The short answer
- Divide the minutes by 60 to get the decimal part: 45 minutes is 0.75 hours.
- Take unpaid breaks off each day before adding up the week.
- A finish time earlier than the start time means the shift ran past midnight.
- Multiply decimal hours by the hourly rate to get gross pay.
Converting minutes to decimal hours
- Time from start to finish8 hours 25 minutes
- Less the break7 hours 40 minutes
- 40 minutes ÷ 600.67
7:40 is not 7.40
Writing 7 hours 40 minutes as 7.40 underpays by 16 minutes. Going the other way, 7.6 hours is 7 hours 36 minutes.
Conversion table
| Minutes | Decimal | Minutes | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0.083 | 35 | 0.583 |
| 10 | 0.167 | 40 | 0.667 |
| 15 | 0.25 | 45 | 0.75 |
| 20 | 0.333 | 50 | 0.833 |
| 25 | 0.417 | 55 | 0.917 |
| 30 | 0.5 | 60 | 1 |
Working out a weekly total
- Monday to Thursday: 8 hours a day32.0
- Friday6.5
- Total in hours and minutes38:30
At the UK National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour, 38.5 hours is £489.34 before tax. At $15 an hour in the US, the same week is $577.50.
Night shifts
If a shift runs past midnight, add 24 hours to the finish time before subtracting. A shift from 22:00 to 06:30 with a 30-minute break is 8 hours. The calculator does this automatically when the finish time is earlier than the start time.
Night workers have extra protections, including a limit of 8 hours in 24 on average and free health assessments.
Breaks and the law in the UK
- During the day
- 20 minutes if working more than 6 hours
- Between shifts
- 11 hours
- Weekly
- 24 hours a week, or 48 a fortnight
- During the day
- 30 minutes if working more than 4.5 hours
- Between shifts
- 12 hours
- Weekly
- 48 hours
Breaks do not have to be paid unless your contract says so. Enter only unpaid breaks in the calculator.
Overtime
In the UK there is no legal right to extra pay for overtime. Your contract sets whether overtime is paid, at what rate, and after how many hours, and your average pay for all hours worked must not fall below the minimum wage. In the US the rules are stricter: see the section on US rules below.
- Total hours44.5
- 40 hours at £12.71£508.40
- 4.5 hours at £19.07£85.79
From hours to pay
Gross pay is decimal hours times the hourly rate, plus any overtime premium. Tax and National Insurance come off afterwards. The salary calculator shows take-home pay, and the minimum wage checker confirms the legal minimum for your age.
Rounding and clocking in
Some employers round clock-in times to the nearest 5 or 15 minutes. Rounding must not leave workers paid below the minimum wage for the time they actually work. Time spent on required tasks such as security checks, putting on uniform or compulsory training usually counts as working time.
Working time limits in the UK
Most workers cannot be made to work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally over 17 weeks, unless they opt out in writing. Workers under 18 cannot work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Some jobs, such as the armed forces and some transport roles, have different rules.
Keeping records
Keep your own record of start, finish and break times. If your pay looks wrong, your record helps you raise it with your employer, and employers must keep records showing they pay at least the minimum wage, usually for 6 years.
Annualised and variable hours
Some contracts set hours over a year rather than a week, such as 1,950 hours a year, which is 37.5 hours a week on average. Busy weeks are balanced by quieter ones. Keeping weekly totals in decimal hours makes it easy to track how many hours you have left to work.
Holiday pay for irregular hours (UK)
Since April 2024, irregular-hours and part-year workers in Great Britain build up holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period. If you work 38.5 hours in a week, that adds about 4.65 hours of holiday. Employers can also pay this as rolled-up holiday pay of 12.07% on top of each payment, shown separately on the payslip.
Timesheets for the self-employed
Freelancers who bill by the hour should record time in decimal hours to invoice accurately. Many round to the nearest 6 or 15 minutes, as set out in their terms. At 45 an hour (in pounds, dollars or euros), 2 hours 20 minutes is 2.33 hours, or 105.
Timesheets in a spreadsheet
In Excel or Google Sheets, enter times as 09:00 and 17:30. Subtract the start from the finish, take off the break, and multiply by 24 to turn the result into decimal hours. For night shifts use =MOD(finish-start,1)*24 so the result is not negative.
| Task | Formula |
|---|---|
| Hours in a day shift | =(C2-B2)*24-D2/60 |
| Hours in a night shift | =MOD(C2-B2,1)*24-D2/60 |
| Decimal to hours and minutes | =E2/24, formatted as [h]:mm |
Zero-hours and agency work (UK)
If you work variable shifts, keep a record of every shift, including time spent waiting on site at your employer’s request, which can count as working time. Agency workers are entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as permanent staff after 12 weeks in the same role.
Checking your payslip
- Hours
- Match your own record in decimal hours
- Rate
- At least the minimum wage for your age
- Overtime
- Paid at the contract rate
- First
- Raise it with your manager or payroll
- Next
- Use the grievance procedure
- Minimum wage
- Report underpayment to HMRC
Hours and pay rules in the US
In the US, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act sets the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour and requires overtime at no less than 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, for employees who are not exempt. Many states and cities set a higher minimum wage, and some, such as California, also require overtime after 8 hours in a single day. Federal law does not require meal or rest breaks for adults, though short breaks of 5 to 20 minutes that an employer does give must be paid, and several states require meal breaks.
A 44.5-hour week at $15 an hour is 40 hours at $15 ($600) plus 4.5 hours at $22.50 ($101.25): $701.25 before tax. The overtime calculator works this out and shows the new federal deduction for overtime pay, and the paycheck calculator shows take-home pay after federal and state tax.