How to Use the Timesheet Calculator
- Pick your pay period. A week gives you seven rows; a fortnight gives fourteen and moves the overtime threshold to 76 hours. Add or remove rows for a roster that does not fit either.
- Enter start and finish times. Use the 24-hour clock. Leave a day blank if you did not work it — blank rows are ignored rather than counted as zero-hour days.
- Put unpaid breaks in minutes. A 30-minute lunch is
30. Paid rest breaks stay in your hours, so leave them out. - Add your hourly rate and tick casual loading if you are engaged as a casual.
- Set the overtime rules to match your award — the threshold, the width of the first overtime band, and the two multipliers are all editable.
Each row shows its own daily total, and the running weekly total updates as you type. Refreshing the page will not lose your work.
Decimal Hours vs Hours and Minutes
Payroll systems store time as decimal hours, not hours and minutes. That is why a payslip can say 7.5 for a shift you think of as seven and a half hours, and 7.25 for one you think of as seven fifteen. The conversion is simply minutes divided by 60.
The trap: 7.5 hours is 7 hours 30 minutes, not 7 hours 50 minutes. Reading decimal hours as h:mm overstates every shift that has a part-hour in it.
| Minutes | h:mm | Decimal hours | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 min | 0:06 | 0.1 h | The smallest increment many payroll systems record |
| 10 min | 0:10 | 0.167 h | — |
| 15 min | 0:15 | 0.25 h | A quarter of an hour |
| 20 min | 0:20 | 0.333 h | — |
| 30 min | 0:30 | 0.5 h | The usual unpaid meal break |
| 40 min | 0:40 | 0.667 h | — |
| 45 min | 0:45 | 0.75 h | Three quarters of an hour |
| 50 min | 0:50 | 0.833 h | — |
| 60 min | 1:00 | 1 h | One full hour |
Shifts That Finish After Midnight
This is where most timesheet tools quietly break. If you subtract a 6:00 am finish from a 10:00 pm start you get minus sixteen hours. A calculator that does not detect the day boundary either drops the shift or, worse, subtracts it from your week.
The rule this calculator follows: if the finish time is earlier than the start time, the shift crosses midnight and a full day is added before the subtraction. So 10:00 pm to 6:00 am is 8 hours, and with a 30-minute unpaid break it is 7.5 hours (7:30). Rows that cross midnight are marked +1 day so you can see the calculator read it the way you meant.
The mirror-image mistake matters too. A finish time equal to the start time is a zero-length shift, not a 24-hour one — 9:00 am to 9:00 am is treated as nothing worked, because nobody types that meaning a full day.
Unpaid Breaks
Unpaid meal breaks come off your paid hours. A 9:00 am to 5:00 pm shift spans 8 hours, but with a 30-minute unpaid lunch you are paid 7.5 hours (7:30). That single half hour is 2.5 hours a week, or roughly 130 hours a year.
Shorter rest or tea breaks are usually paid under an award and stay inside your hours — do not enter those. If you were required to stay on site, keep a radio on, or remain available during a break, it may still count as time worked; the treatment varies by award, so check yours.
A break can never be longer than the shift it sits in. Enter one that is and the calculator caps it at the length of the shift and flags the row, rather than producing negative hours.
Overtime — Your Award Sets the Threshold
There is no single national overtime rule. The National Employment Standards set 38 ordinary hours a week for a full-time employee, but when overtime starts and what it pays comes from the modern award or enterprise agreement that covers you.
Three common patterns, none of which is universal:
- Weekly threshold. Hours past 38 in a week attract overtime. This is the calculator’s default and the easiest to reason about.
- Banded multipliers. The Hospitality Award pays the first two hours of overtime at time and a half and everything after at double time. Set the first band to 2 hours, 1.5× and 2× to model it.
- Day-dependent bands. The Retail Award bands overtime differently from Monday to Saturday than on a Sunday, so a single weekly threshold will not capture it exactly.
Many awards also trigger overtime on a daily limit, on work outside the rostered span of hours, or on a day you were not rostered — none of which a weekly total can see. Read the overtime and penalty rates guide before you rely on a figure, and use the dedicated overtime pay calculator if you only need to price the overtime portion.
