How to Calculate Time Clocks

Calculating time clocks helps you know if you're being accurately paid.

With money tight due to rising prices it is important to make sure you are being paid for all of your time worked. Sure, you have a pretty good idea of how many hours you worked, but not exactly. If you are working two or three jobs to make ends meet, it can be difficult to keep them all straight without writing them down. If you are thinking about starting up your own business, you may need to hire employees. If you hire employees, you will need to calculate their time to pay them. Mistakes can mean lost income. Every working person should know how to calculate time clocks.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator
• Pencil
• Paper
• Time card or time worked

Instructions

1. Look at the timecards or electronic printout of each individual's time. Most time clocks use military time for the hours past noon and for the minutes as well. For example, after 12 noon comes 1 PM. In military time 1 PM is 1300 hours, 2 PM is 1400 hours. That way they do not need to indicate AM or PM, so there is less confusion or time errors. The hours before noon, remain the same.

2. Take the time clocked-out and subtract the time clocked-in from it. For example, if the time card said, 08:00, 12:00, 12:30, 16:30 for one day worked, then you worked from 8 AM until 4:30 PM and you took a 30-minute lunch from 12 until 12:30 PM. Take the time clocked-out, 16:30, and subtract 12:30, the time clocked-in from lunch. 16:30-12:30=04:00. This means that you worked four hours in the afternoon.

3. Take the time clocked-out for lunch, 12:00 and subtract the time clocked-in that morning, 08:00. 12:00-08:00=04:00. This means that you worked four hours in the morning that day.

4. Add the morning time of four hours to the afternoon time worked of four hours, for a total of eight hours worked that day. The time paid for this one day of work is eight hours. Multiply 8 X your rate of pay to calculate your wage for the day.

5. Repeat these steps for each of the days worked during the pay period. Then add the hours worked each day together, but only for the current pay period. Some employers pay weekly, biweekly, or monthly.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have extra time during the day, calculate the time clock hours daily, and write hours worked in pencil for each day on the card, if allowed. At the end of the pay period, just add them together.