⏱️ Hours Calculator

The Hours Calculator adds up the time between a start and an end time and returns the total in hours and minutes (and as a decimal). It handles overnight shifts and lets you subtract an unpaid break, which makes it ideal for timesheets, shift pay, and billing.

How to Use This Tool

Enter a start time and an end time. Optionally enter a break in minutes to deduct. The tool shows the worked duration in hours:minutes and as a decimal number of hours.

What This Tool Checks

The minute difference between the two times, minus any break. If the end time is earlier than the start, it assumes the shift crossed midnight and adds 24 hours — so 22:00 to 06:00 correctly returns 8 hours.

Understanding Your Results

The decimal figure (e.g. 7.5) is what you multiply by an hourly rate for pay. The hours:minutes figure is what most timesheets record. Both describe the same duration.

How to Fix Common Problems

If the total looks doubled or missing hours, check whether the shift is meant to be overnight — the tool treats an earlier end time as the next day. Make sure the break is entered in minutes, not hours.

SEO Best Practices

Deduct unpaid breaks so the total reflects paid time. For payroll, use the decimal hours figure with the hourly rate; rounding rules (to the nearest 15 minutes, for example) should be applied by your payroll policy, not guessed.

Example

A shift from 09:00 to 17:30 with a 30-minute unpaid break is 8 hours 0 minutes of paid time (8.0 decimal hours). An overnight shift from 22:00 to 06:00 with no break is 8 hours.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Forgetting to deduct the break overstates paid hours. Entering an overnight shift without realising the tool auto-adds a day (it does, correctly) can cause confusion if you also manually added 24 hours.