ShiftPlumMinutes to decimal hours: a timesheet conversion guide
To convert minutes to decimal hours, divide the minutes by 60. Seven hours and 45 minutes is 7.75 hours, not 7.45. The digits after the decimal point are a fraction of an hour, which is why copying a clock-style duration into a decimal column gives the wrong result.
Use one formula consistently
For a duration written as hours and minutes, use hours + minutes ÷ 60. For a duration already stored as total minutes, divide the whole number by 60. Both methods give the same answer: 7 + 45 ÷ 60 = 465 ÷ 60 = 7.75.
Keep a duration distinct from a time of day. “07:45” might mean a morning start time or seven hours and 45 minutes worked. Label spreadsheet columns so the reader knows which one you mean.
A quick conversion table
These values are exact. For other minute amounts, the decimal may repeat: 20 minutes is one third of an hour, not exactly 0.33 hours.
| Minutes | Decimal hours |
|---|---|
| 6 | 0.1 |
| 15 | 0.25 |
| 30 | 0.5 |
| 45 | 0.75 |
| 60 | 1 |
| 90 | 1.5 |
Subtract unpaid breaks before converting
A shift from 09:00 to 17:30 spans 510 minutes. Subtract a 45-minute unpaid break to get 465 minutes, then divide by 60: 7.75 hours. Subtracting 0.45 hours would remove only 27 minutes.
The starting figure must already reflect the actual interval. For an overnight shift, include the end date. If a clock change occurs, use elapsed minutes in the calendar's time zone before applying the decimal conversion.
Add the minutes before rounding
Suppose three entries each contain 20 minutes. Their total is 60 minutes, or exactly one hour. Rounding each entry to 0.33 hours and adding them produces 0.99 hours. The difference came from rounding, not from missing work.
Keep the original minutes for calculations. Round only the displayed final figure when that is what your report needs. If an external timesheet requires rounding each entry, document that rule and use it consistently; it will not always match an unrounded total.
| Method | Result |
|---|---|
| (20 + 20 + 20) ÷ 60 | 1 hour |
| 0.33 + 0.33 + 0.33 | 0.99 hours |
Read ShiftPlum CSV fields correctly
The CSV field “Paid minutes” is a number of minutes after the event's unpaid break, not a decimal-hour value. In an unchanged export it is column G. For a spreadsheet row with 465 in G2, =G2/60 gives 7.75. If you rearrange the columns, reference the paid-minutes field in its new position.
Use a numeric cell format for the result. A clock format can display a decimal number as a time or a date, which makes a correct calculation look wrong. Check the column heading and one known row before filling a formula down.
Convert back as a final check
To read 7.75 hours as hours and minutes, keep the whole seven hours and multiply 0.75 by 60. That returns 45 minutes. Similarly, 11.5 hours means 11 hours 30 minutes.
This conversion changes the notation, not the underlying work record. It does not choose which breaks are paid or establish a payroll rounding policy. For a monthly comparison, use the same events, date boundaries and break assumptions on both sides.