Why use this calculator
Working out time worked sounds trivial until you try it: clock time is base sixty, decimal hours are base ten, and timesheets want the second while your roster is written in the first. Seven hours and forty minutes is 7.67 decimal hours, not 7.40, and that single confusion is behind a large share of underpaid and overpaid shifts.
This calculator converts between the two, subtracts unpaid breaks, and handles shifts that cross midnight without needing you to split them in half. If you add your hourly rate it also shows what the shift is worth, which is the fastest way to check a payslip against what you actually worked.
How to use it
- Enter your start and finish times on the 24 hour clock, so 2pm is 14 and midnight is 0.
- If your finish time is earlier than your start, the calculator assumes the shift ran overnight and adds a day rather than returning a negative result.
- Put only unpaid break time in the break field.
- In many Australian workplaces a short rest break is paid while a meal break is not, so check your award or agreement rather than assuming.
- The hourly rate field is optional, and the pay figure it produces is gross, before tax and before any penalty rates, overtime or loadings.
What each result means
- Time worked
- Paid time in hours and minutes, after the unpaid break has been deducted from the elapsed time.
- Decimal hours
- The same duration in the base-ten format payroll and timesheet systems require. Forty minutes is 0.67 hours, not 0.40.
- Total elapsed time
- Clock time from start to finish, before the break is taken out. This is the span you were at work.
- Unpaid break
- The break time deducted. Paid rest breaks should not be included here, or you will understate your hours.
- Total minutes worked
- Paid time expressed in minutes, useful when a system records time that way.
- Pay for this shift
- Gross pay before tax, and before any penalty rates, weekend loading or overtime that may apply.
- Pay for a 5-day week
- The same shift repeated across five days, as a quick weekly estimate.
The formula
Both times are converted to minutes past midnight: hours × 60 + minutes. The elapsed time is the finish figure minus the start figure, with 1,440 minutes added when the finish is earlier than the start so an overnight shift is handled correctly. Paid time is elapsed time minus the unpaid break. Decimal hours are paid minutes divided by 60, which is why 40 minutes becomes 0.67 rather than 0.40. Gross pay is decimal hours multiplied by the hourly rate.
How this number is used in practice
The decimal conversion is where money is lost. A worker recording 7 hours 45 minutes as 7.45 instead of 7.75 loses eighteen minutes of pay per shift, which is more than a full day's pay across a year of five-day weeks. The error runs in both directions and is rarely deliberate. It is simply what happens when a base-sixty measurement is typed into a base-ten field without conversion.
Overnight shifts cause the other common problem. Subtracting a finish time of 02:00 from a start of 22:00 gives minus twenty hours in a spreadsheet, so people either split the shift into two lines or fix the sign by hand. This calculator adds a day automatically when the finish precedes the start, which is the correct treatment for a single continuous shift.
Your hours also matter beyond pay. In Australia, ordinary hours, rest and meal breaks, minimum shift lengths and overtime thresholds are set by an award or enterprise agreement, and keeping your own record of start times, finish times and breaks is the practical protection if a payslip is ever wrong. A calculator will tell you the duration; your award tells you what that duration should be paid at.
Worked examples
9:00 to 17:30 with a 30 minute unpaid break
8 hours exactly, or 8.00 decimal hours, from 8 hours 30 minutes of elapsed time.
22:00 to 06:15 overnight with a 45 minute break
7 hours 30 minutes, or 7.50 decimal hours. The calculator adds a day rather than returning a negative.
8:15 to 16:45 with a 30 minute break at $32 an hour
8 hours worked, 8.00 decimal hours, and $256.00 gross for the shift before tax.
When people use it
- Filling in a timesheet that wants decimal hours
- Checking a payslip against the hours you actually worked
- Working out pay for an overnight or split shift
- Tracking billable time for a client or an invoice
- Calculating hours for a casual or contract shift with unpaid breaks
Tips
- Forty minutes is 0.67 decimal hours, not 0.40. Dividing by 60 is the step people skip.
