Current for 2026·As of: August 2026

Work Hours Calculator 2026 weekly working time.

Enter clock-in and clock-out times from Monday to Sunday – the calculator subtracts breaks and shows your week in decimal hours and in hours:minutes

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Work Hours Calculator

Log clock-in and clock-out times for a full week, subtract breaks – results in decimal hours and in hours:minutes.

Working times from Monday to Sunday

Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun

Target hours and pay

Shows overtime or a shortfall against your contractual weekly hours.

Applies your gross hourly rate to the hours you logged.

Weekly working time

40 h

40:00 hours:minutes across 5 working days

Average per working day

8 h

Breaks total

150 min

Time on site

42:30

Comparison with your target

Target met exactly0:00

Target 40 h

Breakdown by day

  • Monday8:00 · 8 h
  • Tuesday8:00 · 8 h
  • Wednesday8:00 · 8 h
  • Thursday8:00 · 8 h
  • Friday8:00 · 8 h
  • SaturdayNo working time logged for this day.
  • SundayNo working time logged for this day.

Important note

These calculations are for non-binding information only and do not replace professional tax advice. All information without guarantee. Learn more

Sources & calculation basis

Our calculations are based on the following official sources (as of: August 2026):

Calculating working time: time on site minus breaks

The formula is simple: clock-out minus clock-in minus break. What makes it awkward in practice is that hours and minutes do not add up like decimals. 8:45 is not 8.45 hours but 8.75. That single conversion is where most handwritten timesheets go wrong.

This calculator handles both sides: it sums the week to the minute and returns the result twice – as decimal hours (how payroll systems and time accounts calculate) and as hours:minutes (how a timesheet reads). Shifts running past midnight are detected automatically and counted towards the shift that started them.

What the work hours calculator does

A whole week at a glance
Monday to Sunday with individual times and an individual break per day
Decimal hours and hh:mm
Both formats side by side – no mental arithmetic required
Night shifts past midnight
An end time before the start time is treated as a shift running past midnight
Target comparison and pay
Overtime or shortfall against your contractual week, optionally with an hourly rate

Three weeks from real life

Full time: Monday to Friday 08:00–16:30, 30-minute break

Full time: Monday to Friday 08:00–16:30, 30-minute break
ItemAmount
Time on site per day8:30 hours
Break per day30 minutes
Working time per day8:00 hours
Weekly working time in decimal hours40.00 hours
Difference from the 40-hour target0.00 hours

Overtime week: Monday to Friday 08:00–17:30, 45-minute break, €20 per hour

Overtime week: Monday to Friday 08:00–17:30, 45-minute break, €20 per hour
ItemAmount
Working time per day8:45 hours
Weekly working time in decimal hours43.75 hours
Overtime against the 40-hour target3.75 hours
Gross pay for the week€875.00
Projected to a month€3,804.79

Shift week: four nights plus Saturday, 21:30–06:00 each, 45-minute break

Shift week: four nights plus Saturday, 21:30–06:00 each, 45-minute break
ItemAmount
Time on site per night8:30 hours
Working time per night7:45 hours
Weekly working time in decimal hours38.75 hours
Difference from the 38.5-hour target0.25 hours

Decimal hours: the conversion timesheets get wrong

  1. 15 minutes are 0.25 hours: A quarter of an hour is a quarter of 1.00 – not 0.15.
  2. 30 minutes are 0.50 hours: The half hour is the one case almost everybody gets right.
  3. 45 minutes are 0.75 hours: Three quarters of an hour: 45 divided by 60 is 0.75.
  4. In general: minutes divided by 60: 8:20 becomes 8 + 20/60 = 8.33 decimal hours.

What the German Working Hours Act requires

The calculator also checks your week against two core rules of the German Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz, ArbZG). Under Section 3 ArbZG daily working time may not exceed eight hours; it may be extended to up to ten hours provided that the average over six calendar months, or over 24 weeks, stays within eight hours per working day. Ten hours a day is therefore the absolute ceiling – and only if the balancing period is genuinely observed.

Section 4 ArbZG requires rest breaks of at least 30 minutes for more than six up to nine hours of working time, and 45 minutes above nine hours. Breaks may be split into blocks of at least 15 minutes each, and nobody may work more than six consecutive hours without a break. The calculator flags a break that falls below these thresholds.

Note that these flags are a plausibility check, not legal advice. Collective agreements, works agreements and the exemptions in Sections 7 and 14 ArbZG may set different rules. The duty to record working time itself follows from Section 3 (2) no. 1 of the Occupational Safety Act as interpreted by the Federal Labour Court (decision of 13 September 2022, 1 ABR 22/21): employers must record the start and end of daily working time, and under that decision the record need not be electronic. Independently of this, Section 16 (2) ArbZG requires hours worked beyond the regular daily limit of Section 3 sentence 1 to be recorded and kept for at least two years.

Timesheets, overtime, hourly pay

For a single day the hours calculator is enough; this page is the weekly view and replaces the handwritten timesheet. How overtime plays out for tax and social security – above all with premiums for night, Sunday and public holiday work – is shown by the overtime calculator.

To find out what your working time is worth gross and net, continue with the hourly wage calculator and the gross-net calculator. Your entitlement to paid days off is calculated by the holiday entitlement calculator.

Frequently asked questions about calculating working time

Breaks, night shifts, decimal hours and overtime

Subtract the clock-in time from the clock-out time, then subtract the break. Example: 08:00 to 16:30 is 8:30 on site; minus a 30-minute break leaves 8:00 of working time. Across a full week it is best to add up in minutes and convert to hours only at the end – that way no rounding errors creep in.

Decimal hours express working time as a decimal number: the minutes are divided by 60. 8:45 becomes 8.75 decimal hours, 8:20 becomes 8.33. Payroll systems, time accounts and project billing almost always use decimal hours, while timesheets use hours:minutes. The calculator shows both at once.

No. Rest breaks under Section 4 ArbZG interrupt working time and are neither paid nor credited. Only short interruptions of less than 15 minutes do not qualify as a rest break – those still count as working time. On-call time is a special case and is not covered here.

As a rule eight hours per working day under Section 3 ArbZG. An extension to up to ten hours is permitted provided the average over six calendar months or 24 weeks stays within eight hours per working day. Beyond ten hours, only the exemptions in Sections 7 and 14 ArbZG apply, for example on a collective-agreement basis.

At least 30 minutes for more than six up to nine hours of working time, and at least 45 minutes above nine hours (Section 4 ArbZG). The break may be split into blocks of at least 15 minutes each. Nobody may work more than six consecutive hours without a rest break.

If the clock-out time falls before the clock-in time, the shift runs past midnight: add 24 hours to the end time. 21:30 to 06:00 therefore becomes 8:30 on site. The calculator detects this automatically and counts the hours after midnight towards the shift that started them.

Overtime is the difference between the hours actually worked and the weekly hours agreed in your contract. Enter your target weekly hours and the calculator shows overtime or a shortfall directly. Whether those hours are paid out or taken as time off, and which premiums apply, is set by your employment contract and any collective agreement.

Yes. In its decision of 13 September 2022 (1 ABR 22/21) the Federal Labour Court derived from Section 3 (2) no. 1 of the Occupational Safety Act the duty to record the start and end of daily working time; the record does not have to be electronic. Section 16 (2) ArbZG additionally requires hours worked beyond the regular daily limit to be recorded and kept for at least two years. This calculator does not replace a company time-recording system, but it helps you check your own hours.

Sources & calculation basis

Our calculations are based on the following official sources (as of: August 2026):

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