diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/boards/components/issue_time_estimate.vue b/app/assets/javascripts/boards/components/issue_time_estimate.vue
index 98c1d29db160b7779619a5d52c346296ca6472c0..2545980163f1a187d4629bfd27768ee80754de24 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/boards/components/issue_time_estimate.vue
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/boards/components/issue_time_estimate.vue
@@ -16,10 +16,15 @@ export default {
   },
   computed: {
     title() {
-      return stringifyTime(parseSeconds(this.estimate), true);
+      return stringifyTime(
+        parseSeconds(this.estimate, { limitToHours: gon.time_tracking_display_hours_only }),
+        true
+      );
     },
     timeEstimate() {
-      return stringifyTime(parseSeconds(this.estimate));
+      return stringifyTime(
+        parseSeconds(this.estimate, { limitToHours: gon.time_tracking_display_hours_only })
+      );
     },
   },
 };
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/lib/utils/datetime_utility.js b/app/assets/javascripts/lib/utils/datetime_utility.js
index d521c462ad8bf59d874c75c81e2848caf1d324cc..f8398f2f7808b141674593b53e51ccca2cab8306 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/lib/utils/datetime_utility.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/lib/utils/datetime_utility.js
@@ -479,7 +479,10 @@ export const pikadayToString = date => {
  * Seconds can be negative or positive, zero or non-zero. Can be configured for any day
  * or week length.
  */
-export const parseSeconds = (seconds, { daysPerWeek = 5, hoursPerDay = 8 } = {}) => {
+export const parseSeconds = (
+  seconds,
+  { daysPerWeek = 5, hoursPerDay = 8, limitToHours = false } = {},
+) => {
   const DAYS_PER_WEEK = daysPerWeek;
   const HOURS_PER_DAY = hoursPerDay;
   const MINUTES_PER_HOUR = 60;
@@ -496,6 +499,10 @@ export const parseSeconds = (seconds, { daysPerWeek = 5, hoursPerDay = 8 } = {})
   let unorderedMinutes = Math.abs(seconds / MINUTES_PER_HOUR);
 
   return _.mapObject(timePeriodConstraints, minutesPerPeriod => {
+    if (limitToHours && minutesPerPeriod > MINUTES_PER_HOUR) {
+      return 0;
+    }
+
     const periodCount = Math.floor(unorderedMinutes / minutesPerPeriod);
 
     unorderedMinutes -= periodCount * minutesPerPeriod;
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/sidebar/components/time_tracking/comparison_pane.vue b/app/assets/javascripts/sidebar/components/time_tracking/comparison_pane.vue
index f4d926cd3ecd270c42ec14f037487a91a3985c0b..cd3e7ce33f78ef10becd73d9e3a3420a6342b849 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/sidebar/components/time_tracking/comparison_pane.vue
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/sidebar/components/time_tracking/comparison_pane.vue
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export default {
   computed: {
     parsedTimeRemaining() {
       const diffSeconds = this.timeEstimate - this.timeSpent;
-      return parseSeconds(diffSeconds);
+      return parseSeconds(diffSeconds, { limitToHours: gon.time_tracking_display_hours_only });
     },
     timeRemainingHumanReadable() {
       return stringifyTime(this.parsedTimeRemaining);
diff --git a/app/helpers/application_settings_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_settings_helper.rb
index 4469118f065e58915506270747c260868c34c962..596ac1c4c1eb995ef30a5d808ee8e0982765d1ff 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_settings_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_settings_helper.rb
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ module ApplicationSettingsHelper
       :throttle_unauthenticated_enabled,
       :throttle_unauthenticated_period_in_seconds,
       :throttle_unauthenticated_requests_per_period,
+      :time_tracking_display_hours_only,
       :two_factor_grace_period,
       :unique_ips_limit_enabled,
       :unique_ips_limit_per_user,
diff --git a/app/models/application_setting_implementation.rb b/app/models/application_setting_implementation.rb
index 904d650ef9664c8f6395552a86598d748c653188..7b5bf5ad5cf2f733c2be937d92b4e50e99bf42c5 100644
--- a/app/models/application_setting_implementation.rb
+++ b/app/models/application_setting_implementation.rb
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ module ApplicationSettingImplementation
         throttle_unauthenticated_enabled: false,
         throttle_unauthenticated_period_in_seconds: 3600,
         throttle_unauthenticated_requests_per_period: 3600,
+        time_tracking_display_hours_only: false,
         two_factor_grace_period: 48,
         unique_ips_limit_enabled: false,
         unique_ips_limit_per_user: 10,
diff --git a/app/views/admin/application_settings/_localization.html.haml b/app/views/admin/application_settings/_localization.html.haml
index bb4d1fa1241711d69f5de56d24bbf2727fdb347e..8f09d42a05389e96afab2cce90ce3c4464199b09 100644
--- a/app/views/admin/application_settings/_localization.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/admin/application_settings/_localization.html.haml
@@ -8,4 +8,10 @@
       .form-text.text-muted
         = _('Default first day of the week in calendars and date pickers.')
 
