Updated July 1, 2026
Skip the manual subtraction
Enter your clock times and get net hours instantly.
To calculate hours worked, subtract the start time from the end time to get gross hours, deduct any unpaid break time, and convert remaining minutes to a decimal by dividing by 60. For a full week, repeat for each day and sum the results.
The step-by-step formula
Use this sequence for any single shift:
- Step 1: Write clock-in and clock-out in 24-hour format to avoid AM/PM errors. 1:00 PM becomes 13:00.
- Step 2: Subtract start from end. 17:00 minus 8:30 = 8 hours 30 minutes.
- Step 3: Subtract unpaid break time. 8 h 30 m minus 30 m lunch = 8 hours 0 minutes.
- Step 4: Convert minutes to a decimal. 0 minutes / 60 = 0.0. Net hours: 8.0.
Worked example: a five-day week
| Day | In | Out | Break | Net hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 8:00 | 17:00 | 30 min | 8.50 |
| Tuesday | 8:15 | 17:00 | 30 min | 8.25 |
| Wednesday | 8:00 | 16:30 | 30 min | 8.00 |
| Thursday | 8:00 | 17:30 | 30 min | 9.00 |
| Friday | 8:00 | 16:00 | 30 min | 7.50 |
| Total | 41.25 |
This employee worked 41.25 hours, so 1.25 hours qualify for overtime if their employer follows the federal 40-hour threshold.
Using 24-hour time prevents mistakes
When you subtract in 12-hour format, a 1:00 PM end time looks like "1", which is smaller than an 8:00 AM start time. Converting to 24-hour notation first (8:00 to 13:00) avoids that error entirely.
Multiply by your hourly rate to get gross pay
Once you have decimal hours, multiply by the regular rate. For 41.25 hours at $18/hr: the first 40 hours = $720, then 1.25 overtime hours at 1.5x ($27/hr) = $33.75. Total gross pay = $753.75. See how to calculate overtime for the full breakdown.
Overnight shifts
If a shift crosses midnight (e.g., 22:00 to 06:00), add 24 hours to the end time: 06:00 + 24 = 30:00. Then subtract: 30:00 minus 22:00 = 8 hours. Most digital time card tools handle this automatically.
Minutes-to-decimal quick reference
The most common source of timesheet errors is misreading minutes as decimal fractions. Use this table when you do not have a calculator handy:
| Minutes worked | Add this decimal | Example: 8 hrs + X min |
|---|---|---|
| 5 min | 0.08 | 8.08 hours |
| 10 min | 0.17 | 8.17 hours |
| 15 min | 0.25 | 8.25 hours |
| 20 min | 0.33 | 8.33 hours |
| 25 min | 0.42 | 8.42 hours |
| 30 min | 0.50 | 8.50 hours |
| 45 min | 0.75 | 8.75 hours |
| 50 min | 0.83 | 8.83 hours |
| 55 min | 0.92 | 8.92 hours |
Common rounding rules employers use
Some employers round clock-in and clock-out times to the nearest quarter hour (every 15 minutes) rather than tracking exact minutes. Under federal guidance, this practice is acceptable only if the rounding is neutral over time and does not consistently favor the employer. If your employer rounds to the nearest 15 minutes, punch times from :08 to :22 round to :15, times from :23 to :37 round to :30, and so on. Always check your pay stub to verify that rounding has not systematically reduced your pay. This is not legal advice; consult a qualified employment attorney or the Department of Labor for guidance specific to your situation.
What counts as "hours worked" under the law
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), "hours worked" includes all time an employee is required to be on duty or on the employer's premises, and all time the employee is permitted to work whether or not required to do so. This includes time spent at the start of a shift waiting for a machine to warm up, time spent on mandatory training, and short rest breaks of 20 minutes or less. Meal periods of 30 minutes or more where the employee is completely relieved of duties do not count as hours worked. Travel time rules depend on the type of travel. If you have questions about whether specific time counts, the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division is the authoritative source, not a summary on a calculator site.
