Which date owns the shift?
The row is normally labelled with the start date, but payroll systems differ. The elapsed time is unchanged; only reporting, premium bands and overtime allocation may depend on the employer's rule.
Calculate Overnight Shift Hours Across Midnight
Enter a finish time earlier than the start and the calculator automatically treats it as the next day—no manual date arithmetic needed.
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Useful guidance
How overnight shift hours are calculated
A 22:00 start and 06:00 finish spans eight hours because the finish belongs to the next day. Unpaid break minutes are deducted only after the full overnight duration is found.
Standard night22:00–06:008 hr
Night with break19:00–07:00, minus 60 min11 hr
Early finish23:30–04:154 hr 45 min
How night-shift hours are carried into the next day
When a finish time is earlier than the start, the calculator treats the finish as tomorrow. A 19:00–07:00 duty therefore covers five hours before midnight and seven hours after midnight: 12 hours in total before breaks.
Worked night-shift examples
| Shift | Clock span | Break | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evening | 18:00–02:00 | 30 min | 7 hr 30 min |
| Night | 22:00–06:00 | 0 min | 8 hr |
| 12-hour night | 19:00–07:00 | 60 min | 11 hr |
Rest starts at the real finish
For rota comparison, time off begins when the overnight duty ends—not at midnight or at the start of the calendar rest day. This boundary is essential when checking a 24- or 48-hour break.
Daylight-saving nights
A clock moves forward or back in some timezones. A duty spanning that change can differ from simple clock arithmetic by an hour. Verify the dated attendance record where this matters.
Limits to check
- An earlier finish is assumed to be the next day, so a duty longer than 24 hours needs dated records.
- Subtract only genuinely unpaid breaks.
- Calculate premiums and overtime separately after the exact hours are known.