Loaded Labour Rate Calculator
Find the true hourly cost of an employee once benefits, payroll cost and overhead are included.
What this calculator does
Total annual employer cost divided by the hours the employee is actually available to work. Pure division of entered annual cost by entered productive hours. No payroll tax rate is assumed — the employer enters the amount.
Inputs and what they mean
- Currency
- — Amounts are shown in the currency you pick. No exchange rate is applied..
- Annual salary
- — number value.
- Benefits
- — number value.
- Payroll taxes and insurance
- — number value.
- Allocated overhead
- — number value.
- Annual productive hours
- — Paid hours minus leave, holidays and training..
How to use it
- Enter your own figures — the calculator never fills in a rate, price or benchmark for you.
- Press Calculate to see the result.
- Read the formula, variables, assumptions and source below the result before you rely on it.
Formula
Loaded hourly cost = (Annual salary + Benefits + Payroll taxes + Allocated overhead) ÷ Annual productive hours
Worked example
Employee on $90,000 with 1,800 productive hours
Benefits, payroll taxes and allocated overhead included.
Reading the result
The headline figure is the main answer. Any breakdown underneath shows the parts that make it up, so you can check the working and see what changes when you adjust an input.
Limitations and assumptions
Results depend entirely on the figures you enter and are rounded for display. They are for general information and education, not professional advice.
Reference: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — methodology
Last reviewed:
Common questions
Formula, source and verification
Total annual employer cost divided by the hours the employee is actually available to work.
The question it answers: What does an hour of this person's time actually cost us once everything is counted?
The formula
Loaded hourly cost = (Annual salary + Benefits + Payroll taxes + Allocated overhead) ÷ Annual productive hours
- S — Annual salary
- (currency). Gross base pay.
- B — Benefits
- (currency). Employer-paid benefits.
- T — Payroll taxes and insurance
- (currency). Employer payroll burden.
- O — Allocated overhead
- (currency). Share of facilities, tools and support cost.
- Hp — Annual productive hours
- (h). Paid hours minus leave, holidays and training.
Units: Currency per hour; hours.
What kind of calculation this is
Business input model. The answer depends on business figures only you can supply, such as your own costs, rates or volumes. No market or benchmark values are assumed for you.
Method
Pure division of entered annual cost by entered productive hours. No payroll tax rate is assumed — the employer enters the amount.
Assumptions built into the result
- Business: All cost elements and hours refer to the same year.
Figures this calculator will never guess for you
- No statutory tax rate, benefit load or overhead percentage is assumed for any country.
Limitations
- A cost figure, not a price: it excludes margin and does not consider what the work can be sold for.
Source and version
- Standard or reference
- Employer cost of compensation (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation methodology.)
- Published source
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — ECEC methodology
- Formula version
- Version 1
- Verification
- Reviewed against the cited source on
- How much weight the source carries
- Standards or government
- Applies to
- Currency
- Amounts stay in the currency you choose; no exchange rate is applied.
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