+    .form-group
+      .form-check
+        = f.check_box :time_tracking_display_hours_only, class: 'form-check-input'
+        = f.label :time_tracking_display_hours_only, class: 'form-check-label' do
+          _('Limit time tracking display to hours.')
+
   = f.submit _('Save changes'), class: "btn btn-success"
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/30355-use-hours-only-for-time-tracking.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/30355-use-hours-only-for-time-tracking.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..afc548472aaf485889eea97e9cdd8a567a10e6be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/30355-use-hours-only-for-time-tracking.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Add option to show time tracking values in hours only
+merge_request: 29469
+author: Jon Kolb
+type: added
diff --git a/db/migrate/20190611090827_add_time_tracking_display_hours_only_to_application_settings.rb b/db/migrate/20190611090827_add_time_tracking_display_hours_only_to_application_settings.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f4daf0d18631f476b392f7c9546ddd7105a803a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20190611090827_add_time_tracking_display_hours_only_to_application_settings.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# See http://doc.gitlab.com/ce/development/migration_style_guide.html
+# for more information on how to write migrations for GitLab.
+
+class AddTimeTrackingDisplayHoursOnlyToApplicationSettings < ActiveRecord::Migration[5.1]
+  include Gitlab::Database::MigrationHelpers
+
+  # Set this constant to true if this migration requires downtime.
+  DOWNTIME = false
+
+  disable_ddl_transaction!
+
+  def up
+    add_column_with_default :application_settings, :time_tracking_display_hours_only, :boolean, default: false, allow_null: false
+  end
+
+  def down
+    remove_column :application_settings, :time_tracking_display_hours_only
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index b81558178b95751427c9f23502a76c7353fa21a8..d39833f97556fac0ed30eefd8aba06219c892819 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20190620112608) do
     t.integer "custom_project_templates_group_id"
     t.boolean "elasticsearch_limit_indexing", default: false, null: false
     t.string "geo_node_allowed_ips", default: "0.0.0.0/0, ::/0"
+    t.boolean "time_tracking_display_hours_only", default: false, null: false
     t.index ["custom_project_templates_group_id"], name: "index_application_settings_on_custom_project_templates_group_id", using: :btree
     t.index ["file_template_project_id"], name: "index_application_settings_on_file_template_project_id", using: :btree
     t.index ["usage_stats_set_by_user_id"], name: "index_application_settings_on_usage_stats_set_by_user_id", using: :btree
diff --git a/doc/api/settings.md b/doc/api/settings.md
index c2a1f7feefda0a0fa81d7227a84b3b55f0b22bda..7363b43393f9a622ab56d131b740b5670c2f8dd1 100644
--- a/doc/api/settings.md
+++ b/doc/api/settings.md
@@ -231,6 +231,7 @@ are listed in the descriptions of the relevant settings.
 | `throttle_unauthenticated_enabled`       | boolean          | no                                   | (**If enabled, requires:** `throttle_unauthenticated_period_in_seconds` and `throttle_unauthenticated_requests_per_period`) Enable unauthenticated request rate limit. Helps reduce request volume (e.g. from crawlers or abusive bots). |
 | `throttle_unauthenticated_period_in_seconds` | integer      | required by: `throttle_unauthenticated_enabled` | Rate limit period in seconds.  |
 | `throttle_unauthenticated_requests_per_period` | integer    | required by: `throttle_unauthenticated_enabled` | Max requests per period per IP. |
+| `time_tracking_display_hours_only`       | boolean          | no                                   | Limit time tracking values to hours only. Default is `false`. |
 | `two_factor_grace_period`                | integer          | required by: `require_two_factor_authentication` | Amount of time (in hours) that users are allowed to skip forced configuration of two-factor authentication. |
 | `unique_ips_limit_enabled`               | boolean          | no                                   | (**If enabled, requires:** `unique_ips_limit_per_user` and `unique_ips_limit_time_window`) Limit sign in from multiple ips. |
 | `unique_ips_limit_per_user`              | integer          | required by: `unique_ips_limit_enabled` | Maximum number of ips per user. |
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/gon_helper.rb b/lib/gitlab/gon_helper.rb
index 582c3065189763cef1f1c96f5c3b6c0e67e14173..ca2e4e5f001d66e85b87e0d024711d8f54b8f7b5 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/gon_helper.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/gon_helper.rb
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ module Gitlab
       gon.first_day_of_week      = current_user&.first_day_of_week || Gitlab::CurrentSettings.first_day_of_week
       gon.ee                     = Gitlab.ee?
 
+      gon.time_tracking_display_hours_only = Gitlab::CurrentSettings.time_tracking_display_hours_only
+
       if current_user
         gon.current_user_id = current_user.id
         gon.current_username = current_user.username
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/time_tracking_formatter.rb b/lib/gitlab/time_tracking_formatter.rb
index cc206010e741d636e7fdc40e04c22b2b53436a53..a63fe51eb975500422ce75b6e6013393fc74bd7e 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/time_tracking_formatter.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/time_tracking_formatter.rb
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ module Gitlab
 
     def output(seconds)
       with_custom_config do
-        ChronicDuration.output(seconds, format: :short, limit_to_hours: false, weeks: true) rescue nil
+        limit_to_hours = Gitlab::CurrentSettings.time_tracking_display_hours_only
+        ChronicDuration.output(seconds, format: :short, limit_to_hours: limit_to_hours, weeks: true) rescue nil
       end
     end