How to Convert Minutes for Payroll (+ Conversion Chart)

If you are an employer with hourly workers, it can be challenging to calculate pay if they work only a fraction of an hour. To pay employees working partial hours, you need to know how to convert minutes for payroll. Failing to calculate minutes for payroll causes errors and creates more work on the back end.

Converting minutes is simple if you know how to express minutes as decimals. Once time worked is converted into decimal form, such as 4.35 hours, you can multiply by the pay rate and find the total wages due. See our payroll minute conversion chart below for help.

Minute Conversion Chart

Click below to download the payroll minute conversion chart for easy reference later.

What Is Time Sheet Conversion?

Time sheet conversion involves accurately calculating employee payroll by taking the time entered on a time sheet and performing a calculation to pay for the hours worked. To be sure you’re not overpaying or underpaying your employees, you must convert minutes worked into decimals.

You can use our minute calculator chart for time clock minutes conversion—showing you the corresponding decimal for minutes one through 60, which will help you calculate gross pay accurately and quickly based on actual hours worked.

Steps to Convert Minutes for Payroll

Below are the steps you should follow to convert your employees’ minutes worked into decimal form and dollars to be paid.

Step 1: Calculate Total Working Hours & Minutes

Calculating total hours worked is usually straightforward if you have a time-tracking system (pen-and-paper, time clock, spreadsheet, etc.); however, if your policy requires you to round employee hours to the nearest quarter, as the Department of Labor allows, it can be tricky.

Actual Hours Worked

To calculate the actual time worked, simply total the hours and minutes between your employee’s starting and ending times for each workday. The sample time sheet below provides a good example of the information you’ll start with before converting minutes to decimal form.

Sample Time Sheet

Hours: 8 + 8 + 8 + 7 + 7 = 38 hours
Minutes: 0 + 6 + 4 + 42 + 57 = 109 minutes
(Convert 60 minutes of the 109 minutes to one hour to make it easier; 109 minutes – 60 minutes = 49 minutes; 38 hours + 1 hour = 39 hours)
38 hours + 109 minutes = 39 hours and 49 minutes

Rounding Hours Worked to Quarters

Federal law also gives employers the option to calculate wages using rounded hours worked when processing payroll. It’s up to you which method you prefer, but should you choose the rounding method, you need to know how to round correctly to maintain compliance.

You’re allowed to round employee time to the nearest quarter-hour. A quarter of an hour is 15 minutes, and there are four in each hour, i.e., 0:15, 0:30, 0:45, 0:00. If your employee clocks in at any time not in a quarter, you can round. However, you can only round up to the next quarter if the time is from eight to 14 minutes past the previous quarter. If your employee’s time is from one to seven minutes past the previous quarter, you must round back down.

Example (using the sample time sheet above)

On Tuesday, your employee clocks in at 8:04 a.m. He leaves at 4:10 p.m. and doesn’t take a break. The actual time worked is eight hours and six minutes. Rounded hours worked are eight hours and 15 minutes.

• 8:04 a.m. is rounded down because it’s not more than seven minutes past the previous quarter (8 a.m.).
• 4:10 p.m. is rounded up because it’s more than seven minutes past the previous quarter (4:15 p.m.).
• The employee’s timesheet would reflect 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.—nine minutes more than actual time worked.

The differences that arise with rounding your employees’ working hours can add up over time. In our example, it was in the employee’s favor, which meant you would be paying for more time than was logged. Paying for an additional nine minutes for three days a week throughout the 52 weeks in a year would equal an extra 468 minutes or seven hours and 48 minutes of non-working time you’d be paying for.

Step 2: Convert Minutes to Decimals

Converting minutes to decimals is as simple as dividing minutes by 60 (the number of minutes in an hour). The good news is you can skip that step if you use our time card minute conversion chart. In the chart, simply find the minutes worked, between one and 60, and the decimal equivalent will be to its immediate right. For instance, the decimal equivalent of 15 minutes is 0.25. Once you have the decimal, add it to the number of hours worked.

Let’s look at the sample timesheet again (see below) and convert Tuesday’s actual time worked to a decimal.

Sample Time Sheet

On Tuesday, the employee worked eight hours and six minutes. Per the payroll hours chart for time sheets, six minutes is the same as 0.10. Add the decimal to the number of hours worked to get the total time worked in numeric forms, like this:

8 hours + 0.10 hours = 8.10 hours
The employee worked 8.10 hours on Tuesday.

Step 3: Multiply Time Calculated & Wage Rate

Now you’re ready to use the time you converted into decimal form to calculate how much you need to pay your employee. Let’s assume the employee’s hourly wage is $14.25. Using the same sample timesheet, you owe $115.43 for the hours worked on Tuesday. See how we calculated that below.

$14.25 (hourly wage) x 8.10 (time in decimal form) = $115.43

Methods for Tracking & Calculating Payroll Minutes

How you track working hours and what tools you use to calculate can ensure your payroll is accurate. There are several methods you can use to track your hours and minutes for payroll processing.

By Hand

Tracking and calculating hours and minutes worked for payroll by hand is one method. To do this, simply write down all hours and minutes worked and then follow the formulas above to calculate your hours for payroll. I don’t recommend this method, however, because it leaves room for many errors, such as incorrect hours recorded and inaccurate mathematical calculations.

Time Tracking Software

Probably the best method for calculating your hours and minutes for payroll is using time tracking software. This type of software has built-in calculations to ensure accuracy. It will also allow you to track projects and bill clients.

Pricing can range from a few dollars per employee ($4 – $20) to a monthly fee ($20 – $100). It may be worth the small expense to ensure your time calculated is accurate for payroll.

Spreadsheet

If you are unable to afford time tracking software, you can use a spreadsheet that will calculate for you. Simply input your hours and minutes into the spreadsheet and then either make the calculations yourself or run a formula to calculate for you. All spreadsheet software will allow you to automatically calculate cells, ensuring accuracy.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do you convert minutes into hours?

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How do you calculate hours for payroll?

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What is a time conversion table for payroll?

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