Gross hours and effective hours
Gross hours are the time between the first punch in and the last punch out. Effective hours are gross hours minus breaks that are not counted as work. Decide in your policy which breaks are paid. An office might count a short tea break as work and the lunch hour as unpaid, while a plant might fix one 30-minute meal interval for the whole shift. If employees punch out and in for breaks, use the actual break time. If they do not, deduct the break fixed in the shift, so everyone on that shift is treated alike.
- Which breaks are paid, and any paid break allowance.
- Effective hours needed for a full day and for a half day on each shift.
- Whether break time beyond the allowance is deducted.
- The date to which a night shift is filed.
Worked example: a day shift with breaks
Anjali Deshmukh works the 9 am to 6 pm shift at a Pune office, with a paid tea break allowance of 15 minutes and an unpaid lunch. On 7 October 2026 she punched in at 9:02 am, out for lunch at 1:10 pm, back at 1:48 pm, out for tea at 4:30 pm, back at 4:42 pm, and out for the day at 6:15 pm. Gross hours: 9:02 am to 6:15 pm = 9 hours 13 minutes. The 38-minute lunch is unpaid, so it comes off. The 12-minute tea break is inside the 15-minute paid allowance, so it stays in. Effective hours = 9 hours 13 minutes minus 38 minutes = 8 hours 35 minutes, which is 8 + 35/60 = 8.58 hours in decimal. Had her tea break run to 25 minutes, the 10 minutes beyond the allowance would also come off, leaving 8 hours 25 minutes.
Night shifts that cross midnight
A night shift from 10 pm to 6 am starts on one date and ends on the next. File the whole shift to the date it started, or one night becomes two short days. Ravi Kumar, a security supervisor, punched in at 9:55 pm on 14 October and out at 6:07 am on 15 October, with a 30-minute unpaid meal break. Gross hours: 9:55 pm to midnight is 2 hours 5 minutes, and midnight to 6:07 am is 6 hours 7 minutes, so 8 hours 12 minutes in total. Effective hours = 8 hours 12 minutes minus 30 minutes = 7 hours 42 minutes, all filed to 14 October. ZeniaHR files night shifts that cross midnight to the shift's day and shows effective and gross hours for each day.
Checking totals against the overtime rules
Under the OSH Code, ordinary daily work is capped at eight hours, with intervals, spread-over and weekly limits fixed by government notification, and work beyond the prescribed hours is overtime paid at twice the ordinary wage rate with the worker's consent. Read the working hours and overtime rules and your state's notification for the exact limits. In practice, total effective hours per day and per week for each employee, compare them with the limits that apply to you, and send the excess for overtime approval and payment rather than treating it as goodwill.
Step by step
- Write down the definitions. Define gross hours, effective hours, paid and unpaid breaks, and the effective hours needed for a full day and a half day on each shift.
- Capture break punches or fix break times. Either ask staff to punch break start and break end, or deduct the break fixed in the shift for everyone. ZeniaHR's punch stream records in, out, break start and break end punches.
- Calculate gross hours. Subtract the first punch in from the last punch out. For a shift that crosses midnight, add the minutes before midnight to the minutes after it.
- Deduct unpaid breaks. Take off unpaid breaks and any break time beyond the paid allowance. Paid breaks stay inside effective hours.
- Convert minutes to decimal hours. Divide the minutes by 60 and round to two decimals, so 8 hours 35 minutes becomes 8.58 hours. Overtime and pay calculations need the decimal figure.
- Grade the day. Compare effective hours with the full-day and half-day thresholds for the shift. On a shift where a half day needs 4 effective hours, a day with 3.5 hours falls short of a half day.
- Total the week and flag overtime. Add each person's effective hours for the week, compare daily and weekly totals with the limits that apply to you, and send the excess for overtime approval.
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Is the lunch break counted in working hours?
Only if your policy says so. Where the meal break is unpaid, it is deducted from gross hours to get effective hours, while a short tea break is often kept as paid time. Whatever you choose, write it in the policy and apply it the same way to everyone on the shift.
How do you convert minutes into decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60 and add the result to the whole hours. For example, 8 hours 35 minutes is 8 + 35/60 = 8.58 hours, and 7 hours 42 minutes is 7 + 42/60 = 7.70 hours. Use the decimal figure for overtime and pay, and round to two decimals at the end rather than at every step.
How many working hours are allowed per day in India?
Under the OSH Code, ordinary daily work is capped at eight hours, with intervals, spread-over and weekly limits fixed by government notification. Work beyond the prescribed hours is overtime, paid at twice the ordinary wage rate, and needs the worker's consent. Check your state's notified rules for the exact spread-over and weekly limits.
Which date should a night shift be recorded on?
Record the whole shift on the date it started. A night shift from 10 pm on 14 October to 6 am on 15 October is one working day, 14 October, with all its hours counted there. Splitting it across two dates creates two short days, wrong half-day grading and confusion over weekly offs.