Calculate Working Hours: Daily, Overtime and Pay in Egypt
How to calculate working hours from clock-in, clock-out and breaks, then overtime under Egypt's Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 and the hourly rate, with examples.
To calculate working hours for one day, subtract the clock-in time from the clock-out time, then subtract any unpaid break. Hours above the employee's scheduled day are overtime. Pay follows from there: normal hours at the hourly rate, overtime at the premium your policy and Egypt's Labour Law set.
That is the whole method. The work is in the details: breaks nobody recorded, a night shift that crosses midnight, and an hourly rate that depends on how many hours make up the working day. This guide takes each step in order, with worked numbers for a hypothetical employee.
TL;DR. Daily hours = clock-out − clock-in − unpaid break. Overtime hours = daily hours − scheduled hours (never below zero). Egypt's Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 caps actual work at 8 hours a day or 48 a week (Article 117) and sets overtime pay at no less than the wage plus 35% for a daytime hour and plus 70% for a night hour (Article 121). Article 2 counts a month as 30 days unless agreed otherwise, so the default daily wage is the monthly wage ÷ 30; divide that by the scheduled daily hours for the hourly rate. This is general information, not legal advice.
How to calculate working hours per day, step by step
Start with the raw record for each person and each day: the time they clocked in, the time they clocked out, and the break they took. Then work through these steps.
- Find the span. Clock-out minus clock-in. Someone in at 09:00 and out at 18:00 has a span of 9 hours.
- Subtract the unpaid break. If lunch was one hour, net working time is 8 hours. A paid break, if your policy has one, stays in.
- Convert to decimal hours. Pay is calculated in decimals, not in hours and minutes. 7 hours 45 minutes is 7.75 hours, because 45 ÷ 60 = 0.75.
- Compare with the schedule. If the scheduled day is 8 hours, anything above 8 is overtime and anything below is a shortfall your lateness rules may cover.
- Round once, at the end. Keep minutes exact through the month and round only the final total, so small rounding errors do not pile up.
Breaks: do they count as working time?
Article 118 of the Labour Law requires working hours to include one or more rest breaks totalling at least one hour. The breaks must be arranged so that no one works more than five consecutive hours. Whether a break is paid is a matter for your contract and policy, so state it in writing.
This matters for the arithmetic. A worker who clocks 09:00 to 17:00 and takes a one-hour unpaid lunch has worked 7 hours, not 8. If your schedule says "8 working hours", the day has to span 9 hours.
Article 119 adds a second limit: the span between the start and the end of the working day must not exceed 10 hours. With a one-hour break, that leaves room for at most 9 net hours in a normal day.
Night shifts that cross midnight
A security guard who starts at 22:00 and finishes at 07:00 breaks the simple subtraction, because 07:00 minus 22:00 is negative. Add 24 hours to any negative result: 7 − 22 + 24 = 9 hours of span. Minus a one-hour break, that is 8 net hours.
Record the shift against the date it started, not the date it ended. Otherwise one night appears as two half-days and the weekly total goes wrong. Also note which of those hours count as night hours under your policy, because Article 121 pays them at a higher overtime rate.
How to calculate working hours in Excel: a compact setup
If you build the full attendance sheet yourself, our guide to moving from an Excel attendance sheet to an app covers the layout. Here we only need the formulas that turn times into hours. Assume column B holds clock-in, C holds clock-out and D holds the unpaid break, all formatted as time (for example 09:00 and 1:00).
| Purpose | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Net hours, same-day shift | =(C2-B2-D2)*24 |
Excel stores time as a fraction of a day; ×24 gives decimal hours |
| Net hours, shift may cross midnight | =(MOD(C2-B2,1)-D2)*24 |
MOD wraps a negative span back into the day |
| Overtime hours over an 8-hour day | =MAX(0,E2-8) |
E2 holds the net hours from the row above |
| Weekly or monthly total | =SUM(E2:E6) |
Works on the decimal column |
| Total as hours:minutes over 24 | =SUM(F2:F6) formatted [h]:mm |
F holds time values, e.g. =MOD(C2-B2,1)-D2 |
The [h]:mm custom format matters. Without the square brackets, Excel shows 41:15 as 17:15, because it rolls over every 24 hours.
