Calculate the total hours and minutes between a start and end time — great for timesheets, shift work, or figuring out elapsed time. Includes an optional unpaid break deduction.
Most payroll and invoicing systems calculate pay using decimal hours rather than hours and minutes, since decimals are easier to multiply by an hourly rate. A shift of 7 hours and 30 minutes, for example, isn't 7.30 in payroll terms — it's 7.5, because 30 minutes is half of an hour. This calculator converts your result into both formats automatically, so you can read the clock-time version and still get the decimal figure a timesheet or invoice needs.
The calculator takes your start date and time and your end date and time, converts both into a single point in time, and finds the difference between them in minutes. If you've entered a break, that number of minutes is subtracted from the total before it's converted back into hours and minutes for display. If your end time is earlier in the day than your start time but you didn't change the date, the calculator assumes the shift crossed midnight and automatically adds a day — which is exactly how overnight shifts should be handled.
Say your shift starts at 9:00 AM and ends at 5:30 PM, with a 30-minute unpaid lunch break. The raw time between start and end is 8 hours and 30 minutes. Subtracting the 30-minute break leaves exactly 8 hours of paid time — or 8.0 in decimal form, ready to multiply by an hourly rate for payroll.
| Clock time | Decimal hours |
|---|---|
| 0h 15m | 0.25 |
| 0h 30m | 0.5 |
| 0h 45m | 0.75 |
| 1h 30m | 1.5 |
| 7h 45m | 7.75 |