Worked Example: A 46.25-Hour Week
Two early shifts, an evening, two nights that run past midnight and a short Saturday, on a base rate of $32.00 an hour:
| Day | Start | Finish | Break | Paid hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 07:00 | 15:30 | 30 min | 8 h |
| Tuesday | 07:00 | 15:30 | 30 min | 8 h |
| Wednesday | 12:00 | 21:00 | 45 min | 8.25 h |
| Thursday | 22:00 | 06:30 (+1 day) | 30 min | 8 h |
| Friday | 22:00 | 06:30 (+1 day) | 30 min | 8 h |
| Saturday | 10:00 | 16:00 | — | 6 h |
| Sunday | — | — | — | — |
| Weekly total | 46.25 h · 46:15 | |||
At $32.00 an hour with the default overtime rules — 38 ordinary hours, then 2 hours at 1.5× and the rest at 2× — that week prices out as:
| Ordinary — 38 h at $32.00 | $1,216.00 |
| Overtime — 2 h at 1.5× | $96.00 |
| Overtime — 6.25 h at 2× | $400.00 |
| Gross for the week | $1,712.00 |
Gross, before PAYG tax and superannuation. Overtime thresholds shown are the calculator defaults, not a statement of award entitlements.
Casual Loading on Top of Your Hours
Casual employees receive a 25% loading on their ordinary hourly rate in place of paid annual leave, paid personal leave and notice of termination. Tick the casual box and the calculator lifts the rate before applying any overtime multiplier — $32.00 becomes $40.00.
How loading and overtime combine is award-specific, and the two biggest casual-employing awards do it in opposite directions. Under the General Retail Industry Award the casual loading is included in overtime, so casual overtime is 175% against 150% for a permanent employee. Under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award it is not — overtime is computed on the ordinary hourly rate, which excludes the loading, so a casual and a full-time employee on the same classification are paid identical overtime. If your award works the hospitality way, leave the casual box unticked and enter the loaded rate manually for the ordinary hours. Our full-time vs part-time vs casual guide covers what you trade away for the loading.
Keeping Your Own Timesheet
Employers must keep time and wages records for seven years under the Fair Work Act, including hours worked by casual and irregular part-time employees, overtime hours, and the start and finish times of any period attracting a penalty rate or loading. You are entitled to ask for a copy of your own records.
Keeping your own parallel record is still the fastest way to catch an underpayment. Note the date, start and finish times, and every unpaid break as you go — reconstructing a roster from memory three months later rarely survives a dispute. Use the Copy summary button to paste a week into an email or a note, or Print timesheet for a paper copy.
If the totals do not match your payslip, our payslip guide explains what each line should show.
Related Calculators
- Overtime Pay Calculator — price time and a half, double time and public holiday rates
- Overtime & Penalty Rates Guide — how the thresholds actually work award by award
- Hourly to Annual Salary Calculator — turn an hourly rate into a yearly figure
- Take-Home Pay Calculator — gross to net after tax, Medicare and super
- Retail Award Rates — General Retail Industry Award minimums
- Hospitality Award Rates — Hospitality Industry (General) Award minimums
Frequently Asked Questions
Work hours calculator questions and answers
How do I calculate my work hours?
Take the finish time away from the start time, then subtract any unpaid break. A 9:00 am to 5:00 pm shift is 8 hours, less a 30-minute unpaid lunch, which leaves 7:30 — 7.5 hours in the decimal format payroll systems use. Do that for every day, then add the daily totals together for the week. The calculator above does all of it, including days that finish after midnight.
How does the calculator handle a shift that finishes after midnight?
If the finish time is earlier than the start time, the shift is treated as crossing midnight and a full day is added before the subtraction. A shift from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am is eight hours, not minus sixteen. This is the single most common bug in timesheet tools, so it is covered by automated tests. Rows that cross midnight are flagged with a "+1 day" marker so you can see the calculator understood what you meant.
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60. 15 minutes is 0.25 hours, 30 minutes is 0.5, and 45 minutes is 0.75. The mistake to avoid is reading a decimal figure as hours and minutes: 7.5 hours is 7 hours 30 minutes, not 7 hours 50 minutes, and 7.25 hours is 7:15. The calculator shows both formats side by side so you can check a payslip that uses either.
Should unpaid breaks be deducted from my hours?
