Salon, spa & fitness
Salon Payroll Calculator
Works salon payroll, where commission and tips both complicate the arithmetic.
Result
Burden rates vary by state, trade and claims history. Take yours from the accounts rather than the default here, because a ten point error moves every price you quote.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Staff costs by arrangement, hourly, commission or salary, with the labour burden applied for payroll taxes, workers compensation, insurance and paid time. Where tips are involved, there are reporting obligations and in some arrangements they interact with the wage calculation, which makes salon payroll more involved than headcount times rate.
What moves the number
- Mix of hourly, commission and salaried arrangements.
- Labour burden on top of pay.
- Tip reporting obligations.
- Overtime on commissioned employees.
Where this one goes wrong
Overtime on commissioned employees is a genuine calculation rather than an exemption: a commissioned stylist who is an employee is generally entitled to overtime on hours beyond the threshold, calculated on a regular rate that includes the commission, which is a step most salons have never done. Tip reporting is the other obligation, and the requirements fall on both the employee and the employer, so a salon handling tips through its own systems has records to keep.
Before you quote
- Calculate overtime on a regular rate that includes commission.
- Meet tip reporting obligations for both sides.
- Apply the full burden, not just payroll taxes.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
Do commissioned stylists get overtime?
Employees generally do, on hours beyond the threshold, calculated on a regular rate that includes the commission. It is a real calculation rather than an exemption, and it is the step most salons have never performed.
What are the obligations around tips?
There are reporting requirements on both the employee and the employer, and where a salon processes tips through its own systems it has records to keep. The specifics depend on the arrangement, which makes it worth confirming rather than assuming.
What does a stylist actually cost?
Pay plus payroll taxes, workers compensation, insurance, paid time and training. That burdened figure is what pricing should use, and a salon setting prices from commission rates alone is underpricing by the whole employer cost.
The formula
cost = (wage x hours + wage x multiplier x overtime) x (1 + burden%)
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How to use this calculator
- People. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 8.
- Hourly wage ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $19.
- Normal hours per week. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 40.
- Overtime hours per week. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 4.
- Overtime multiplier. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.5.
- Labour burden (%). Payroll tax, insurance, holiday, training.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to payroll per week, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| People | 8 |
| Hourly wage | $19 |
| Normal hours per week | 40 |
| Overtime hours per week | 4 |
| Overtime multiplier | 1.5 |
| Labour burden | 28% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Payroll per week main result | $8,950 |
| Payroll per year | $465,388 |
| True cost per hour | $25.43 |
| Overtime per year | $60,703 |
Payroll is $8,950 a week, $465,388 a year. A $19.00 wage really costs $25.43 an hour, and overtime alone accounts for $60,703.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only hourly wage, this is what happens to payroll per week. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Hourly wage ($) | Payroll per week |
|---|---|
| $9.5 | $4,475 |
| $14.25 | $6,712 |
| $19 example above | $8,950 |
| $28.5 | $13,425 |
| $38 | $17,900 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- People
- A number, between 0 and 500, starting at 8.
- Hourly wage ($)
- A money amount, starting at $19.
- Normal hours per week
- A number, between 0 and 80, starting at 40.
- Overtime hours per week
- A number, between 0 and 60, starting at 4.
- Overtime multiplier
- A number, between 1 and 3, starting at 1.5.
- Labour burden (%)
- Payroll tax, insurance, holiday, training.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Payroll per week | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Payroll per year | A money figure. |
| True cost per hour | A money figure. |
| Overtime per year | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.