Here is one sample week for a hypothetical employee on an 8-hour schedule with a one-hour unpaid break:
| Day | Clock-in (B) | Clock-out (C) | Break (D) | Net hours (E) | Overtime (MAX(0,E−8)) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 09:00 | 18:00 | 1:00 | 8.00 | 0.00 |
| Monday | 09:00 | 19:00 | 1:00 | 9.00 | 1.00 |
| Tuesday | 09:15 | 18:00 | 1:00 | 7.75 | 0.00 |
| Wednesday | 08:30 | 18:30 | 1:00 | 9.00 | 1.00 |
| Thursday | 09:00 | 17:30 | 1:00 | 7.50 | 0.00 |
| Total | 41.25 | 2.00 |
This example counts overtime day by day. Some companies net a short day against a long one across the week instead. Either can be a valid policy, but choose one and write it down.
How to calculate working hours per month and the hourly rate
Monthly hours are the sum of daily net hours. Scheduled monthly hours depend on your week: a six-day, 48-hour week over 26 working days gives 208 scheduled hours, while a five-day, 40-hour week over 22 working days gives 176.
The harder question is the hourly rate. Article 2 of Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 says a year is 365 days and a month is thirty days, unless the parties agree otherwise. So the legal default daily wage is the monthly wage ÷ 30. The law does not say how many hours make up that day for an hourly rate: Article 117 caps actual work at 8 hours, but your scheduled day can be shorter. Two approaches:
- Method A (the default): monthly wage ÷ 30 ÷ scheduled daily hours. Follows Article 2's 30-day month. With an 8-hour day, the divisor is 240, identical every month.
- Method B: monthly wage ÷ scheduled hours in that month. Valid only if your contract or policy agrees a different basis. It tracks the real schedule, but the rate shifts as the number of working days changes.
Example: an employee whose monthly wage is 9,000 EGP, with 208 scheduled hours this month.
| Method A, default (÷30 ÷8) | Method B, if agreed (÷ 208 scheduled hours) | |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | 9,000 ÷ 240 = 37.50 EGP | 9,000 ÷ 208 = 43.27 EGP |
| Daytime overtime hour (×1.35) | 50.63 EGP | 58.41 EGP |
| Night overtime hour (×1.70) | 63.75 EGP | 73.56 EGP |
| 6 daytime + 2 night overtime hours | 303.75 + 127.50 = 431.25 EGP | 350.48 + 147.12 = 497.60 EGP |
The gap is about 66 EGP for one person in one month. Unless your contracts say otherwise, start from Method A. If you want a different basis, agree it in writing in the contract or policy, apply it to everyone, and confirm the wording with your accountant or a labour lawyer. If you calculate work hours and pay for staff paid by the hour, the rate is already set and the sum is simply hours × rate, plus the overtime premiums below.
Overtime under Egypt's Labour Law No. 14 of 2025
The official Arabic text is on the Ministry of Labour website. The English below is our summary, not an official translation; for a plain-language overview, see WageIndicator's summary of Egypt's labour law.
| Rule | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Working time | Actual work no more than 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week | Article 117 |
| Rest breaks | Breaks totalling at least one hour; no more than 5 consecutive hours of work | Article 118 |
| Daily span | No more than 10 hours between the start and end of work | Article 119 |
| Month and year | A month is 30 days and a year 365 days, unless agreed otherwise | Article 2 |
| Overtime pay | At least the wage plus 35% for a daytime hour, plus 70% for a night hour, calculated on the hourly wage of normal work | Article 121 |
| Presence at work | Hours present at the establishment may not exceed 12 a day | Article 121 |
| Weekly rest day | Pay equal to the day's wage as compensation, plus a substitute day off in the following week | Article 121 |
Article 121 also covers the weekly rest day. If an employee works on it, they are owed an amount equal to their wage for that day as compensation, and the employer must give them another day off in its place during the following week. For our example employee, the daily wage is 9,000 ÷ 30 = 300 EGP, so working the rest day adds 300 EGP on top of the normal monthly pay, plus a substitute day off.
