For example, if 50 hours are needed to produce 500 units, then each unit requires 0.1 hours of direct labor. For example, suppose employees earn $30 per hour, and you pay out $300 in benefits and $150 in taxes for every 40 hours of work. You will want to use a similar approach to break them all down to an equal time unit (like weekly or hourly). Imagine a furniture manufacturing company where workers are paid $18 per hour, plus $7 in additional costs (including benefits and taxes). Combining technology, regular audits, and strategic forecasting allows your business to maintain an optimal workforce that meets production demands without overshooting labor budgets. This efficiency can enhance your reputation, keep your workers happy, and make your bottom line healthier.

About Oyster

There are also variable costs, including employee benefits like health insurance, pension plan contributions, overtime hours, and training and development expenses. Managing direct labor costs effectively is not just about calculations and formulas; it’s also about putting solid strategies into practice. Whether you’re a small business owner or a department manager, adopting best practices can lead to substantial gains in both productivity and profitability. Direct labor cost refers to the wages, salaries, and other compensation (such as overtime and benefits) paid to employees directly involved in producing goods or delivering services. If you own a bakery, for example, your bakers’ wages form part of your direct labor cost because they are actively transforming raw materials into finished products. Conversely, your office accountant’s salary would be considered indirect labor since the accountant isn’t directly handling production.

Plus, giving employees permission to clock in early encourages accountability and gives you better control over labor expenses. It’s about reducing the cracks through which dollars might drip out in the form of unplanned overtime or payroll errors. You can optimize your labor budget all you want, but they are the ones who are going to be working those hours. To start, you can’t leave them out of all of your equations and treat them as calculations instead of people—their satisfaction has an impact on your bottom line, too. After that, when you have this information, you can make some real decisions and create a direct labor budget.

Free resources

• Direct labor cost is one of the significant components of the company’s product cost.
• Often, the costs of materials or overhead, which are easier to calculate, are taken into consideration while the direct cost of labor is left to a best guess.
• Although the cost of direct labor is straightforward to calculate, it still requires careful tracking and analysis to account for every dollar.

The more products or services you produce, the higher your direct labor costs will be. Yes, overtime pay rates are typically higher than standard rates and directly tied to production activities. Always account for overtime in your direct labor cost to avoid surprises in your financial statements. When budgeting, forecast likely overtime hours if you anticipate spikes in demand. Budgeting involves considering the big picture of upcoming labor requirements. Thus, the formula to compute the budgeted direct labor cost is expanded to consider estimated production levels and labor efficiency.

Top 10 Mobile Inventory Management Software in 2025

It includes the total paid as wages or other benefits to the company’s employees. They are related directly to the manufacturing of the company’s product or the provision of services. Once complete, you see how much your direct labor costs are at a fairly exact amount based on the time set you used (hour, week, month). Again, the important thing is to work it all down the same time unit, preferably hours. Direct labor cost is not just an accounting number; it’s a key driver of your business’s profitability, efficiency, and overall success. Understanding how to calculate direct labor cost, recognizing whether it’s truly variable, and regularly monitoring labor variances are essential steps.

Industry

Using that information, you need to be able to forecast what your production goals should be. They may change based on seasonal or general customer demand, but the main thing is to come up with a standard production or service unit that you’ll use for calculating. It may be widgets produced or appointments booked, depending on your business. Calculating direct labor costs involves several steps and requires careful consideration of all the components involved. Next, calculate how many direct labor hours are required to produce one unit.

Knowing whether your direct labor cost behaves as a purely variable cost or a partially fixed expense is crucial for strategic planning. For instance, if demand suddenly increases, you might rely on extra shifts or shift swapping solutions to stay flexible. On the other hand, if you must pay employees a set minimum, you might want to incorporate a cost management strategy that accounts for a stable labor expense. Start by determining the direct labor hourly rate, including base pay, benefits, and payroll taxes. To find the wage rate, add the total value of benefits and payroll taxes and divide by the total number of hours worked in the relevant pay period.

At this point, you should be able to see if what you’re charging customers covers the total cost it takes to produce. Often, the costs of materials or overhead, which are easier to calculate, are taken into consideration while the direct cost of labor is left to a best guess. Here, the weekly direct labor cost for the cleaning service company is $4,320. Consider a cleaning service company with employees earning $15 per hour, plus an additional $3 for benefits. With Oyster’s global employment platform, you can effortlessly calculate global salaries and streamline payroll in over 180 countries worldwide. Discover how Oyster can help you manage and optimize your workforce with ease.

• Direct labor costs include the wages and benefits of employees directly involved in producing goods or delivering services.
• Scheduling software like Shyft automatically matches labor hours with anticipated demand, minimizing idle time and overtime costs.
• Again, the important thing is to work it all down the same time unit, preferably hours.
• To start, you can’t leave them out of all of your equations and treat them as calculations instead of people—their satisfaction has an impact on your bottom line, too.
• Implement lean management techniques to enhance efficiency and eliminate waste.

When employees frequently miss work, management may scramble to find temporary replacements or pay overtime to replacement staff. This extra expense and inefficient resource allocation can quickly strain a business’s finances. Additionally, frequent absences jeopardize production schedules, delay projects, and diminish team morale. There may be some variance on that formula if you have a mix of shift and salaried workers involved in the process. You’ll want to find the labor cost per productivity unit in a way that equally reflects those differences so that their contributions don’t skew the total.

Analyze the underlying causes of poor attendance (e.g., general workplace dissatisfaction or personal issues). Imagine being able to allocate resources more effectively, create schedules in a snap, and have the power to optimize your staff expenses – all from one platform. Cross-training employees is like equipping them with a Swiss army knife of skills – they become versatile, adaptive, and much more valuable. Oyster is a global employment platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, engage, pay, manage, develop, and take care of a thriving distributed workforce.

Tools like roster management software from Shyft can help you schedule staff more efficiently, ensuring that each worker’s time is allocated precisely where it’s needed. However, the true cost of direct labor goes beyond gross pay and hours worked. Companies should examine every expense tied to hiring and retaining employees to clearly visualize direct labor costs. This direct labor cost formula helps companies process payroll, project operational budgets, and calculate the cost of new employees. As a manager, you should be calculating a direct labor budget based on your decision-making calendar.

A well-managed global team should boost profitability, not drag down your bottom line. You should manage direct labor costs effectively to maximize operational efficiency and productivity. An experienced collaborator can help you navigate the complexities of HR and labor management so you can focus on keeping costs down, productivity up, and employees happy.

Always aim for a balance between cost-saving and maintaining high standards. Calculating the direct labor budget involves knowing your direct labor costs and required direct labor hours to accomplish your organization’s goals. Customer demand was more than you expected, overtime costs caught you by surprise, or employee productivity was less than you anticipated. Whatever the reason, we’re going to show you how to calculate a direct labor budget, with examples, and tell you why it’s important not only to you, but also your employees. Outsourcing tasks that are not core to your business can be a cost-effective way to reduce direct labor costs. For example, outsourcing payroll, the formula to compute the budgeted direct labor cost is IT services, or other administrative tasks allows you to focus your labor resources on areas that directly contribute to production.

Finding direct labor cost in your financial statements is relatively straightforward—it often appears in the cost of goods sold section. Turn to software solutions for labor cost management and say goodbye to spreadsheets and manual errors. Innovative software like Sling serves as a control center for your labor costs, bringing automation and accuracy into the fold.