Overtime Calculator
for employers
Enter your team's hours and rates, see the real cost per employee, and find out whether hiring beats paying overtime.
Instant results · No signup · No card
Your numbers
It doesn't need to be exact, a ballpark works. The calculator does the math.
Number of employees
Averaged across your team, before the multiplier.
Hours beyond the standard work week, averaged per person.
Overtime pay rate
The multiplier depends on law, contract and policy. 1.5× (time and a half) is the common US standard.
Your overtime cost· 10 employees
$70,200/yr
$1,350/wk · $5,846/mo · $7,020 per employee
$27/hr × 5 h/wk × 52
Would hiring be cheaper?
Hiring saves $28,600/yr. You're paying more in OT than a new hire costs.
Breakeven at 3.0 OT hrs/wk. You're at 50.
With better scheduling
Save $14,040–$28,080/yr
Most teams cut overtime 20-40% by spreading shifts more evenly.
Plan without surprises01 — The formula
How to calculate overtime pay
Four chained sums. The calculator does them for you, but here is the formula in case you need it.
- 01Overtime hourly rate
- rate × multiplier
- 02Weekly cost per employee
- OT rate × OT hours
- 03Annual team cost
- weekly cost × employees × 52
- 04Hiring breakeven
- new hire cost ÷ (OT rate × employees × 52)
Example: $18 × 1.5 = $27/hr. Five overtime hours a week cost $135, or about $7,020 a year per person.
Overtime rarely shows up until the week closes. By then, you're already paying it.
02 — The rules
The rules change by country
The premium and the annual cap depend on the country, and in Spain on your convenio. Use the calculator as an estimate and confirm the legal detail with your advisor.
01
1.5×
United States (FLSA)
Beyond 40 hours a week, 1.5× the regular rate for non-exempt employees. Some states, like California, require double time in certain cases.
02
No minimum
United Kingdom
The law doesn't require a premium, but average hourly pay can't fall below the National Minimum Wage. Most employers pay 1.25× to 1.5× by contract.
03
80 h/yr
Spain / EU
Overtime is capped at 80 hours per year per employee (RDL 2/2015). The premium is set by your convenio, often 1.25× to 1.75×, and can sometimes be paid as time off.
03 — The fix
The real fix isn't hiring, it's balancing
Hiring or not is one calculation. Cutting overtime is a scheduling decision: spread shifts so fewer people cross the line.
- 01
Spread shifts evenly. Two people on 10 overtime hours while three others have room is a scheduling problem, not a staffing one.
- 02
Track hours in real time. If you only see them on the payroll report, it's too late to react.
- 03
Spot who's approaching the limit before you publish the rota.
- 04
Cross-train the team to cover more roles and gain flexibility.
Time tracking · This week
40 h/wk- LGLucia G.32 h
- MT+ OTMarc T.44 h
- SPSara P.28 h
- IRIvan R.36 h
Marc crosses the line this week. You see it before you publish, not on payroll.
04 — Questions
Frequently asked questions
The essentials on overtime cost, how it's calculated, and when to act.
Multiply the employee's hourly rate by the overtime multiplier (usually 1.5× for time and a half), then multiply by the number of overtime hours worked. For example, an employee earning $18/hr working 5 overtime hours per week costs $135/week in overtime, or about $7,020 per year.
If overtime consistently exceeds 10–15% of your total labor costs, it's worth investigating. Chronic overtime leads to burnout, higher turnover, and diminishing productivity, which means you're paying more for less output. Use this calculator to see where you stand.
Compare the annual cost of overtime against the fully loaded cost of a new hire (salary plus benefits, taxes, and training). If overtime costs exceed a new hire's total cost, it's generally cheaper to hire. Use the overtime vs hiring section above to find your exact breakeven point.
The overtime multiplier is the number applied to the regular hourly rate for overtime hours. The most common multiplier is 1.5×, also called time and a half. Double time uses a 2× multiplier.
Time and a half means paying 1.5× the employee's regular hourly rate for overtime hours. It's the standard overtime rate under the US Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for non-exempt employees working more than 40 hours in a workweek.
No. 1.5× is the common US federal standard for weekly overtime, but some states, countries, contracts, or collective agreements use different rules. California, for example, can require double time in some cases.
The most effective overtime cost reduction strategies include distributing shifts more evenly across your team, cross-training employees so you have more scheduling flexibility, and tracking hours in real time so you can adjust before anyone crosses the overtime threshold. Even small changes in scheduling can cut overtime by 20–40%.
Overtime isn't the problem.
Bad scheduling is.
Turnozo tracks hours in real time and flags who's approaching the limit, before payday surprises you.