Time card calculator
Payroll runs on decimal hours, and this is where hand-written time cards go wrong. Eight hours thirty is 8.5, not 8.30. Fifteen minutes is 0.25, twenty minutes is 0.33, and forty minutes is 0.67. Entering 8.30 instead of 8.5 underpays by twelve minutes a day, which is about an hour a week. Small enough to go unnoticed and large enough to matter over a year.
Hours worked are clock-out minus clock-in, less unpaid breaks. Nine to five-thirty with a thirty-minute break is 8 hours; 8.0 in decimal hours, which is what payroll needs rather than 8:00. In week mode, 46 hours at 22 an hour with time and a half over 40 comes to 1,078 — an effective 23.43 an hour.
How to work out a time card
Payroll runs on decimal hours, and that is where hand-written time cards go wrong. Eight hours thirty is 8.5, never 8.30. Fifteen minutes is 0.25, twenty is 0.33, forty is 0.67. Writing 8.30 for a shift that ran eight and a half hours loses twelve minutes a day, close to an hour a week: small enough to pass unnoticed and large enough to matter across a year.
Daily or weekly changes the answer
Whether overtime is measured by the day or by the week moves the figure materially. The US Fair Labor Standards Act sets a 40-hour week for covered non-exempt employees, so four ten-hour days attract no federal overtime at all. Several states, California among them, add a daily threshold of eight hours, under which the same four days generate eight hours of overtime. European working time rules take a different shape again, capping average weekly hours and mandating rest periods instead of setting a premium rate. Match the threshold field to the rule that governs your contract; leaving it at the default is the difference between an accurate figure and a confident wrong one.
What the effective rate tells you
The effective-rate row in week mode is worth reading before agreeing to a rota change. Six hours of overtime on a forty-hour week lifts the average rate by roughly 6.5%, not by 50%, because the premium applies only to the extra hours. Layer income tax on top of that, particularly where the additional pay crosses a bracket, and the marginal value of an overtime hour falls further. That last part is a payroll and tax question rather than an arithmetic one, but it is the one worth asking before the rota is agreed.
Thresholds, multipliers and which roles count as exempt are all set by law and by contract, and they change. The figures here follow whatever you type into the threshold and multiplier fields; they are not a statement about your entitlement.
What people use it for
- Checking a payslip against hours actually worked
- Filling in a weekly timesheet
- Splitting a busy week into regular, time and a half and double time
- Deciding whether extra hours are worth taking
- Working out overtime on a long shift
- Converting hours and minutes to decimal for payroll
Questions
Divide the minutes by 60. Thirty minutes is 0.5, twenty is 0.33, forty-five is 0.75.
One and a half times the normal rate for hours above the threshold. A 20 rate becomes 30 for those hours.
Commonly after 40 hours a week under US federal rules; some states also use a daily threshold of eight hours. Contracts may set their own.
Twice the normal rate, often for holidays, Sundays or hours far beyond the threshold. Enter those hours in their own field.
Yes. If clock-out is earlier than clock-in, the tool treats it as running through midnight.
It depends on the jurisdiction and contract. Short rest breaks are often paid; a proper meal break usually is not.
Federal US law uses a 40-hour week; several states also apply a daily threshold. Set the field to match your rule.
It is not taxed at a special rate, but the extra income can push part of your pay into a higher bracket, which feels the same on the payslip.
It depends on exemption status and jurisdiction. Many salaried roles are exempt, though the thresholds for exemption change periodically.
Total pay divided by every hour worked, premium hours included. It answers what the week actually paid per hour, which a headline rate does not.
Add them up and use the week mode. The shift mode covers one clock-in to clock-out, with a days-per-week multiplier for identical days.
Because payroll counts in decimal hours, where the part after the point is a fraction of sixty minutes. Eight hours thirty minutes is 8.5; 8.30 is eight hours eighteen.