Work Hours CalculatorThese guides go with the work hours calculator. Read them in any order, or use the groups below to match a guide to your question. Every guide lists its sources and shows the dates it was published and updated.
Start Here
New to time card math? Begin with these two guides.
How to Calculate Work Hours in a Week
Published January 14, 2026
The base formula, 12-hour and 24-hour clocks, lunch handling, and a full worked week with pay.
How to Convert Hours and Minutes to Decimal Hours
Published April 20, 2026
Why 7:45 is 7.75 and not 7.45. A conversion chart, payroll examples, and spreadsheet formulas.
Overtime and Pay
See how overtime is figured and how your pay schedule shapes each check.
How Overtime Pay Is Calculated
Published July 17, 2026
The formula, the regular rate, and examples with bonuses, two pay rates, and salaried workers.
Weekly vs. Daily Overtime
Published June 18, 2026
What a workweek is, which states add daily limits, and how to count each hour only once.
Biweekly vs. Semimonthly Pay
Published February 26, 2026
How each schedule works, how to total a pay period, and where overtime lands on your check.
Breaks, Shifts, and Rounding
These rules change your daily total before pay is even figured.
Paid vs. Unpaid Breaks
Published February 9, 2026
Federal rules, state meal and rest laws, and how breaks change your weekly total.
How to Calculate Overnight and Night Shift Hours
Published September 12, 2026
The add-24-hours method, clock changes, night differentials, and 12 hour patterns.
The 7 Minute Rule and Payroll Time Rounding
Published July 31, 2026
How quarter hour rounding works, when it stops being fair, and how to test your own card.
Avoid Costly Errors
This one is a checklist of what goes wrong and how to fix it.
Common Time Card Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Published August 16, 2026
The errors that quietly shorten paychecks, what each costs, and how to ask for a correction.
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