On This Page
- How to calculate hours worked
- Lunch breaks and required breaks by law
- Calculate work hours and pay
- How many hours in a work day, week and year?
- How to calculate hours worked in Excel and Google Sheets
- Worked examples
- How this calculator is verified
- FAQ
How to Calculate Hours Worked
Time runs in base 60, so you cannot subtract 8:45 from 5:30 like ordinary numbers. Convert to minutes first:
- 8:45 AM = 8 × 60 + 45 = 525 minutes. 5:30 PM (17:30) = 1,050 minutes.
- 1,050 − 525 = 525 minutes on the clock.
- Minus a 60-minute unpaid lunch = 465 minutes.
- 465 ÷ 60 = 7.75 hours, which is 7 hours 45 minutes.
Payroll needs that decimal form, because 7.75 × $22 can be multiplied and "7h 45m" cannot. The Time to Decimal Calculator converts any minutes figure.
How to Use This Calculator
The calculator starts with Monday to Friday at 9:00 to 5:00 with a 60-minute break. Edit each row, click + Add shift for extra days or split shifts, and add an hourly rate if you want pay.
When a Shift Crosses Midnight
For a shift that crosses midnight, such as 10:00 PM to 6:30 AM, it adds 24 hours to the end time automatically. By hand: 390 + 1,440 = 1,830 minutes, less the 1,320-minute start, is 8.5 hours.
Lunch Breaks and Required Breaks by Law
Only subtract time when you were completely off duty and unpaid. The rules depend on where you work:
| Rule | What it means for the break field |
|---|---|
| US federal (FLSA) | No break is required. Breaks of 5 to 20 minutes must be paid, so do not subtract them. A meal period of about 30 minutes or more can be unpaid only if you are fully relieved of duty; a "lunch" answering email counts as work. |
| California | An unpaid 30-minute meal before hour 5 (waivable only if the shift is 6 hours or less), a second after hour 10, and a paid 10-minute rest per 4 hours. A missed break earns an extra hour of pay. |
| New York | A meal break once a shift passes 6 hours: usually 30 minutes midday, 45 overnight, and 60 in factories. There are no separate rest breaks. |
Calculate Work Hours and Pay
Gross pay is hours × rate up to 40 hours a week. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees earn 1.5× for every hour beyond 40, and California also pays overtime after 8 hours in a day. Enter a rate and the calculator applies the weekly 1.5× rule on its own. At $20 an hour, 45 hours pays $800 for the first 40 plus $150 for the other 5 at $30, $950 in all.
That is gross pay. The Gross to Net Pay Calculator estimates what reaches your account, the Hourly to Salary Calculator converts a rate into every pay period, and the Percentage Calculator shows what a 5% raise is worth in dollars.
How Many Hours in a Work Day, Week and Year?
| Period | Hours | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 9-to-5 with a 1-hour unpaid lunch | 7 paid | 8 on the clock, the most common payroll mix-up |
| 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM, 30-minute lunch | 8 paid | A true 8-hour day |
| Full-time week | 40 | The US overtime threshold |
| Full-time year | 2,080 | 52 × 40, used to turn salary into an hourly rate ($60,000 ÷ 2,080 = $28.85) |
| Year after 10 holidays and 10 PTO days | about 1,920 | Realistic working hours |
| Part-time at 20, 25, 30 or 32 hours a week | 1,040 / 1,300 / 1,560 / 1,664 | Hours a year |
How to Calculate Hours Worked in Excel and Google Sheets
Spreadsheets store time as a fraction of a day (noon is 0.5), so multiply by 24 and format the result as a Number, not Time. With the start in A1, end in B1 and break minutes in C1:
- Hours:
=(B1-A1)*24-(C1/60) - Overnight shift:
=IF(B1<A1,(B1-A1+1)*24,(B1-A1)*24). Adding 1 adds one full day. - Weekly pay with daily hours in D2:D6 and the rate in G1:
=MIN(SUM(D2:D6),40)*G1+MAX(0,SUM(D2:D6)-40)*G1*1.5 - A whole week in one Google Sheets cell:
=SUM(ARRAYFORMULA((B2:B6-A2:A6)*24-(C2:C6/60)))
12-hour and 24-hour inputs give the same result, since 5:30 PM and 17:30 are the same cell value.
Worked Examples
A standard week: Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:30 with a 45-minute lunch, is 7.75 hours a day and 38.75 for the week. That is below 40, so at $19 an hour it pays $736.25 with no overtime.
A night shift: 11:00 PM to 7:30 AM with a 30-minute break is 1,890 − 1,380 = 510 minutes, minus 30 = exactly 8 hours.
A four-week average: 38.5 + 42 + 40.25 + 39.75 = 160.5 hours ÷ 4 = 40.125 hours a week. Only week 2 went into overtime, but the average sits just above 40, which matters for labor budgets.
How This Calculator Is Verified
A shift ending earlier on the clock than it started, like 22:00 to 06:00, gets 24 hours added to the raw difference before its break is subtracted, so overnight shifts compute correctly without a separate "overnight" checkbox anywhere in the interface. Break minutes are subtracted row by row as each shift's worked time is calculated, then the already-net totals are summed for the week, so five shifts with five different break lengths never collapse into one average deduction applied at the end. When an hourly rate is entered, the weekly total splits into up to 40 regular hours plus anything beyond that at 1.5x overtime, a calculation that only runs once the pay rate field holds a positive number.
Frequently Asked Questions
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. This is the same "7-minute rule" covered in detail, including when it becomes illegal, in our payroll time rounding and FLSA compliance guide.
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.
- California Department of Industrial Relations, Overtime FAQ: California's daily overtime rule (1.5× for hours 8-12, double time beyond 12, in a single workday).
- California DIR/DLSE, Meal Periods FAQ: California's mandatory 30-minute meal break and 10-minute paid rest break rules, including waiver conditions and penalty pay.
- New York State DOL, Meal and Rest Periods FAQ: New York's industry-specific meal break lengths and timing requirements for shifts over 6 hours.