You're filling in a timesheet, or checking a payslip, and you need the hours: for a day, for the week, maybe in decimals. The sums are short once you know the steps. This guide walks through working out hours worked by hand, with breaks, night shifts, decimals, a weekly total and pay, then how Hours Cat, our work hours tracker for iPhone, does the same sums for you.
Hours worked for one shift
Hours worked = end time − start time − unpaid breaks.
- Write both times in 24-hour time. 4:45 pm is 16:45.
- Take the start from the end: hours from hours, minutes from minutes.
- Take off any unpaid break.
Say you start at 8:30, finish at 16:45 and take a 30-minute unpaid lunch:
- 16:45 − 8:30 = 8 h 15 min
- 8 h 15 min − 30 min = 7 h 45 min
If the end minutes are smaller than the start minutes, borrow an hour as 60 minutes. For 9:50 to 17:20, read 17:20 as 16:80: 16:80 − 9:50 = 7 h 30 min.
Only unpaid breaks come off. Which breaks are paid is up to your employer and the rules where you work.
Shifts that cross midnight
Add 24 to the end time. From 22:00 to 6:30, the end becomes 30:30:
- 30:30 − 22:00 = 8 h 30 min
- With a 30-minute unpaid break: 8 h 00 min
Or count in two parts: 22:00 to midnight is 2 h, midnight to 6:30 is 6 h 30 min, 8 h 30 min in all. On the night the clocks change, count the time you were really there: 1:00 to 4:00 on the night the clocks go forward is 2 hours, not 3.
Minutes to decimal hours
Timesheets and payroll often want hours as a decimal. Divide the minutes by 60 and add them to the hours: 7 h 45 min = 7 + 45 ÷ 60 = 7.75 hours. So 7:45 is not 7.45, and 7:30 is 7.5.
| Minutes | Decimal |
|---|---|
| 5 | 0.08 |
| 6 | 0.10 |
| 10 | 0.17 |
| 12 | 0.20 |
| 15 | 0.25 |
| 20 | 0.33 |
| 30 | 0.50 |
| 40 | 0.67 |
| 45 | 0.75 |
| 50 | 0.83 |
Rounded to two places.
Adding up a week
Add the hours, add the minutes, then turn every 60 minutes into an hour.
| Day | Worked |
|---|---|
| Monday | 7 h 45 min |
| Tuesday | 8 h 00 min |
| Wednesday | 7 h 30 min |
| Thursday | 8 h 15 min |
| Friday | 6 h 20 min |
Hours: 7 + 8 + 7 + 8 + 6 = 36. Minutes: 45 + 0 + 30 + 15 + 20 = 110, which is 1 h 50 min. The week is 37 h 50 min, or 37.83 hours.
Add the minutes first and convert at the end. Adding rounded decimals day by day can come out a little off.
Hours worked and pay
Pay = hours × hourly rate. At 18 an hour, the 7 h 45 min shift is 7.75 × 18 = 139.50.
For the week, work from the minutes: 37 h × 18 = 666, and 50 min is 50 ÷ 60 × 18 = 15, so 681.00. Multiply the rounded 37.83 instead and you get 680.94, six cents short.
That's pay before tax and deductions. If you're paid overtime, the rules depend on where you work and on your employer.
How Hours Cat does the sums
- Breaks come off. Tap Start on the Clock tab, Break when you stop for lunch and Resume when you're back. To add one later, open the shift and tap Add break: 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes.
- A fixed unpaid lunch. In More › Rounding, overtime and breaks, turn on Take off an unpaid break. It starts at 30 min on shifts over 6 h, and you can change both. Breaks you record count towards it. It's off until you turn it on, and so are rounding and overtime.
- Night shifts stay one shift. Add a shift by hand with an end time earlier than the start and it ends the next day. A shift counts on the day it started, and on the PDF its end time shows +1.
- Decimals or hours and minutes. In More, Show hours as 7:45 or 7.75. It starts at 7:45, and the timesheet PDF follows your choice. Decimals show two places.
- The week, added up. The Clock tab shows Today and this week as you go. The Timesheet tab shows the week's hours worked, a bar for each day and each day's total, and the arrows go back to earlier weeks. Pick the day your week starts on in More › Week starts on.
- Pay. Set an hourly rate on your job in More › Jobs, or on a single shift, and Hours Cat shows what you earned: your hours times your rate, with any pay rules you turned on. It doesn't take off tax or deductions. Changing a job's rate later doesn't change shifts already saved.
To hand your hours in, open the Timesheet tab and tap Export. The PDF lists the date, job, start, end, break and hours for every shift, with the total, and pay when you've set a rate. You can also tap Spreadsheet (CSV) or Print. The full walk-through is in how to make a timesheet on iPhone.
What it costs
Clocking in and out, breaks, your history, editing, one job with its rate and currency, rounding, the automatic break, the overtime setting, and the PDF and CSV timesheet for any dates are free, with no limits on shifts or history. There's no watermark, no ads, no account and no subscription. Hours Cat Pro is an optional one-time purchase that adds several jobs, overtime per job, pay every two weeks or twice a month with a pay stub, and your job's colour on the Lock Screen. More on the Hours Cat page.
Your hours are kept on your device and in your own backups unless you share, save or print them. Hours Cat is your own record of your hours, not a payslip or payroll, and it isn't legal or tax advice.
Quick answers
How do I calculate hours worked with a lunch break?
End time minus start time, minus the unpaid lunch. 8:30 to 16:45 with 30 minutes off is 7 h 45 min.
How do I calculate hours worked in decimals?
Divide the minutes by 60 and add them to the hours: 7 h 45 min is 7.75, 7 h 20 min is 7.33.
Is 7:30 the same as 7.3 hours?
No. 7:30 is seven and a half hours, 7.5 in decimals.
How do I work out hours worked per week?
Add each day's hours and minutes, then turn every 60 minutes into an hour. 36 h 110 min is 37 h 50 min.
How do I work out pay from hours?
Hours times your hourly rate: 7.75 × 18 = 139.50, before tax and deductions.
Try Hours Cat
Try Hours Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/hours-cat