Free timesheet calculator for New Zealand workplaces
Enter each day's start and finish times and any unpaid break — the calculator totals hours worked for the week and estimates gross pay. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is stored.
Last verified:
38 h
Standard full-time week
1,976 h
Approx. work hours a year (38 × 52)
$26.44
National minimum wage 2026/27
7 yrs
How long to keep time records
Weekly timesheet calculator
Enter each day's start and finish time (e.g. 9:00am or 17:30) plus any unpaid break — hours update as you type.
Total hours this week
0.00
0h 00m
Estimated gross pay
—
Ordinary hours × your rate (no penalties)
Average per worked day
—
Across days with hours entered
This tool totals ordinary hours only. It does not apply public holiday rates or any premium your employment agreement sets. New Zealand has no award system — see pay rule compliance for how those are applied to a shift.
How to calculate hours worked
Working out hours from a timesheet is a three-step job: find the gap between start and finish, subtract any unpaid breaks, then convert the result to decimal hours so it's easy to multiply by a pay rate. The calculator above does all three for you, but here's the manual method so you can check it.
- 1 Find the elapsed time. A shift from 9:00 to 17:30 is 8 hours 30 minutes. If a shift crosses midnight, add 24 hours to the finish time first.
- 2 Subtract unpaid breaks. Take off any unpaid meal break — a 30-minute lunch turns 8h 30m into 8h 00m of paid time.
- 3 Convert minutes to decimal. Divide the minutes by 60: 8h 15m becomes 8.25 hours. Multiply by the hourly rate for pay.
Accurate timesheets matter for more than pay. The Employment Relations Act 2000 requires a wage and time record and the Holidays Act 2003 a holiday and leave record, both kept six years and produced on request. Capturing real start and finish times rather than rostered ones with time and attendance software removes the manual maths and the disputes that come with it.
Converting minutes to decimal hours
Payroll works in decimal hours, not hours-and-minutes. Divide the minutes by 60:
| Minutes | Decimal |
|---|---|
| 15 min | 0.25 |
| 30 min | 0.50 |
| 45 min | 0.75 |
| 10 min | 0.167 |
How many hours are in a work year?
A standard New Zealand full-time week is 40 hours — s11B of the Minimum Wage Act 1983 requires the employment agreement to fix the maximum at not more than 40, excluding overtime, unless both parties agree to more. Over 52 weeks that is 2,080 hours before leave. Take off four weeks of annual holidays and the public holidays and most full-time employees work closer to 1,820 hours.
There are 260 weekdays, and about 248 working days once the 11 public holidays and the regional anniversary day are removed. Remember Matariki and the anniversary day move each year. To budget labour cost, use your real weekly hours rather than an annual guess — our roster cost calculator works it out in NZD.
Timesheets that match the roster
RosterElf records clock-ins against the published roster, so approved hours and paid hours are the same number.
Skip the manual timesheets with RosterElf
Capture real start and finish times automatically, then send pay rule-interpreted hours straight to payroll — no hand-totalling.
Free calculator
Great for a quick weekly total or checking a payslip
- Weekly hours with breaks
- Decimal + hours:minutes totals
- Optional gross-pay estimate
- No signup required
- GPS clock-in / kiosk time capture
- Automatic pay rule & overtime interpretation
- Payroll export (Xero & MYOB)
- 7-year record keeping
Full Suite
Rostering, payroll & HR in one
Payroll & HR tools in one system
- Smart rostering & availability
- Time & attendance (GPS & photo)
- Pay rules, public holidays & overtime
- Payroll export (Xero, Smartly & MYOB)
- HR Hub with employee profiles
- Digital onboarding & contracts
- Policies, certificates & compliance tracking
- Payroll sync with employee records
- Workwise AI compliance assistant
- Central document storage & management
- Leave management with approvals
No credit card required · 15-day free trial
Timesheet calculator FAQs
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Find the elapsed time between start and finish, subtract any unpaid break, then convert to decimal hours (minutes ÷ 60). For example, 9:00 to 17:30 is 8 hours 30 minutes; take off a 30-minute lunch and you have 8.00 paid hours. This calculator does all three steps automatically for each day and totals the week.
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Enter the unpaid break in minutes for each day and the calculator subtracts it from that day’s paid hours. A rostered 8-hour shift with a 30-minute unpaid lunch becomes 7.5 paid hours. Paid breaks (like a paid 10-minute rest break) should not be entered as a break — leave the field at 0.
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Yes. If the finish time is earlier than the start time (for example 22:00 to 06:00), the calculator assumes the shift crosses midnight and adds 24 hours, giving 8 hours before any break is deducted.
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No. This tool totals ordinary hours and, if you enter a rate, multiplies them for a gross-pay estimate. It does not apply public holiday rates or any premium your employment agreement sets. New Zealand has no award system, so those come from the agreement — see pay rule compliance, or cost a whole roster with the roster cost calculator.