Break column. The calculator deducts it from the shift length before showing net hours. A 60-minute lunch on a 9:00–5:00 shift leaves 7 hours of paid work, not 8. Only enter unpaid breaks here, if your rest breaks are paid, leave them out.
How many hours is a 9-to-5 job?
Eight hours on the clock, but typically 7 hours of paid time if lunch is unpaid. The 9-to-5 phrase became shorthand for a full workday, the shift runs 8 hours, but a 1-hour unpaid lunch means most employees are paid for 7. If your employer gives you a paid lunch, then yes, it's 8 hours of compensable time.
How do you calculate a 40-hour work week?
Divide 40 by working days: five days at 8 hours each, or four days at 10 hours each. The 40-hour week is the US overtime threshold under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, not a biological requirement, but a legal one. Any non-exempt employee working more than 40 hours in a workweek must receive 1.5× pay for those extra hours.
How many work hours are in a year?
2,080 hours for a standard full-time employee (52 weeks × 40 hours). Subtract 10 federal holidays (80 hours) for roughly 2,000 hours. Subtract 10 days of PTO and the real productive total lands around 1,920 hours. Most payroll and HR systems use 2,080 as the dividing factor when converting annual salary to hourly equivalent.
How do you calculate hours worked in Excel?
Use =(end−start)×24. The ×24 is mandatory, without it, Excel returns a fraction of a day (0.354) instead of hours (8.5). For overnight shifts: =IF(end<start,(end−start+1)×24,(end−start)×24). Format the result cell as Number, not Time. See the Excel section above for the full payroll formula including overtime.
Can I use this calculator for payroll?
Yes. Enter all shifts, add your hourly rate, and the calculator produces weekly gross pay with overtime applied at 1.5× past 40 hours. For formal payroll submission, verify your employer's break deduction and rounding rules, some systems round to the nearest 15-minute increment, which can shift totals by a few minutes.
How do you calculate hours worked for a night shift?
The key is handling the midnight crossing. When end time is earlier than start time, add 24 hours to the end. Start 10:30 PM = 1,410 min. End 6:00 AM = 360 min + 1,440 = 1,800 min. Difference = 390 min = 6.5 hours. The calculator detects and corrects this automatically, you just enter the times as they appear on your timesheet.
How do you calculate average hours worked per week?
Sum all hours across a period and divide by the number of weeks. Four weeks totalling 161 hours: 161 ÷ 4 = 40.25 average hours per week. This matters for monitoring overtime exposure over a rolling period, since one heavy week can raise the average enough to warrant staffing adjustments.
How does ADP calculate hours worked?
ADP payroll systems subtract punch-out from punch-in, then apply a rounding rule. The most common ADP configuration uses nearest 15-minute rounding: 1–7 minutes past a quarter-hour rounds down, 8–14 minutes rounds up. Some configurations use 6-minute or 5-minute increments. Total rounded minutes are then divided by 60 and multiplied by the pay rate.
How do I calculate PTO accrual based on hours worked?
A common accrual rate is 1 hour of PTO per 30 hours worked. At 40 hours per week: 40 × 52 = 2,080 hours ÷ 30 = 69.3 PTO hours per year (about 8.7 days). Another common rate is 1 hour per 40 hours worked, giving 52 hours (6.5 days) annually. State laws vary, California and some other states prohibit PTO caps and require payout of unused time at termination.
How do you calculate work hours and pay for a salaried employee?
Salaried employees don't earn overtime in most cases (exempt status), but you can still find the effective hourly rate: annual salary ÷ 2,080. A $65,000 salary = $31.25/hr effective rate. For tracking project time or billable hours, enter actual hours in this calculator the same way, the pay field will show what those hours cost at the effective rate.
References
- US Department of Labor, Overtime rules and FLSA workweek definitions: governs how overtime is calculated for non-exempt employees in the United States.
- Microsoft Support, Calculate the difference between two times in Excel: official guidance on the ×24 multiplication, time format, and the [h]:mm format for totals past 24 hours.
- IRS Publication 15 (Employer's Tax Guide): federal guidance on wage computation, pay periods, and withholding for hourly and salaried workers.