Payroll hours from timesheets: a team's week, totalled for payroll
Type each person's hours for each day of the week and when overtime starts under your employment agreements. The calculator splits every person's week into ordinary hours, overtime and hours worked on a public holiday, which the law pays at least time and a half, and totals them for payroll. It needs no pay rates.
Worked out for the example. Change the boxes to make it yours.
| Ordinary hours | 128 hours |
|---|---|
| Overtime hours | 10 hours |
| Public holiday hours (at least time and a half) | 18 hours |
| All hours worked | 156 hours |
| Hana | 44 hours |
| Ordinary | 32 hours |
| Overtime | 4 hours |
| Public holiday | 8 hours |
| Liam | 36 hours |
| Ordinary | 36 hours |
| Sione | 46 hours |
| Ordinary | 30 hours |
| Overtime | 6 hours |
| Public holiday | 10 hours |
| Priya | 30 hours |
| Ordinary | 30 hours |
- Overtime starts after 40 hours in the week, counting hours worked on the public holiday, as your agreements set. Overtime is counted on the other days only, so no hour is in two columns.
- Hana and Sione worked on Monday 26 October 2026: at least time and a half for those hours, and an alternative holiday if it was a day they would otherwise work.
- Liam and Priya did not work on Monday 26 October 2026: if it was a day they would otherwise work, they are paid for it without working, and that pay is not in these hours.
- Hours are decimal, ready for payroll: 7:30 is 7.5 hours.
Team timesheets shows the hours staff choose to share, by person, project and task, and who has not logged this week, with a CSV ready for payroll, optional approvals and your own billable rates. It never reads the pay or rates in anyone's own account, and has no rosters.
See Team timesheetsHow the week is split
Each person's hours are added up day by day. Hours worked on a day you mark as a public holiday go in their own column. Overtime comes from the rest: with a weekly limit, the hours past it across the week; with a daily limit, each day's hours past it. No hour is counted twice, so ordinary, overtime and public holiday hours always add up to the hours worked. Whether hours on a public holiday count towards a weekly limit is set by your employment agreements, so the calculator asks. Payroll needs decimal hours, and 7:30 becomes 7.5.
What the law sets, and what your agreement sets
No Act sets an overtime limit or an overtime rate in New Zealand: Employment New Zealand says pay for overtime has to be agreed and included in the employment agreement, so the limit here is yours. Every hour must still be paid at least the minimum wage, $23.95 an hour for adults from 1 April 2026. Public holidays are different. Under section 50 of the Holidays Act 2003, an employee who works any part of a public holiday is paid at least time and a half for the time worked, and under section 56 is owed an alternative holiday if it was an otherwise working day for them. Someone who does not work a public holiday that falls on their otherwise working day is paid for it anyway, at their relevant daily pay or average daily pay (Holidays Act s 49). That paid day is not hours worked, so it is not in these totals; add it in payroll. Our public holiday pay calculator works out one person's pay for the day.
The record the law asks for
Section 130 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 asks every employer to keep a wages and time record showing the hours worked each day in each pay period and the pay for those hours, and Employment New Zealand says to keep it for 6 years. Daily hours from a timesheet are the hours part of that record. For a salaried employee, Employment New Zealand says to record the extra hours too, to show they are still paid at least the minimum wage. Our article on getting timesheets into payroll covers what an export needs, and the wage and time records checklist lists the rest.
From 6 August 2028
The Employment Leave Act 2026 replaces the Holidays Act on 6 August 2028. Work on a public holiday is then paid at the agreement's rate plus the greater of 50% of the ordinary hourly rate or any identifiable extra amount, and alternative leave builds by the hour. Additional hours an employee is free to refuse, which overtime often is, also earn a leave compensation payment of at least 12.5% of the ordinary hourly rate, so payroll will need overtime hours as their own figure. The hours records employers will need sets out the change.
Questions
How do I work out payroll hours from timesheets?
Add each person's hours for each day, take off unpaid breaks, then split the week into ordinary hours, overtime past the limit in your agreement, and hours worked on a public holiday. Enter them in payroll as decimal hours: 7 hours 30 minutes is 7.5.
Do public holiday hours count towards overtime?
The law does not say: your employment agreement does. The law sets only the floor for the public holiday itself, at least time and a half for the hours worked, plus an alternative holiday if it was a day the person would otherwise work.
When does overtime start in NZ?
When your employment agreement says it does. No Act sets an overtime limit or rate; many agreements start overtime after 40 hours a week or 8 hours a day.
How long do I have to keep timesheets?
Employment New Zealand says wages and time records, and holiday and leave records, are kept for 6 years, even after the employee has left. Section 130 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 sets what the record shows, including the hours worked each day in each pay period.
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours for payroll?
Divide the minutes by 60. 15 minutes is 0.25, 30 minutes is 0.5 and 45 minutes is 0.75, so 7 hours 45 minutes is 7.75. The calculator reads 7:45 and 7.75 the same way.
Can my staff log their own hours instead?
With Team timesheets at jobtracker.co.nz, staff log their own hours and choose to share them. You see them by person, project and task, see who has not logged this week, and download a CSV ready for payroll. Approvals are optional; it does not build rosters, and never reads the pay or rates in anyone's own account.
Sources
- Employment New Zealand: working overtime or extra shifts.
- Employment New Zealand: public holiday pay.
- Employment New Zealand: public holidays and anniversary dates.
- Employment New Zealand: record keeping.
- Holidays Act 2003, sections 44 to 56.
- Employment Relations Act 2000, section 130: wages and time record.
- Minimum Wage Order 2026 (SL 2026/16).
- Employment Leave Act 2026, in force 6 August 2028.
More free tools: see all the calculators.