Tracking hours accurately avoids payroll disputes
Keeping precise records protects both employer and employee. Employees should retain their own copies of timesheets or time card printouts each week. If a discrepancy appears on a pay stub, having your own records makes resolving the dispute straightforward. Employers are required by the FLSA to retain payroll records for at least three years. Using a digital time card tool, rather than paper or memory, creates a time-stamped record for both parties. Use the time card calculator to log daily hours, then print or screenshot the weekly summary for your records. See also how to calculate a timesheet with lunch breaks for guidance on properly deducting meal periods.
The 7-minute rule, mapped out
Quarter-hour rounding has a nickname on the shop floor: the 7-minute rule. Seven minutes is the largest amount that rounds down to nothing, so a 8:07 arrival becomes 8:00 while 8:08 becomes 8:15. The full map for any punch looks like this:
| Punch minutes | Rounds to | Example |
|---|---|---|
| :00 to :07 | :00 | 8:06 becomes 8:00 |
| :08 to :22 | :15 | 8:11 becomes 8:15 |
| :23 to :37 | :30 | 8:29 becomes 8:30 |
| :38 to :52 | :45 | 8:51 becomes 8:45 |
| :53 to :59 | next :00 | 8:56 becomes 9:00 |
The scheme is legal under 29 CFR 785.48(b), which also permits rounding to the nearest 5 minutes or tenth of an hour, on one condition: over time it has to wash out. Rounding that only ever trims the employee's side, like a system that rounds late arrivals up but early ones down, fails that condition no matter how small each trim is. When you compute hours by hand, work from the actual punches first, then apply your employer's stated rounding rule, in that order. Rounding first and subtracting second produces totals nobody can reconcile later.
From two weekly totals to one biweekly paycheck
Most American paychecks cover two workweeks, and here the single most expensive misunderstanding in timesheet math shows up: the two weeks never merge. Each one is calculated on its own, overtime included, and only the finished dollar amounts get added. Take an employee at $20 an hour who logs 43.5 hours the first week and 36.5 the second. Week one pays 40 regular hours ($800) plus 3.5 overtime hours at $30 ($105), for $905. Week two pays 36.5 straight hours, $730. The paycheck is $1,635. Averaging the two weeks to a tidy 80 hours would pay $1,600 and quietly delete the overtime premium, which is exactly why the FLSA forbids doing it that way. If your employer's pay period is semimonthly instead of biweekly, the workweeks still stay intact; a week that straddles two pay periods just gets split across two checks.
Mistakes the formula will not catch for you
The subtraction itself is grade-school math, so nearly every wrong timesheet total comes from what got fed into it. The classic is treating clock times as decimals: 17:15 minus 8:45 done as 17.15 minus 8.45 gives 8.70, and the correct answer is 8.50, because 30 leftover minutes is half an hour, not 30 hundredths.
Two subtler ones involve breaks. Deducting a lunch that the clock already excluded (because you punched out for it) removes the same half hour twice. And deducting a paid 15-minute rest break removes time the law says stays on the clock; short breaks under 20 minutes are compensable and never belong in the deduction column.
Last, the AM/PM trap, which is why every step on this page insists on 24-hour notation. A "6:00" with no meridiem on a handwritten sheet has ended more than one payroll Friday early.
When your total and payroll's total disagree
Recompute yours first, from the raw punches, in minutes. Then check the two usual suspects: a rounding policy you forgot to apply, and an automatic lunch deduction you did not know existed. Those two explain the bulk of small gaps. If a gap survives that check, raise it with payroll in writing, with your day-by-day numbers attached; specific beats indignant every time. Employers must keep payroll records for three years under FLSA recordkeeping rules, so the source data exists to compare against. A discrepancy that repeats in the same direction week after week is the one worth escalating, up to the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division if it comes to that.
Log the whole week at once
Daily totals roll up into a weekly figure automatically.