Add multiple shift durations and estimate pay from total worked hours.
This tool provides estimates for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Individual results vary based on personal circumstances and assumptions.
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Whether you need to total up a week's worth of work shifts, calculate how many hours you've put into a project, or figure out your pay from an hourly rate, an hours calculator saves you from the awkward mental gymnastics of adding hours and minutes by hand. Time math is surprisingly tricky because it does not follow the decimal system — 90 minutes is 1 hour 30 minutes, not 1.90 hours. This guide explains how to add hours and minutes correctly, how to use this calculator for timesheets and payroll, how overtime works in the USA and UK, and how to convert between hours and decimals.
Most people get tripped up the first time they try to add worked hours manually. The reason is simple: hours and minutes use a base-60 system, not base-10. When you add 4 hours 45 minutes and 3 hours 30 minutes, you get 7 hours 75 minutes — which you then need to convert to 8 hours 15 minutes. If you are adding across five or six shifts, those small conversions pile up fast.
The correct approach to adding time manually:
Example: Three shifts of 7h 45m, 6h 30m, and 8h 15m. Minutes: 45 + 30 + 15 = 90 minutes = 1 hour 30 minutes. Hours: 7 + 6 + 8 + 1 (carried over) = 22 hours. Total: 22 hours 30 minutes.
This calculator does that automatically. Enter each shift start and end time, add a break deduction, and get an instant total with no mental effort needed.
This tool handles up to four shifts per day, a break deduction, and a pay rate. Here is the typical workflow for a weekly timesheet:
For a full five-day week with the same hours each day, use the day multiplier rather than entering each day separately. For varied schedules — common in retail, hospitality, and healthcare — enter each shift individually for an accurate total.
Many payroll systems require hours in decimal format rather than hours and minutes. Decimal hours are also needed for rate calculations — you cannot multiply 7h 45m by a dollar or pound amount directly. The conversion formula is simple: divide the minutes by 60 and add to the whole hours.
To reverse the process, take the decimal portion and multiply by 60: 7.5 hours → 0.5 × 60 = 30 minutes → 7 hours 30 minutes. 8.75 hours → 0.75 × 60 = 45 minutes → 8 hours 45 minutes.
In the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that non-exempt employees be paid at least 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for all hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek. This applies to most hourly workers and many salaried workers below certain pay thresholds.
Overtime pay calculation example: Regular rate is $18/hour. Hours worked this week are 47. Regular pay: 40 × $18 = $720. Overtime pay: 7 × ($18 × 1.5) = 7 × $27 = $189. Total gross pay: $720 + $189 = $909.
The UK does not have a statutory right to paid overtime in the same direct way the US does. However, the Working Time Regulations 1998 cap most workers at an average of 48 hours per week — though workers can opt out of this cap by signing a written agreement.
Use our Salary Calculator to check your effective hourly rate including any unpaid overtime, and our Take-Home Paycheck Calculator to estimate your net pay after income tax and National Insurance deductions.
Different industries have standard shift patterns that workers need to calculate regularly. Here are real-world examples for the most common sectors.
Shifts are often 5 to 8 hours with a 30-minute unpaid break. A typical week in retail might look like: Monday 9:00–17:00 (7.5 paid hours), Wednesday 12:00–20:30 (8 paid hours), Friday 8:00–16:30 (8 paid hours), Saturday 10:00–15:00 (5 paid hours). Total: 28.5 hours. At $15 per hour, that is $427.50 gross before taxes. UK equivalent at £11.44 per hour (NLW April 2024): £325.99 gross.
12-hour shifts are standard — typically 07:00 to 19:00 or 19:00 to 07:00, with a 1-hour break usually deducted. Three shifts per week gives 33 paid hours. Many NHS nursing contracts in the UK and US hospital roles include enhanced pay for night shifts, weekend working, and bank holidays, which this calculator does not factor in — but you can use the basic rate as a baseline.
A standard 9-to-5 day with a 1-hour unpaid lunch break equals 7 paid hours. Five days at 7 hours gives 35 hours per week. Many salaried workers regularly exceed their contracted hours without overtime pay — this calculator helps track the gap between contracted hours and actual time worked.
Early starts are common in this sector — a 7:00 to 15:30 shift with a 30-minute break equals 8 paid hours. On busy weeks with weekend work, total hours can easily exceed 50, making overtime calculations particularly important. Subcontractors on day rates rather than hourly rates use this differently — often to verify quoted project hours against actual time on site.
Freelancers and consultants often charge by the hour and need to accurately log time across multiple clients. Using this calculator to total daily hours and multiply by a rate gives you a quick invoice total before adding expenses.
Once you have your total hours in decimal format, the pay calculation is simple multiplication:
This calculator provides estimated gross pay before any deductions. For your actual take-home amount after income tax, National Insurance (UK), Social Security and Medicare (US), student loan repayments, pension contributions, and other deductions, use our dedicated paycheck tools.
Part-time workers often have the most varied schedules — a few hours here, a half-day there, different days each week. This calculator handles irregular schedules just as well as regular ones. Simply enter each shift as a separate row.
If you work two jobs simultaneously, run the calculator separately for each employer. In the US, overtime is calculated per employer — hours at Job A do not count toward overtime at Job B unless both jobs are with the same employer. In the UK, the 48-hour week cap technically applies to total hours across all employment, but enforcement across multiple employers is complex.
These reference figures are useful for converting between hourly and annual pay:
To convert an annual salary to an hourly rate, divide by 2,080 (US) or 1,950 (UK standard). Use our Salary Calculator to do this automatically with all unit conversions and state tax estimates.
Add minutes: 45 + 50 = 95 minutes = 1 hour 35 minutes. Add hours: 2 + 3 + 1 (carried) = 6. Total: 6 hours 35 minutes.
7 hours 30 minutes. The decimal 0.5 × 60 = 30 minutes.
8:00 to 17:00 is 8 hours. With a 1-hour unpaid lunch, paid time is 7 hours. A 5-day week of 9-to-5 with 1-hour lunches equals 35 paid hours.
Each day: 8 hours minus 30 minutes = 7.5 paid hours. Over 5 days: 7.5 × 5 = 37.5 paid hours.
$18 × 1.5 = $27 per hour overtime rate.
Divide by 60: 45 ÷ 60 = 0.75. So 8 hours 45 minutes = 8.75 decimal hours.
Yes. If your end time is earlier than your start time, the calculator treats it as crossing midnight. A shift from 22:00 to 06:00 is correctly calculated as 8 hours.
In the US, full-time is typically 40 hours per week under the FLSA definition. In the UK, full-time is commonly 37 to 40 hours per week depending on sector and contract terms.
Multiply the monthly salary by 12 to get the annual figure, divide by 52 for a weekly amount, then divide by your contracted weekly hours. Our Salary Calculator handles this automatically.
Yes. Time and a half means 1.5 times your regular rate. For an $18/hour worker, time and a half is $27/hour for all overtime hours beyond 40 per week.
Disclaimer: This calculator provides gross estimates for informational purposes. Pay figures are before taxes, pension contributions, and other deductions. Always verify figures with your employer or payroll provider.