Guides

Work Hours, PTO, Shift & Payroll Guides

Start with a topic overview, then work through a specific example.

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How to Calculate Work Hours Correctly

A practical guide to calculating worked time, subtracting breaks, handling overnight shifts and converting minutes to decimal hours.

Rotating Shift Schedules: Patterns, Hours and Calendars

Understand how repeating shift rotations work and generate a calendar from a pattern and cycle start date.

Shift Differential Pay: Formula and Examples

Calculate flat and percentage shift premiums and understand how eligible hours affect estimated gross pay.

PTO Accrual Explained: Rates, Balances and Projections

Understand accrual per pay period, hourly accrual, carryover, caps and future PTO balances.

Biweekly Payroll Calendars and Three-Paycheck Months

Generate biweekly payday dates, understand 26-paycheck years and identify months with a third payday.

FTE Workforce Planning: From Workload to Scheduled Staff

Convert workload hours into productive FTEs and adjust for meetings, training, leave and other shrinkage.

Decimal Hours Conversion Chart and Payroll Examples

Convert work hours and minutes to payroll decimals with formulas, a conversion chart, reverse checks and answers for 0.10, 0.50 and 0.80 hours.

How to Calculate an Overnight Shift

When clock-out is earlier than clock-in, add 24 hours to the ending time before subtracting the start and unpaid breaks.

Subtracting Unpaid Breaks from a Timecard

Deduct time that is genuinely unpaid under the applicable rules and policy. Do not automatically subtract every break from a shift.

2-2-3 Schedule: A 14-Day Work and Rest Calendar

A common 2-2-3 work/rest cycle is two workdays, two rest days, three workdays, two rest days, two workdays and three rest days.

4 On, 4 Off: Hours, Weekends and Calendar Drift

Four on, four off repeats every eight days. At twelve hours per workday, it averages 42 scheduled hours per seven-day week.

DuPont Schedule: Reading a 28-Day Work/Rest Cycle

The work/rest version modeled here uses 4 work, 3 rest, 3 work, 1 rest, 3 work, 3 rest, 4 work and 7 rest days.

Biweekly PTO Accrual Calculator, Formula and Examples

Calculate PTO earned every two weeks using 26 pay periods, with examples for 80, 120 and 160 annual hours plus rounding and 27-payday-year notes.

PTO Caps and Carryover: Why a Simple Projection Can Differ

Carryover adds an opening balance; a balance cap limits what can be held. A cap applied after every accrual can differ from one applied only at the end.

Convert PTO Hours to Days for Your Shift Length

Divide available PTO hours by the hours charged for one absence day. Forty-eight hours equals six eight-hour days or four twelve-hour days.

Biweekly vs. Semimonthly Pay: 26 vs. 24 Paychecks

Compare biweekly and semimonthly payroll dates, paycheck amounts, hours, three-paycheck months and PTO accrual using a clear 26-versus-24 table.

Find Your Three-Paycheck Months

Generate every fourteen-day payday from one confirmed anchor, then group the dates by month. A month with three generated dates is a three-paycheck month.

Monthly Paydays When the Month Has Fewer Days

For an anchor on the 29th, 30th or 31st, the generator uses the final day of a shorter month rather than omitting that month’s payday.

Staffing Shrinkage Formula: Calculate Required Hours and FTE

Divide productive workload by the available fraction of scheduled time, then divide by the full-time baseline to estimate required FTE.

FTE vs. Headcount: Calculator, Formula and Examples

Calculate FTE versus headcount from full-time and part-time hours. Compare the formula, 40-hour and 37.5-hour examples, and planning uses.

Calculate Weekly Coverage Hours Before Estimating Staff

Multiply simultaneous positions by operating hours. Two continuously occupied positions across a 24/7 week require 336 productive coverage hours.

How to Count Working Days Between Two Dates

Count dates on your working weekdays, remove actual closures, and decide whether both endpoints belong in the range before multiplying by daily hours.

Turn Working Days into a Monthly Capacity Budget

Multiply working days by scheduled paid hours, then subtract separately identified unavailable time. Keep scheduled capacity distinct from productive capacity.

Why Decimal Hours Totals Differ After Rounding

Rounding each timesheet row can produce a different total from adding the original durations and rounding once. Compare the two methods before investigating missing time.

Check a Decimal-Time CSV Before a Payroll Import

Confirm the expected unit, decimal separator, row rounding and treatment of overtime before importing a converted time column.

Why PTO Transaction Order Changes a Capped Balance

An accrual cap applies when hours are earned. Leave taken before that event creates room; leave taken afterward does not restore accrual already blocked.

How to Reconcile a PTO Balance with a Transaction Ledger

Start from an agreed opening balance, enter every dated earning and deduction, then compare the running balance at each posting rather than only the ending total.

Why Enough Staff Hours Can Still Leave Coverage Gaps

Total staffing hours measure volume. Coverage measures whether enough people are available at the specific times demand occurs; surplus at one time cannot fill a gap later.

Plan Break Coverage Without Double-Counting Staff

Represent each employee’s available work segments separately. Remove uncovered breaks from the roster before checking whether the simultaneous staffing target is met.

Calculate FTE for a Team of Full-Time and Part-Time Employees

Add each group's scheduled weekly hours, then divide the total by one consistent full-time baseline. Count people separately: capacity and headcount answer different questions.

Calculate a Staffing Capacity Gap Before Adding Headcount

A capacity gap is required hours minus available hours measured on the same basis. A positive number is a shortfall; a negative number is a surplus.

Calculate PTO Accrual from Hours Worked

For an hourly accrual policy, multiply eligible hours by the PTO earned per eligible hour. Use the eligible-hour definition and rate from your employer's policy.

PTO for a Partial Pay Period: Two Calculation Methods

Partial-period PTO depends on the accrual method. An hourly policy uses eligible hours; a fixed-period policy may use a specified proration rule or no proration at all.

Convert Minutes and Excel Times to Decimal Hours

Divide a number of minutes by 60. For an Excel cell containing a genuine time duration stored as a fraction of a day, multiply its value by 24.

Check a Payroll Calendar Before Sharing It

Validate the frequency, anchor date and exception rules before sharing a payroll calendar. A repeating date generator cannot know your employer's payment policy.

Convert a Timesheet Column to Decimal Hours Without Losing the Total

Choose one input format, preserve the original durations, and export both row conversions and a reconciled total. This workflow works with a copied column of elapsed times.

Productive Hours vs Scheduled Hours in Workforce Planning

Scheduled hours show assigned time; productive hours show the portion available for a defined workload. Comparing demand with the wrong measure can hide a capacity gap.

Three-Paycheck Months in 2027: Find Yours from a Known Payday

Your three-paycheck months in 2027 depend on the biweekly cycle, not just the year. An unadjusted Friday cycle anchored on January 8 has three paydays in April and October. A cycle anchored on January 1 has three in January, July and December, with 27 dates in the year. Employer date adjustments can change the calendar.