8-Hour workday calculator with break time and how to use it
Use our free 8-hour calculator to know when you complete your 8-hour workday. Never overwork again. Includes break time with three variations.
Across the world, 8-hour workdays and 40-hour workweeks are now a standard practice. Businesses are required by law to track employee time using a clock-in and clock-out system. This is used to generate employee timesheet.
But people often forget how long they have been working. This free 8-hour workday calculator will show you when to clock out if you enter your start time and break duration.
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Work Hours Calculator
This calculator works just like a time card. It has three variations.
If you enter start time and break duration, it will show you when to clock out. This variant shows the result in hours:minutes format.
The second variant allows you to enter the start time, break start, and break end times. It will show when you will complete 8 hours for the day.
Use the third variant to see how many hours you have worked in the day by entering start and end times. This calculator shows the result in hours:minutes.
Who needs this 8-hour workday calculator?
Today, every business follows the 8-hour workday. Using this calculator or a timesheet software will help the following professionals and businesses stay on top of employee workday:
Accountants
Agencies
Attorneys
Architects
Consultants
Software developers
BPO/Outsourcing
Staffing agencies
Call center
How do you calculate 8-hour workdays?
You calculate the checkout time by adding 8 hours to the start time. If you need to account for the break time, then you also add the break duration.
In most states in the US, small breaks for 10-15 minutes need not be accounted for. But you will need to account for the longer lunch/meal breaks. The federal labor law is does not specify any breaks for employees, but some states have laws that require employers to give breaks after 4 hours of work. Either way, you will need to work for 8 hours, in addition to the break time.
What is an 8-hour shift?
A full-time employee is normally required to work an 8-hour shift every day for five days in a week. This gives us 40 hours for a full work week. A shift means a specific 8-hour time period that an employee has to work in.
Most businesses work only during the day. Employees start their workday at 8 or 9AM and finish by 5 or 6PM. This is also called the morning shift.
Some businesses, like retail stores, have people working in afternoon shifts in addition to the morning shift. Since the stores are open till late in the evening, they have employees coming in the afternoon and work till late in the evening.
Hospitals, emergency services and some manufacturing companies operate round the clock. These businesses also have a night shift for people who work through the night.
No matter which shift you work in, you can always use this 8-hour work day calculator.
Converting between digital time and decimal hours
The calculator shows you time in hours:minutes format. You can convert it into decimal hours as follows:
15 minutes = 0.25 hours
30 minutes = 0.5 hours
45 minutes = 0.75 hours
For example, if the calculator shows 6:30 (6 hours and thirty minutes), it means 6.5 hours in decimal time.
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Federal and state rules for working 8-hour shifts
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) prohibits employers from paying wages below the legal minimum wages in the US. It also mandates that companies have to pay overtime for work done beyond 8 hours in a day.
FLSA exempts certain employees from overtime pay. Please check the exempt categories or consult your lawyer to make sure you pay overtime to covered employees and not to exempt ones.
Federal minimum wage
The current federal minimum hourly wage in the US is $7.25. This is subject to change by the Congress.
Most states have their own minimum wages that are different from the federal rate. Please check regulations in your state to ensure you’re not underpaying your employees.
Federal overtime pay
Federal law limits work to 8 hours per day. Covered employees in the US are entitled to overtime pay for work beyond 8 hours in a day. The federal overtime rate in the US is 1.5 times the regular hourly rate or higher.
If you do not keep track of hours worked by your employees, you may be on the hook for overtime pay. Start tracking your employees’ time today with HiveDesk.
California Labor and Employment Law
California, like many other states, has its own overtime laws. The law requires employers to pay 1.5 times the hourly rate for work done beyond 8 hours, up to 12 hours in a workday. Beyond this, the overtime pay increases to 2 times the regular hourly rate.
If the employee works beyond six days in a workweek, she is eligible for overtime pay at 1.5 times the base hourly pay. This is applicable to the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek. Beyond this, the overtime pay is 2 times the base rate.
These overtime rules as separate from rules governing time off for employees and paid sick leave rules.
Is the break included in an 8-hour workday?
The US federal law does not specify break time for employees. If your company allows short breaks between 5-20 minutes, the company has to pay for it.
California Meal Break & Rest Break Law (2022)
Under California meal break law, non-exempt workers who work more than 5 hours in a day must get a 30-minute uninterrupted, duty-free meal break. They are also entitled to a 10-minute uninterrupted, duty-free rest break for every 4 hours of work.
Not giving these breaks can be costly – employer will need to pay an hour’s worth of pay to the worker for each violation of the break law.
Why should you keep track of the 8-hour shift?
Knowing how many hours you’ve worked in a day helps you:
- plan the rest of our day better
- become more productive
- avoid under working or overworking
Working long hours can negatively impact your productivity and work-life balance. Similarly, working less than 8 hours can lead to lower output and loss of pay.
For a business, keeping track of employees’ time helps managers in complying with labor laws. It also provides transparency and visibility into individual employee’s work ethics.
Keeping track of time also helps you understand how you spend your time at work. This information will help you become better at managing your time and make you more productive.
How can you track your 8-hour workday?
Many businesses require employees to use a timesheet software to keep track of their time. If your company does not use a software or otherwise track time, you can do it yourself. Remember, tracking time is good for you as an employee because you can avoid overworking, claim lost overtime pay and avoid burnout. You can also use it as a proof of your work should there be any question about your workday.
You can track your 8-hour workday with paper, a mobile app, Excel, or a timecard software.
You can use our super easy 8-hour workday calculator. Just enter your start time and break details to know when you will complete your 8-hour day.
You can also use HiveDesk to track your time automatically and in more detail.
Remote/Hybrid work and its impact on the 8-hour workday
The pandemic turned most businesses into a remote workplace. But even after it, many employees continue to work from home since they already have an office setup at home. This has led to the rise of the hybrid work model, where employees are working from home for at least a few days in the week.
The work-from-home has led to a blurring of line between personal and office time. Employees are using the flexibility to do personal chore during normal work hours and working during evening at late at night. This has led to many employees overworking and burning themselves out.
On the other hand, some employees are taking undue advantage of the flexibility and working fewer hours. Tracking how many hours an employee is working from home has become a headache for managers and business owners.
More and more businesses are now turning to timesheet software for tracking employees’ time.
This is useful for both the employer and the employee. The employer benefits from the transparency and accountability that comes with automatic time tracking. The employees also benefit from knowing when they are overworking.
Overworking, like under working, is harmful for both the employee and the employer. It can have serious health and family issues for the employee. The employer may also land in legal and financial trouble if employees are regularly working beyond 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week.
How did we end up with an 8-hour workday?
In the Middle Ages, people worked practically all day from sunrise to sunset. With the advent of industrialization and electricity, people could work late into the evening and even at night. That led to the exploitation of workers by the factory owners. A typical worker was working 12-16-hour days.
The overworked employees started suffering from physical and mental illnesses. It led to labor unrest. Once the workers started forming unions, they started demanding better working conditions.
Even though some businesses adopted the 8-hour workday, the condition of the average factory worker in the US did not change significantly until the Congress passed the FLSA in 1938.
Since then, all businesses in the US have operated on the 8-hour workday and 40-hour work week.
How to track employee time effortlessly
Time tracking software like HiveDesk can automatically record time. The employee only needs to start the timer when she starts working and stops it when she has finished working. This ensures that the timesheet is accurate and reliable, both for paying the employee and billing the client.
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Take charge of your time with HiveDesk
- Know how long your employees work
- See how your team spends time at work
- Keep track of important tasks
- Stay on top of payroll cost
- Make your team more productive