Hours Worked: Your Questions Answered
These are the questions people ask most often about hours worked. Each answer is short; follow the links for the full detail.
What does a hours worked calculation tell me?
Totals a shift's paid hours after breaks.
What is the formula?
Hours = out − in − break.
What do I need to enter?
Clock in, Clock out, Unpaid break (minutes).
Does this count Singapore public holidays?
No. It counts calendar days or weekdays. Subtract any public holidays in the period yourself.
Can you show an example?
For example, with these inputs:
- Clock in: 08:30
- Clock out: 17:45
- Unpaid break (minutes): 60
the calculator returns:
- Hours worked: 8 h 15 min
- Decimal hours: 8.25 hours
Any tips?
- Notice periods in employment contracts may be counted in calendar days or working days, so read the wording carefully.
- For overnight shifts, add 24 hours when the end time is earlier than the start time.
- Decide upfront whether the end date should be counted, because it changes the answer by one day.
Background
The Gregorian calendar has months of 28 to 31 days and adds a leap day almost every four years, which makes counting days by hand surprisingly error-prone. Converting dates to day numbers and subtracting avoids the problem.
When sharing dates internationally, write the month as a word to avoid confusion between day-month and month-day formats.
Time durations are easier to handle in minutes. Convert each time to minutes after midnight, subtract, then convert back to hours and minutes, adding 24 hours for shifts that run past midnight.
Related calculations
- Add Days to a Date Calculator: Finds the date a number of days after another date.
- Subtract Days from a Date Calculator: Finds the date a number of days before another date.
- Working Days Calculator: Counts weekdays between two dates, inclusive.
- Day of the Week Calculator: Tells you which weekday any date falls on.
Try it yourself with the Hours Worked Calculator.
Run your own numbers: Hours Worked Calculator