A reliable manual sequence
- Confirm the workweek start date and list every shift by its start day.
- Find each shift’s elapsed minutes. Mark an end time earlier than the start as next-day only when the shift truly crosses midnight.
- Subtract unpaid breaks and add split shifts for the same day.
- Add exact daily minutes into weekly totals.
- Divide the final minutes by 60 if the destination needs decimal hours.
- Apply a chosen overtime threshold to each week separately when an overtime estimate is needed.
Worked weekly example
| Day | Start–end | Unpaid break | Worked | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 9:00 AM–5:30 PM | 30 min | 8h 00m | 8.00 |
| Tue | 8:45 AM–5:15 PM | 45 min | 7h 45m | 7.75 |
| Wed | 10:00 AM–6:00 PM | 30 min | 7h 30m | 7.50 |
| Thu | 10:00 PM–6:00 AM | 30 min | 7h 30m | 7.50 |
| Fri | 9:00 AM–4:30 PM | 30 min | 7h 00m | 7.00 |
| Total | — | 165 min | 37h 45m | 37.75 |
The exact daily total is 2,265 minutes. Dividing once at the end gives 2,265 ÷ 60 = 37.75 hours.
Weekly and biweekly checks
A biweekly period is two consecutive seven-day groups. Keep week one and week two visible instead of averaging them together. If you are estimating overtime, apply the selected weekly threshold to each week separately unless the rule you are following says otherwise.
FormulaWeekly overtime estimate = max(weekly hours − chosen threshold, 0)