Hours Worked Calculator
Enter a start time, end time, and unpaid break to get exact working hours — as decimal hours, ready for payroll or invoicing. Overnight shifts are handled automatically.
Your shift
Times use the 24-hour clock. If your end time is earlier than your start time, we'll treat it as an overnight shift.
Total working time
0.0hrs
- Total elapsed time
- --
- Total break time
- --
- Total working time
- --
- Decimal hours
- --
How hours worked is calculated
Elapsed time is the raw time between clock-in and clock-out. Subtracting your unpaid break gives your actual working time, which is then converted to decimal hours for easy use in payroll or invoicing.
Elapsed time = End time − Start time (add 24h if end is earlier than start)
Working time = Elapsed time − Unpaid break
Decimal hours = Working time in minutes ÷ 60
With a second period added, totals from both periods are combined.
Frequently asked questions
How do decimal hours work?
Decimal hours express minutes as a fraction of an hour — for example, 7 hours 30 minutes is 7.5 decimal hours. Payroll systems commonly use decimal hours instead of hours and minutes.
How does this handle overnight shifts?
If your end time is earlier than your start time (for example, 22:00 to 06:00), the calculator assumes the shift crosses midnight and adds 24 hours to the end time before calculating elapsed time.
When would I use a second work period?
Use it for split shifts — for example, working a morning block and then a separate evening block on the same day. Totals combine both periods automatically.
What happens if start and end time are the same?
By default, an identical start and end time (e.g. 09:00 to 09:00) is treated as 0 hours, since that's usually an unfilled field or a typo rather than an intentional entry. If you genuinely worked a full 24-hour shift, switch on "Same start/end time = full 24-hour shift" for that period.