- Only unpaid breaks come out. Many awards make a short rest break paid and a meal break unpaid.
- A finish time earlier than the start is treated as overnight, so there is no need to split the shift.
- Keep your own record of start, finish and break times. It is the practical protection if a payslip is wrong.
- The pay figure is gross and excludes penalty rates, weekend loading and overtime. Check your award.
- Rounding to the nearest quarter hour is common but must be neutral, not always in the employer's favour.
What it assumes, and where it stops being accurate
- A single continuous shift is assumed; split shifts should be calculated as separate entries and added.
- A finish time at or before the start is treated as crossing midnight, adding 24 hours.
- Only the unpaid break entered is deducted. Paid rest breaks must be excluded by you.
- Pay is gross and flat-rate: penalty rates, overtime, weekend and public holiday loadings are not applied.
- Tax, superannuation and any salary sacrifice are not deducted from the pay figure.
- Daylight saving transitions are not modelled and shift a single overnight shift by an hour twice a year.
Terms used on this page
- Decimal hours
- Time expressed in base ten, where 30 minutes is 0.5 hours. The format payroll systems use.
- Elapsed time
- The full span between start and finish, before unpaid breaks are deducted.
- Penalty rate
- A higher rate paid for hours worked at times such as evenings, weekends or public holidays.
- Ordinary hours
- The standard hours set by an award or agreement, beyond which overtime rates apply.
Questions people ask
- How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?
- Divide the minutes by 60. Fifteen minutes is 0.25 hours, thirty is 0.5, forty-five is 0.75 and forty is 0.67. The common mistake is typing the minutes straight after the decimal point, so 7 hours 40 minutes becomes 7.40 instead of 7.67. An error of about sixteen minutes on every shift.
- How do I calculate hours for an overnight shift?
- Add twenty-four hours to the finish time before subtracting, which is what this calculator does automatically when the finish is earlier than the start. A 22:00 to 06:00 shift is eight hours, not minus sixteen. Note that daylight saving changes will shift one overnight result by an hour twice a year.
- Should I subtract my lunch break?
- Only if it is unpaid, which depends on your award, enterprise agreement or contract. In many Australian workplaces a short rest break is paid while a longer meal break is not. Entering a paid break here would understate your hours, so check the instrument that covers you rather than assuming.
- Does this include overtime or penalty rates?
- No. It calculates duration and applies one flat hourly rate. Overtime thresholds, weekend and evening penalty rates, public holiday loading and shift allowances are set by your award or agreement and vary widely. Use this figure for the hours and then apply the correct rates to each portion.
- Can my employer round my hours?
- Rounding to the nearest quarter hour is common and generally acceptable where it is applied neutrally, so that it sometimes favours you and sometimes does not. Rounding that consistently goes one way effectively reduces pay for time worked. If you suspect that is happening, your own record of exact start and finish times is what settles it.
- How many hours is 9 to 5 really?
- Eight hours of elapsed time, but seven and a half paid if you take an unpaid thirty minute lunch, or seven if the break is an hour. That gap is why a nominal nine-to-five week is often thirty-seven and a half paid hours rather than forty, and why the break field matters as much as the times.
Use this with
Hours Calculator answers one part of the question. These pick up where it stops: Hourly to Salary Converter, Salary Calculator, Date Calculator and Salary After Tax Calculator.
Where these figures come from
This calculation is jurisdiction-neutral arithmetic. No country-specific rules are applied.
- Fair Work Ombudsman: hours of work and breaks. Australian rules on ordinary hours, breaks and overtime
- ATO: records you need to keep for work-related expenses. Record-keeping requirements for hours and expenses
Hours Calculator produces an estimate for general information. It is not financial, tax, medical, legal or engineering advice. read the full disclaimer. Spotted a wrong number? Report it and it gets fixed. The form picks up this calculator and the inputs you used.