Yes, if the break is unpaid. A meal break taken under most awards is unpaid and does not count as time worked, so it comes off your paid hours. Shorter rest or tea breaks are usually paid and stay in. If you were required to stay on site or remain available during a break, it may still count as work — check your award or agreement, because the treatment varies.
How many hours is a full-time week in Australia?
38 hours. The National Employment Standards set maximum weekly hours for a full-time employee at 38 ordinary hours, plus reasonable additional hours. Part-time employees work fewer agreed hours with the same entitlements pro rata, and casuals have no guaranteed hours at all.
When does overtime start?
It depends on your award or enterprise agreement, not on a single national rule. 38 ordinary hours a week is the usual reference point, but many awards also trigger overtime on a daily limit, on hours outside the rostered span, or on work on a day you were not rostered. The multiplier varies too — the Hospitality Award pays the first two hours at time and a half then double time, while the Retail Award bands overtime differently from Monday to Saturday. The calculator lets you set the threshold and both multipliers so you can match your own award.
Do casual employees get the 25% loading on overtime hours?
The 25% casual loading applies to a casual's ordinary hourly rate in place of paid leave. How it interacts with overtime is award-specific: some awards calculate overtime on the base rate plus loading, others compound the loading and the overtime multiplier differently, and a few pay overtime on the ordinary rate alone. This calculator applies the loading first and then the overtime multiplier, which matches the common approach — verify it against your award before relying on the figure.
Is 9am to 5pm eight hours or seven and a half?
The span is eight hours. Whether you are paid for eight depends on the break. With a 30-minute unpaid lunch you are paid 7.5 hours; with a 60-minute unpaid lunch, 7 hours. Many salaried roles describe themselves as "9 to 5" while actually paying 7.6 hours a day, which is the standard 38-hour week spread over five days.
How long does my employer have to keep timesheet records?
Seven years. The Fair Work Act requires employers to keep time and wages records for seven years, including hours worked where an employee is casual or irregular part-time, overtime hours, and the start and finish times of any penalty-rate or loading period. Employees are entitled to ask for a copy of their own records. Keeping your own timesheet is still worth doing — it is the fastest way to spot an underpayment.
Does this calculator work out my take-home pay?
No — it works out gross pay for the period, before PAYG tax, study loan repayments and superannuation. At the $26.44 national minimum wage, a 38-hour week is $1,004.90 gross. Put that gross figure into the take-home pay calculator to see the net amount.
Is my timesheet saved anywhere?
Only in your own browser. Entries are stored in this device's local storage so a part-filled timesheet survives a refresh or an accidental tab close. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is tied to an account, and the "Clear timesheet" button wipes the saved copy immediately.
How this calculator works▼
Each row is converted to minutes past midnight and subtracted. When the finish time is earlier than the start time a full day (1,440 minutes) is added first, which is what makes overnight shifts work; an identical start and finish is treated as a zero-length shift rather than 24 hours. The unpaid break is then deducted, capped at the length of the shift so a break longer than the shift produces zero paid time rather than a negative. Totals are reported in decimal hours rounded to two places and in h:mm.
The 38-hour ordinary week and the 25% casual loading are read from the site’s single employment constants file, so they cannot drift from the rest of the site. Overtime thresholds and multipliers are user inputs with common defaults, not statements of award entitlement — the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement governs when overtime starts and what it pays. The time arithmetic is covered by automated tests including the overnight, zero-length, over-long-break, exactly-38-hour and decimal-to-h:mm cases.
Results are gross, before PAYG withholding, study loan repayments and superannuation. Nothing you enter leaves your browser; the timesheet is held in local storage on this device only.
Sources & References
- 1Hours of work, breaks and rosters— Fair Work Ombudsman
- 2Overtime pay— Fair Work Ombudsman
- 3Record-keeping and pay slips— Fair Work Ombudsman
Last verified: 28 July 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.
Penny Ward
Verified AuthorEmployment & Workplace Rights Editor
B.Com (Hons), Cert IV Financial Planning
Penny is a financial journalist and workplace compliance specialist with over a decade of experience writing about Australian employment law, Fair Work entitlements, and payroll. She has contributed to publications covering industrial relations and personal finance, and previously advised small businesses on award interpretation and pay compliance.
Areas of Expertise