Work & pay
Turn working days and hours per day into total work hours.
Enter your numbers to see the answer.
Work hours calculator guide
Total work hours for a period are the days worked multiplied by the paid hours in each day, after unpaid breaks are taken out. This calculator takes the number of working days, the scheduled hours per day, and the break hours per day, and returns the net working hours along with the gross hours and the total break time so you can see where the difference comes from. It is useful for filling in a timesheet, estimating the hours an hourly employee will bill in a month, checking a contract that promises a certain number of hours, or planning capacity for a small team. The default 20 days at 8 hours with a half-hour break reflects a typical month of Monday-to-Friday work. If you need the day count for a specific date range, the working-days calculator produces it and you can enter the result here. Hours are hours, not pay: multiply the net figure by an hourly rate to get gross wages, and remember that net pay after tax will be lower.
Gross hours = working days × hours per day. Break time = working days × break hours per day. Net working hours = working days × (hours per day − break hours per day), never below zero.
Worked example with the default inputs: 20 working days, 8 hours per day, and 0.5 hours of unpaid break per day. Gross hours = 20 × 8 = 160 hours. Break time = 20 × 0.5 = 10 hours. Net working hours = 20 × (8 − 0.5) = 20 × 7.5 = 150 hours. The calculator shows 150 hours as the net figure with 160 gross hours and 10 break hours underneath. At $25 an hour those 150 paid hours would be $3,750 in gross wages.
Days is a plain count of days worked in the period. Hours per day and break hours per day are decimal hours, so a 45-minute break is 0.75 and a 7 hour 36 minute day is 7.6. Enter break time only if it is unpaid; a paid coffee break stays inside the hours-per-day figure. The result is in hours; divide by 8 for an equivalent in standard days if a contract quotes hours that way.
Treat this as a gross planning figure. Deductions, tax codes, benefit contributions, overtime rules, and local employment law all change what actually reaches your account, and they vary by jurisdiction and employer. Check the number against your payslip or contract before relying on it for a budget or a negotiation. On this page the figure rests entirely on working days, hours per day and break hours per day, so start there if the work hours calculator returns something you did not expect.
Good to know: typing 30 for a thirty-minute break instead of 0.5 wipes out the whole day and returns zero hours. Mixing a month’s working days with a fortnight’s pay rate gives a nonsense total, so keep the period consistent. Paid leave days are usually counted as working days for payroll even though no work is done, while unpaid leave is not; check which one your timesheet wants before entering the day count.
Use the result as a gross planning estimate. Confirm payroll, overtime, tax, benefits, and employment-rule assumptions with your employer or the relevant authority.
How it works
Turn working days and hours per day into total work hours. This tool explains the calculation so you can adjust the assumptions to match your situation.
Worked example
With Working days = 20 days · Hours per day = 8 hours · Break hours per day = 0.5 hours → 150 hours (net working hours). Change an input above and this example updates with your numbers.
Common questions
Multiply the number of working days by the paid hours per day. For 20 working days of 8 hours with a 30-minute unpaid break, that is 20 × 7.5 = 150 hours. A month with 22 working days on the same schedule would be 165 hours.
Most months have 20 to 23 weekdays. At 8 hours a day that is 160 to 184 gross hours, or 150 to 172.5 net hours after a half-hour unpaid break. Averaged over a year, a 40-hour week works out to 173.33 hours a month (2,080 ÷ 12).
Only if they are paid. An unpaid lunch is deducted from the day, which is what the break field does. Short paid rest breaks required by law in many places remain part of paid hours. Check your contract or local rules, because the treatment differs by employer and country.
Divide the minutes by 60. Fifteen minutes is 0.25 hours, thirty is 0.5, and forty-five is 0.75. A 7 hour 20 minute day is 7.33 hours. Enter the decimal in the hours-per-day or break field rather than typing hours and minutes.
Usually, yes. Full-time status is defined by employers or law, commonly 35 to 40 scheduled hours a week, which is roughly 150 to 175 hours a month. A 150-hour month at 7.5 paid hours a day matches a standard 8-to-5 schedule with an unpaid lunch.