Define the cost boundary before calculating
Start with the market-neutral inclusion method in Fully Loaded Labour Cost: What Belongs in the Rate?, then apply only the Australian inputs that match the confirmed employment scenario.
| Component | Planner treatment | Confirmation required |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cash pay | User-entered annual amount | Payroll or employment record on one annual basis |
| Super guarantee | Editable 12% planning start | Eligibility and ordinary-time-earnings treatment |
| Other employee on-costs | User-entered annual amount | Workers compensation, payroll tax, benefits and other applicable costs |
| Leave and ordinary hours | Editable capacity starts | Award, agreement, shiftwork and actual work pattern |
Bridge annual cost to productive hours
Loaded annual employee cost = annual cash pay + applicable employer contributions + other entered on-costs
- annual cash pay
- Entered annual salary or wage cost (A$/employee/year) — business record
- applicable employer contributions
- Supported contribution rows for the confirmed scope (A$/employee/year) — policy dependency and calculation
- other entered on-costs
- Applicable costs not supplied automatically (A$/employee/year) — user record
Productive hours = (paid weeks − leave weeks) × (ordinary weekly hours − non-productive weekly hours)
- paid weeks
- Paid weeks on the annual basis (weeks/employee/year) — user assumption
- leave weeks
- Paid leave excluded from productive capacity (weeks/employee/year) — Fair Work dependency or confirmed override
- ordinary weekly hours
- Ordinary hours for the supported or entered work pattern (hours/employee/week) — Fair Work dependency or confirmed override
- non-productive weekly hours
- Administration, training and paid non-delivery time (hours/employee/working week) — user assumption
Employee cost per productive hour = loaded annual employee cost ÷ productive hours
- loaded annual employee cost
- Annual employee cost reconciled once (A$/employee/year) — calculated
- productive hours
- Annual delivery capacity after entered unavailable time (hours/employee/year) — calculated
Current planner fixture: annual cost to productive hour
The current AU planner fixture uses A$100,000 annual cash pay, the scoped 12% super row, A$8,000 of other entered on-costs, 52 paid weeks, four leave weeks, 38 ordinary weekly hours and six entered non-productive hours.
| Line | Fixture result | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cash pay | A$100,000.00/year | User-entered fixture |
| Scoped super contribution | A$12,000.00/year | Eligibility and earnings basis must be confirmed |
| Other entered on-costs | A$8,000.00/year | Not an automatic statutory total |
| Loaded annual employee cost | A$120,000.00/year | Excludes unentered or unsupported costs |
| Productive hours | 1,536 hours/year | 48 working weeks × 32 delivery hours |
| Employee cost per productive hour | A$78.13/hour | Rounded engine output, not a customer rate |
Confirm inclusions, exclusions and the next decision
- Confirm the worker fits the supported employment and industrial scope. (not complete)
- Check the applicable award, agreement, classification, shiftwork and ordinary-hours pattern. (not complete)
- Enter workers compensation, payroll tax, benefits, equipment and role-enablement costs only when applicable and not already counted. (not complete)
- Reduce capacity for leave and other paid non-delivery time once; do not add the same leave cost again. (not complete)
- Treat productive-hour cost as a cost input, not a recommended charge-out rate. (not complete)
Related tools
- Australia Total Employee Cost Planner
Plan Australia loaded employee cost, productive capacity, staffing budget and a hire-or-overtime threshold
- Labour Recovery Rate Planner
Set a charge-out rate from productive hours and loaded labour
- Billable Utilisation Planner
Turn available time into realistic billable capacity
Reviewed Australian source records
Australian employee-cost questions
- Does the automatic row include every Australian employer cost?
- No. It supplies only the scoped, source-bound contribution row. Other applicable costs remain explicit user inputs.
- Is employee cost per productive hour the customer charge-out rate?
- No. It is a cost denominator. A charge-out decision separately considers overhead, risk, contribution, capacity and market constraints.
- Can this companion determine an award or employment classification?
- No. Check current Fair Work information and the actual employment arrangement before using the fixture.