All guides

Calculate work hours when your shift crosses midnight

A shift starting at 22:00 and ending at 06:00 lasts eight hours before breaks. The end time looks earlier only because it belongs to the following day. Make that distinction explicit when checking your timesheet.

Enter the start and end times

Open the Work Hours Calculator. In one shift row, enter 22:00 as the start and 06:00 as the end, or use your browser's equivalent 12-hour format. Select Next day for that row. Leave unused rows completely blank.

Subtract the appropriate break minutes

Enter 30 in Break (minutes) if you need to exclude a half-hour break. Select Calculate. The example becomes seven hours and 30 minutes: eight hours between the clock times, minus 30 minutes.

Use the break treatment appropriate to the timesheet you are checking. The calculator cannot decide which breaks count toward your recorded working time.

Read decimal hours correctly

Seven hours and 30 minutes is 7.50 decimal hours, not 7.30. Convert minutes by dividing them by 60: 30 / 60 = 0.50. Similarly, seven hours and 45 minutes is 7.75 hours.

The tool calculates totals in minutes and displays decimal hours rounded to two decimal places. If another system asks for hours and minutes, use that result rather than entering a decimal number into a minutes field.

Add the remaining shifts

Enter each additional shift on its own row, up to seven rows, and mark Next day only where it applies. Check each row's breakdown before using the total. A missing break or incorrect start time can change the weekly total even when the calculation itself is correct.

Know when clock time is not enough

This tool has no dates or time zones. A shift crossing a daylight-saving clock change may have a different elapsed duration from the displayed clock-time difference. Verify that shift separately against dated records. The calculator also does not determine wages, overtime or employment entitlements. Copy the result before leaving; it does not save a timesheet.