It’s best to name your files in a way that helps you keep them easily organized (such as by date). Remember to save your file periodically to ensure your data is safely stored. Below the last row of the 'Total Hours' column, use the SUM function to calculate the total hours worked for the pay period.įor example, if the 'Total Hours' column ends at row 20, the formula for the total hours worked would be: =SUM(D2:D20). Next, we’ll use another formula to tally the total work hours for the pay period. Step 5: Calculate the total hours for the pay period

Select the desired time format (in this case, 'hh:mm').

Right-click on the column and choose 'Format Cells.'.

Select the 'Total Hours' column (column D) and format it as a time format.

Now, we need to change how the hours worked are formatted. That’s because cell B2 is your start time, cell C2 is your end time, and cell D2 is the total hours worked. If you’ve formatted your spreadsheet per our instructions, you can simply enter the formula =C2-B2 into cell D2. Subtract the start time from the end time to get the duration of work. In the 'Total Hours' column, use a formula to calculate the hours worked for each day.

In the 'End Time' column, enter the corresponding end time for each workday.

In the 'Start Time' column, enter the start time for each workday.

In the 'Date' column, enter the dates for each workday.

Either way, here’s how to fill out the spreadsheet: If you’re processing payroll for employees, you’ll need to obtain this data from your workers. If you’re a freelancer, we recommend you record your working times throughout the pay period.

Name the fourth column 'Total Hours' to calculate the hours worked for each day.

Name the third column 'End Time' to record the end time of each work period.

Name the second column 'Start Time' to record the start time of each work period.

Name the first column 'Date' to track the dates worked.

Step 1: Set up your spreadsheetįirst, you’ll need to create a new workbook - we like Microsoft Excel, but these instructions should also work for Google Sheets. If you’re an independent contractor, you’ll create a spreadsheet for each client and pay period.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to create multiple spreadsheets to reflect each worker and pay period. One of the most common ways to track hours worked is with spreadsheets. There are two main ways to do this: You can use spreadsheet software (like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel), or you can use an online time clock. Whether you’re an independent contractor creating an invoice or responsible for the payroll of an entire company, using software to keep track of hours worked is a great convenience. How to Calculate Employee Hours Using Software If you’d like to streamline this process, modern technology can help. If you’re processing payroll for a staff of any size, manually adding hours worked quickly becomes time-consuming. That said, if you need to calculate work hours on a regular basis, the process can become quite tedious. Then, you can simply add up all the hours you calculated for the entire pay period.Ĭalculating hours worked is simple arithmetic. If you need to calculate the total hours worked for a specific pay period, you’ll repeat these steps for each day worked. Step 6: Add up the total hours worked for the pay period. If you’re a math wiz, you can convert it yourself by simply dividing the number of minutes by 60. Our decimal hour calculator can do this for you, or you can refer to our conversion chart above. Step 5: Convert the remaining time to decimal format.Ĭonvert the remaining time into decimal format for easier calculations.

For example, if you took a 30-minute, unpaid break, subtract 30 minutes from the eight hours and 15 minutes calculated earlier. If you had any unpaid breaks during your work period, subtract the duration of those breaks from the total time calculated in the previous step. For example, if you started work at 09:30 and finished at 17:45, the time difference would be eight hours and 15 minutes. To determine the length of each day worked, subtract the start time from the end time.

Add up hours