Work Hours Calculator
Enter your start time, end time, and breaks to get total hours worked, decimal hours, overtime, and estimated pay — free, instant, no signup.
Unpaid breaks are subtracted from worked hours. Paid breaks count as time worked.
Your result
7h 30m
= 7.5 decimal hours worked
- Shift span
- 8h 00m
- Unpaid breaks
- −0h 30m
- Regular hours
- 7h 30m
- Overtime
- 0h 00m
Tracking these hours by hand every shift?
ShiftFlow logs your shifts, calculates overtime and take-home pay automatically, and predicts your next payday.
How to calculate work hours
- Find the shift span — subtract the start time from the end time. If a shift crosses midnight (10:00 PM → 6:00 AM), add 24 hours to the end.
- Subtract unpaid breaks — unpaid meal breaks come off your worked time; paid rest breaks stay in.
- Split regular vs. overtime — time past your overtime threshold (commonly 8 hours/day or 40 hours/week, jurisdiction-dependent) is paid at a multiplier, usually 1.5×.
- Convert to decimal hours for pay — minutes ÷ 60: 8h 45m = 8.75. Multiply decimal hours by your rate for gross pay.
Overtime thresholds, multipliers, and break rules vary by country, province/state, and employment agreement — the defaults here (8h daily, 1.5×) are common but not universal. Check your local rules for payroll purposes.
Work hours questions, answered
How do I calculate my work hours?
Subtract your start time from your end time, then subtract any unpaid breaks. For example: 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM is 8 hours 30 minutes; with a 30-minute unpaid lunch, you worked 8 hours. This calculator does that automatically, including overnight shifts.
How do I convert work hours to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60 and add them to the whole hours. 8 hours 30 minutes = 8 + 30/60 = 8.5 decimal hours. Decimal hours are what payroll systems and invoices use to multiply by an hourly rate.
Do breaks count as hours worked?
It depends on whether the break is paid. Unpaid meal breaks are subtracted from your hours worked; paid rest breaks count as time worked. Rules vary by country and province/state — this calculator lets you mark each break as paid or unpaid.
How is overtime calculated?
Overtime is time worked past a threshold, paid at a multiplier — commonly 1.5× after 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week, but the threshold and multiplier depend on your jurisdiction and employment agreement. This calculator uses a daily threshold you can adjust.
How many hours is 8:30 to 5:00 with a lunch break?
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM is 8 hours 30 minutes. With a 30-minute unpaid lunch, that is 8 hours worked (8.0 decimal hours). With a 60-minute unpaid lunch, it is 7 hours 30 minutes (7.5 decimal hours).
Is this work hours calculator free?
Yes — completely free, no signup, no limits. If you want your hours tracked automatically every shift with overtime detection and payday forecasting, that's what the ShiftFlow iOS app does.