Decimal Hours vs. Hours & Minutes

Virtual TimeClock can display time totals in both decimal (7.5 hours) and hours & minutes (7:30) formats. When users are unaware of the differences between these two display formats, they question the accuracy of time totals and may even report incorrect employee payroll hours for payroll!

Decimal Hours Format
The Decimal Hours display format is the default report setting in Virtual TimeClock. An entry displaying 7 hours and 30 minutes is displayed in decimal format as 7.50 hours. The 30 minutes portion is expressed as .50 because 30 minutes equals 1/2 hour or .50 hours in decimal format. Payroll hours are almost always reported in decimal hours. This allows your payroll provider to simply multiply hours to the wage to obtain gross pay.

Hours & Minutes Format
The Hours & Minutes display format reports time as you would read it on a clock. An entry displaying 7 hours and 30 minutes is displayed as 7:30 hours. The colon (:) separator tells you that time is being displayed in hours and minutes.

Note: Never multiply hours and minutes to the wage to calculate wages.

Workers often think about their time worked in terms of Hours & Minutes rather than the decimal format. You can easily set the report option for your employee timecards in the Hours & Minutes display format (instructions below).

Changing to Decimal Hours or Hours & Minutes
You can select how time totals are displayed on reports, when editing entries, and when exporting time totals from Virtual TimeClock.

Basic Edition Timecards

1. Select Turn Administration On from the File menu.
2. Select Timecard in the administrative toolbar to open a timecard.
3. Select Report Settings in the report toolbar and choose the desired display format.
4. Click OK to save the change.

Pro & Network Edition Reports
In Virtual TimeClock Pro and Network, there are multiple reports available. The time totals display is set for each report:

1. Select Turn Administration On from the File menu.
2. Select Report Writer from the Configure menu.
3. Select a report in the left column.
4. Choose Hours & Minutes or Decimal Hours in the Time Totals popup menu.
5. Click Apply to save changes.

1. Select Turn Administration On from the File menu.
2. Select Entry Editor in the administrative toolbar.
3. Select Select Entries (top left) from the toolbar in the Entry Editor window.
4. Choose Hours & Minutes or Decimal Hours.

1. Select Turn Administration On from the File menu.
2. Select Exporting in the administrative toolbar.
3. Select the Report Type and click Setup.
4. Choose Hours & Minutes or Decimal Hours.

Note: Export options are set individually. Changing the totals format for one export type will not affect other exports.