The short version
You tell the timer what you earn and when you work. It derives a real hourly rate from that schedule, then multiplies elapsed paid time by that rate. The result is a number that moves every second you are on the clock — and pauses when you are not.
That is different from a static calculator. A calculator answers “what is my rate?” once. A timer answers “what has this hour cost so far?” while you are still in it. That is why the product on this site is a live salary timer, not only a form that prints a single figure.
Two numbers, one schedule
Every honest salary timer is really doing two jobs. First it turns your pay and your real hours into an hourly rate. Then it accrues that rate only inside paid windows of the day.
earned so far = hourly rate × paid minutes elapsed ÷ 60
If the hourly rate is wrong, the live total is wrong in a smooth, convincing way. That is why this site insists on schedule-first math: working days, shift start and end, unpaid breaks, optional overtime — the same inputs behind the hourly rate calculator and the homepage timer.
A 09:00–17:30 day with a 30-minute unpaid lunch is not 8.5 paid hours. It is 8. Over a year that half hour is more than three working weeks. Pretend lunch is paid and both your rate and your “earned today” number drift upward for free.
What the live counter is allowed to do
- Before the shift — show zero (or a countdown). You have not started paid work yet.
- During paid time — climb continuously. Meetings, Slack, and “quick syncs” all share the same meter.
- During an unpaid break — freeze. See are lunch breaks paid? for why that pause is the honest behaviour.
- After clock-out — either stop, or keep going at an overtime multiplier if you turned that on. The overtime pay calculator is the focused version of that idea.
Night shifts that cross midnight follow the same rules; they just need a shift window that wraps past 00:00. That edge case is covered in the shift work guide and the shift worker salary timer.
Timer versus calculator versus payslip
People often mix three tools that answer different questions:
- Calculator — “What is my rate?” Useful once, when you change jobs or hours. Then you mostly leave it alone.
- Salary timer — “What is this hour worth while I am in it?” Useful every working day. That is the homepage product.
- Payslip — “What hit my bank after tax?” Authoritative for money in the account; useless for feeling a Tuesday afternoon.
This site is built around the middle one. The calculators exist so the rate feeding the timer is not a fantasy. The Learn articles exist so those ideas stay connected — not so they replace the live counter.
Why people leave the tab open
Money and time are both hard to feel. A payslip arrives as one number after thirty days of effort. A live counter makes a meeting, a late finish, or a Saturday cover request measurable while you can still say no.
That is the whole product thesis: shorten the gap between effort and reward. Everything else — per-second figures, paycheck countdown, savings jar priced in hours — is a way of keeping that gap visible.
When you are ready, open the free salary timer on the homepage, set your pay once, and let the number run during paid time only.