Use this PTO calculator to calculate the amount of vacation hours and days you’ve accrued over any time period. Or, use the calculator to quickly determine PTO days accrued for your employees with multiple inputs.

PTO Calculator Instructions

Follow these steps to use the PTO accrual calculator above.

1. Answer: “How often do you accrue hours?”
   • Choose from the dropdown menu the frequency with which your PTO accrues. Options include “Hourly”, “Daily”, “Weekly”, “Bi-weekly”, or “Monthly.”
   • This is your “Accrual Period” and it determines the period over which the calculator computes your accrued PTO.
2. Answer: “How many hours do you accrue during that time?”
   • Type in the number of hours of PTO you earn per selected accrual period.
   • For example, if you accrue 8 hours of PTO each month, enter ‘8’.
   • This is your “PTO Accrual Rate.”
3. Accrual Start Date:
   • Use the date picker to select the date from which you want to start calculating your PTO accrual.
   • This should be the beginning of the period for which you want to calculate the accrued PTO.
4. Accrual End Date:
   • Use the date picker to select the end date for the accrual calculation.
   • This marks the closing date up to which your accrued PTO will be calculated.
5. Starting PTO Balance:
   • Enter the amount of PTO (in hours) that you have already accrued before the start date.
   • If you do not have any PTO accumulated, you can enter ‘0’ or leave this field blank.
6. Answer: “How many PTO hours have you already used during this time period?”
   • Type in the total number of PTO hours you already used between the start and end dates.
   • If you haven’t used any PTO during this period, enter ‘0’.
7. “Max Hours:
   • Does your company cap how many hours one person can accrue?
   • If there is a cap or limit to the amount of PTO you can accrue within the specified period, enter that number here.
   • If there is no maximum limit, you can leave this field blank.
8. After filling out all the necessary fields according to these steps, click the “Calculate.”
   • If you need to start over or adjust your inputs, use the “Clear All” button to reset all fields.

The vacation accrual calculator will compute the number of vacation hours and vacation days you’ve accrued during the time period.

How To Calculate PTO Accrual

Below, you’ll find two ways to calculate your overtime pay for a given time period (like a day or a week). First, you’ll see the formula to calculate overtime. Then, you’ll see written-out steps.

Vacation Accrual Formula

To calculate your vacation hours accrued, use this formula:

PTO Hours Accrued = Accrual Rate × Number of Periods + Starting PTO Balance − PTO Used

In the formula, you’ll use the following inputs:

• Accrual Rate is the number of PTO hours accrued per selected period.
• Number of Periods is calculated based on the start and end dates and the accrual frequency (hourly, daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly).
  • For example, if the accrual period is weekly, the number of weeks between the start and end dates determines the number of periods.
• Starting PTO Balance is the amount of PTO you already have before the start date.
• PTO Used is the amount of PTO you have used during the calculation period.

PTO Days Accrued = PTO Hours Accrued / 8

This conversion assumes a standard 8-hour workday. This means that the total PTO hours accrued is divided by 8 to get the equivalent number of full workdays.

Steps To Calculate Vacation Accrual

Step 1: Determine the Accrual Rate
Identify how many hours of PTO you accrue per specific time period (e.g., 8 hours per month).

Step 2: Calculate the Number of Accrual Periods

• Hourly/Daily/Weekly/Bi-weekly: Count the number of hours, days, or weeks between your start and end date.
• Monthly: Count the number of full months between the dates. Adjust for partial months if your policy allows for it.

Step 3: Compute Total Accrued Hours
Multiply the accrual rate by the number of periods calculated in Step 2.

Step 4: Adjust for Starting Balance and PTO Used
Add any PTO balance you had at the start of the period and subtract any PTO you used during this period.

Step 5: Apply Maximum Cap (if applicable)
If there is a maximum limit to how much PTO can be accrued (specified in your policy), compare the calculated total from Step 4 to this limit. The lower of the two numbers is your accrued PTO.

Step 6: Convert Hours to Days (Optional)
To find out how many days this represents, divide the total accrued PTO hours by 8 (assuming an 8-hour workday).

Related Resources

We have several helpful calculators and templates to help you manage your work hours, staff, and schedules. Here are some closely related ones you might find useful.

Income & Salary Calculators

Here are a few other free calculators we’ve built that are closely related to our overtime calculator.

• Vacation Pay Calculator
• Salary To Hourly Calculator
• Work Hours Calculator
• Work Days Calculator
• Overtime Calculator
• Headcount & FTE Calculator

Paid Time Off Resources

Here are some additional resources you might find useful for managing your team’s time off policies:

• Back To Work Email [3 TEMPLATES]
• PTO Request Emails
• Unlimited PTO Policy Examples & Templates
• Unlimited PTO Is A Trap: Do This Instead
• 100 Companies With Unlimited PTO
• Hybrid Work Policy Template (+ Real Policies Analyzed)

Disclaimer: This calculator is not legal advice. Please advise your HR or legal team first to determine the right work hour calculations and salaries depending on your type of organization, employee status, and labor laws in your state or country.