Work Hours Calculator 2026
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
Basis: German Working Hours Act (ArbZG)Calculated in your browser – nothing is stored
Target hours and payTarget 40 h · no pay rate
Working time per week
40h
40You work 40 hours (40:00) on 5 days – an average of 8 h per working day. Your target of 40 h is met exactly.
- Time on site
- 42:30 h
- Breaks total
- − 150 min
- Average per working day
- 8 h
- Target met exactlyTarget 40 h
- 0:00
RZ-26 · headon.pro
When can I finish work?
Without break, e.g. 8 or 7.8 hours
16:30
Start 08:00, 8:00 hours of work and 30 minutes of break: finish at 16:30.
Minimum break under § 4 ArbZG: more than 6 hours → 30 minutes, more than 9 hours → 45 minutes.
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
Decimal hours: the conversion timesheets get wrong
- 115 minutes are 0.25 hoursA quarter of an hour is a quarter of 1.00 – not 0.15.
- 230 minutes are 0.50 hoursThe half hour is the one case almost everybody gets right.
- 345 minutes are 0.75 hoursThree quarters of an hour: 45 divided by 60 is 0.75.
- 4In general: minutes divided by 608:20 becomes 8 + 20/60 = 8.33 decimal hours.
- Time on site per day
- 8:30 hours
- Break per day
- 30 minutes
- Working time per day
- 8:00 hours
- Weekly working time in decimal hours
- 40.00 hours
- Difference from the 40-hour target
- 0.00 hours
- Working time per day
- 8:45 hours
- Weekly working time in decimal hours
- 43.75 hours
- Overtime against the 40-hour target
- 3.75 hours
- Gross pay for the week
- €875.00
- Projected to a month
- €3,804.79
- Time on site per night
- 8:30 hours
- Working time per night
- 7:45 hours
- Weekly working time in decimal hours
- 38.75 hours
- Difference from the 38.5-hour target
- 0.25 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
How do I calculate my working time correctly?
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.
What are decimal hours?
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.
Do breaks count as working time?
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.
How many hours a day am I allowed to work?
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.
How long does my break have to be?
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.
How do I calculate a night shift running past midnight?
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.
How do I calculate overtime?
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.
Is my employer obliged to record working time?
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.