Direct answer and stop conditions
Stop before using the result unless each condition is true
- The employee matches the supported contributing eligible KiwiSaver member fixture from 1 April 2026. (not complete)
- Annual pay and the KiwiSaver contribution-earnings basis come from the same confirmed scenario. (not complete)
- Applicable ACC and other employer cash costs have been entered from current business records. (not complete)
- Paid hours and productive hours are explicit user assumptions for the same annual period. (not complete)
Start with one consistent annual cost basis
| Component | Treatment | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Annual pay | User-entered | Confirmed annual business record |
| Employer KiwiSaver | Reviewed engine component | 3.5% supported contributing-member fixture from 1 April 2026 |
| ACC and other employer cash costs | User-entered | No ACC rate, classification or market default is supplied |
| Paid and productive hours | User-entered assumptions | No New Zealand productive-hours benchmark is supplied |
| ESCT, payroll, leave and holiday-pay calculations | Excluded | Confirm outside this commercial planning fixture |
Reviewed New Zealand component: employer KiwiSaver
The registered tool uses the reviewed 3.5% compulsory employer KiwiSaver base rate only for a confirmed contributing eligible member from 1 April 2026. The dependency version is ird-employer-kiwisaver-rate-2026-nz@2026-07-16. Savings suspensions, temporary rate reductions, exempt employers, ESCT and alternative remuneration arrangements remain outside the supported calculation.
Confirm, do not average: ACC and other employer costs
ACC guidance identifies liable payroll and classification unit as levy inputs, and Experience Rating may apply when its conditions are met. This companion does not select a classification, rate or adjustment. Enter the applicable annual ACC amount and every other employer cash cost from a current invoice, policy, contract or supported planning record.
Separate paid time from productive hours
Paid annual holidays and other paid non-delivery time can reduce delivery capacity without creating a second salary cost. Enter paid weeks, ordinary weekly hours, leave weeks and non-delivery hours for the same annual period. Do not count the same salary-covered time in both annual employer cost and the productive-hours reduction.
Cost per selected hour = supported annual employee cost ÷ selected hours
- supported annual employee cost
- Annual pay plus reviewed employer KiwiSaver plus user-entered applicable ACC and other employer cash costs (NZD per employee per year) — engine_result
- paid hours
- User-entered paid weeks multiplied by user-entered ordinary weekly hours (paid hours per employee per year) — engine_result
- productive hours
- Paid-hour scenario after the user-entered leave and non-delivery reductions (productive hours per employee per year) — engine_result
Both displayed hourly results are evaluated by the registered New Zealand employee-cost engine. The article contains no second arithmetic implementation.
Worked scenario with user-labelled assumptions
NZ$72,000 annual pay in the supported KiwiSaver case
Annual pay is illustrative. ACC and other employer cash costs, paid weeks, weekly hours, leave and non-delivery time are explicitly user-entered fixture assumptions—not New Zealand defaults. Every calculated amount comes from the registered tool engine.
| Input | Fixture value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Annual pay and contribution earnings | NZ$72,000.00 | Illustrative user input |
| ACC and other annual employer costs | NZ$0.00 | User-entered placeholder; not a market default |
| Paid weeks and ordinary weekly hours | 52 weeks; 40 hours | User assumptions |
| Leave and non-delivery time | 4 weeks; 6 hours per working week | User assumptions; not entitlement calculations |
| Result | Engine-derived value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Employer KiwiSaver | NZ$2,520.00 | Reviewed 3.5% supported-case engine component |
| Supported annual employee cost | NZ$74,520.00 | Annual pay plus engine KiwiSaver plus the entered NZ$0 other-cost placeholder |
| Paid hours assumption | 2,080 hours | Same engine with only the user-entered leave and non-delivery reductions removed |
| Supported cost per paid hour | NZ$35.83/paid hour | Owning-engine paid-hour denominator projection |
| Productive hours assumption | 1,632 hours | Engine result from the entered leave and non-delivery assumptions |
| Supported cost per productive hour | NZ$45.66/productive hour | Owning-engine result; not a customer charge-out rate |
Hand off to the New Zealand total employee cost tool
Use the New Zealand Total Employee Cost Planner to replace the illustrative annual pay, NZ$0 other-cost placeholder and hour assumptions with the supported employee scenario and current business records. Then use the Global Labour Recovery Rate tool for overhead and recovery planning, the Service Rate & Quote tool for a separate quote scenario, and Job Costing & Margin for estimate-versus-actual review.
Mistakes, limitations and refresh triggers
- Do not treat the 3.5% supported KiwiSaver row as applying to every employee or remuneration arrangement.
- Do not invent an ACC rate, classification, levy amount or Experience Rating adjustment.
- Do not calculate leave entitlement or holiday pay from the productive-hours assumptions.
- Do not treat cost per productive hour as a recommended customer rate.
- Refresh the article when the KiwiSaver dependency, ACC guidance, Employment New Zealand guidance or owning-tool semantics change.
The KiwiSaver dependency was reviewed on 16 July 2026 and is effective for the supported case from 1 April 2026. The ACC and Employment New Zealand qualitative boundaries were checked on 28 July 2026 and have no single recorded effective date.
Reviewed official sources
- Inland Revenue: Calculate KiwiSaver deductions and contributions — New Zealand Inland Revenue: Supports the reviewed 3.5% employer contribution for the bounded contributing-member fixture from 1 April 2026.
- ACC: Workplace Cover for employers — Accident Compensation Corporation: Supports the qualitative employer-cover boundary; it does not supply a generic levy rate or classification.
- ACC: Calculate your levies — Accident Compensation Corporation: Supports the liable-payroll and classification-unit inputs and conditional Experience Rating boundary.
- Employment New Zealand: Taking annual holidays — Employment New Zealand: Supports the paid annual-holiday boundary only; productive hours remain a user business assumption.
Continue the workforce-cost decision
- New Zealand Total Employee Cost Planner
Plan New Zealand 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
- Service Rate & Quote Planner
Set a viable rate and project quote
- Job Costing & Margin Planner
Compare quoted and actual job economics and identify overruns