The same article caps the hours an employee may be present at the establishment at twelve a day, so long overtime days still have a ceiling.
To track who worked overtime and who took leave in the same month, see our guide to overtime and leave tracking. For lateness and absence rules, read our article on attendance policy under Egypt's Labour Law.
This section is for awareness only and is not legal advice.
Common mistakes when you calculate working hours
- Rounding every day. Rounding 7h 52m up to 8 every day adds hours nobody worked. Keep exact minutes and round the monthly total once.
- Unrecorded breaks. If the break is not logged, people tend to deduct either nothing or a flat hour. Write the default into the policy and record exceptions.
- Editing times after the fact. A clock-out typed in on the 30th is a memory, not a record. Corrections should carry a reason and the name of whoever approved them.
- Night shifts split across two dates. Record the shift on its start date and use MOD or +24 for the span.
- Ignoring handover minutes. Fifteen minutes of overlap a day becomes hours by month end, so schedule and count it; our shift handover checklist covers how.
- Mixing leave with absence. An approved annual leave day and an unexplained absence are both "zero hours", but only one should lead to a deduction. Give each its own code.
- Paying overtime nobody approved. Decide who can authorise overtime and record the approval before the hours are worked.
How Yawmy helps
Yawmy is an attendance app for small and mid-sized businesses. It removes the step where someone types times into a sheet. Based on what is published on the Yawmy website:
- Staff clock in and out from Telegram or from the free iOS and Android app, with a GPS check-in and no fingerprint devices.
- A live dashboard shows working hours, lateness and adherence for each employee and each department.
- At month end, payroll is prepared with lateness and absence deductions calculated automatically.
- Yawmy is free for two employees. The Pro plan is 500 EGP a month or 4,500 EGP a year for unlimited employees.
Overtime premiums and rest-day compensation still follow the rules above and your written policy. To compare attendance options first, start with our guide to employee attendance software in Egypt. For the full salary run, see payroll software for Egyptian SMEs.
FAQ
How is overtime calculated in Egypt?
Find the hours worked beyond the scheduled day, then pay each one at the hourly rate plus at least 35% for a daytime hour or plus 70% for a night hour, under Article 121 of Labour Law No. 14 of 2025. Premiums are calculated on the hourly wage of the employee's normal work; with Article 2's 30-day month, that is usually monthly wage ÷ 30 ÷ scheduled daily hours.
How many working hours are there in a month?
It depends on the schedule. A six-day, 48-hour week over 26 working days gives 208 scheduled hours; a five-day, 40-hour week over 22 working days gives 176. Add up actual daily net hours to get the hours really worked.
Is the lunch break counted as working time?
Article 118 requires breaks totalling at least one hour, so that no one works more than five hours in a row. Whether the break is paid is set by your contract and policy. If it is unpaid, deduct it before you calculate working hours.
How do I calculate hours for a shift that ends after midnight?
Subtract clock-in from clock-out and, if the result is negative, add 24 hours. In Excel, =(MOD(C2-B2,1)-D2)*24 does this and removes the break in one step. Record the shift against the date it started.
Which hourly rate should I use for overtime pay?
Article 2 of Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 counts a month as thirty days unless the parties agree otherwise, so the default is monthly wage ÷ 30 ÷ the scheduled hours in a working day, such as 8. Dividing by the scheduled hours in each month is only valid if your contract or policy agrees that basis. Confirm your wording with an accountant or lawyer.
Written by Nada Hassan, HR-Tech Strategist, Yawmy. This article is general information, not legal advice.
Want daily hours recorded the moment staff clock in, instead of rebuilt at month end? Learn about Yawmy and start free.
Want attendance hours that add themselves up?
Tell us your company and how many employees you have; your request goes straight to the Yawmy team.
Turn attendance and payroll into a clean system in minutes.
Try Yawmy for free, add your team, and connect Telegram check-ins, GPS proof, and payroll-ready reports without Excel or WhatsApp chaos.
