Military Minutes Chart

Why payroll uses decimal minutes

Pay is calculated by multiplying hours by a rate, and you cannot multiply 8 hours 15 minutes by anything useful. Converting the minutes to a fraction of an hour fixes that: 8 hours 15 minutes becomes 8.25, which multiplied by $22 an hour is $181.50. Every payroll system, from ADP to a hospital's Kronos terminal, records time this way.

Working out a shift

Convert both ends of the shift to military time first, subtract, then convert the leftover minutes to decimal. A shift from 0715 to 1545 is 8 hours and 30 minutes, which is 8.50 hours. Where the clock passes midnight — 2200 to 0600 — add 24 to the finish time before subtracting: 0600 becomes 3000, minus 2200, is 8 hours.

Rounding rules

The decimals in this chart are rounded to two places, which is what timekeeping systems store. Some employers additionally round clock-in times to the nearest quarter hour before converting; in the United States that practice is legal under federal rules only when the rounding does not consistently favour the employer. If your employer rounds, they should be rounding both ways.

Converting the clock itself

This chart handles the minutes. For the hours, use the 24-hour military time chart, or convert a specific time with the military time converter.