Work hours & pay
Night shift hours calculator
Enter your shift and the hours your employer counts as night; see how much of the shift is night work and how much is day work.
An end time earlier than the start is read as the next morning. The break is spread over day and night in proportion to their length.
How night hours are counted
The calculator lays the shift on a timeline and measures how many minutes overlap the night period, including the part that runs past midnight. The rest of the shift is day time. The unpaid break is then removed in proportion: if two thirds of the shift is at night, two thirds of the break comes out of the night hours. The night share is night minutes divided by the length of the shift.
Worked example with the defaults: a 19:00–07:00 shift lasts 12 hours. The night window 22:00–06:00 covers 8 of those hours, so 66.7% of the shift is night work. After a 30-minute break the shift pays 11 h 30 min; night hours are 11.5 × 0.667 = 7 h 40 min (7.67 h) and day hours are 3 h 50 min.
| Shift | Night window | Night hours (no break) | Night share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:00 – 06:00 | 22:00 – 06:00 | 8 h | 100% |
| 18:00 – 02:00 | 22:00 – 06:00 | 4 h | 50% |
| 20:00 – 08:00 | 22:00 – 06:00 | 8 h | 66.7% |
| 14:00 – 23:00 | 22:00 – 06:00 | 1 h | 11.1% |
| 04:00 – 12:00 | 23:00 – 06:00 | 2 h | 25% |
Using the result for pay and scheduling
Night premiums are set by contracts and national rules, and so is the window itself. The EU Working Time Directive defines night time as a period of at least seven hours that includes midnight to 05:00, and lets each country choose the exact hours; 22:00–06:00 and 23:00–06:00 are common. Set the two night fields to whatever your payslip uses, otherwise the split will not match.
Multiply the night hours by the premium to estimate the extra: 7.67 night hours at a 25% premium on $20 is 7.67 × 5 = $38.35 on top of the base pay. If your employer pays the premium only when most of the shift is at night, compare the night share with that rule rather than the hours.
The proportional break is an approximation. If you always take the break at a known time, for instance 02:00–02:30, subtract it from the night hours yourself for an exact figure. Shifts longer than 24 hours, or split shifts with a long gap in the middle, are best entered as separate pieces and added together.
Frequently asked questions
What hours count as a night shift?
It depends on the contract or country. 22:00 to 06:00 is the most common definition; the EU rules require the night period to be at least seven hours and to include midnight to 05:00.
How do I calculate hours for a shift that crosses midnight?
Add 24 hours to the end time before subtracting. A shift from 21:00 to 05:00 is 29 − 21 = 8 hours; the calculator does this automatically when the end is earlier than the start.
Is the break taken from night hours or day hours?
Contracts differ. This calculator spreads the break in proportion to the night and day parts; if you know exactly when you took it, subtract it from that part instead.