Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Budgeted labor hours
61.9
Scheduled vs. budgeted gap
-3.9
Labor dollar budget
$1,176
Projected labor % if scheduled as planned
26.2%
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How to use this
- 1Enter projected sales for shift/day ($).
- 2Enter target labor % (%).
- 3Enter blended hourly wage (loaded) ($/hr).
- 4Enter hours currently scheduled.
- 5Read your budgeted labor hours on the right — it updates as you type.
- 6Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Scheduling by gut feel is the fastest way to blow a labor budget. This calculator works backward from your target labor cost percentage: given projected sales for a shift or day and your blended hourly wage rate, it tells you the maximum labor dollars and hours you can schedule while hitting target. It also compares that budget against your planned scheduled hours to flag overstaffing or understaffing before the shift happens, not after the labor report comes in a week later. The key discipline this enforces is scheduling to sales forecasts by daypart rather than a static weekly template — a Tuesday lunch and a Friday dinner should never carry the same staffing plan, and the gap between the two labor-hour budgets can be substantial even when total weekly sales look similar on paper.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Projected sales for shift/day: 4200 $
- Target labor %: 28 %
- Blended hourly wage (loaded): 19 $/hr
- Hours currently scheduled: 58
Results
- Budgeted labor hours: 61.9
- Scheduled vs. budgeted gap: -3.9
- Labor dollar budget: $1,176
- Projected labor % if scheduled as planned: 26.2%
What each field means
Inputs
- Projected sales for shift/day ($)
- The projected sales for shift/day used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 4200 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Target labor % (%)
- The target labor % used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 28 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 5–60 %.
- Blended hourly wage (loaded) ($/hr)
- The blended hourly wage (loaded) used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 19 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
- Hours currently scheduled
- The hours currently scheduled used in the calculation. Starts at 58 so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Budgeted labor hours
- Returned as a whole number and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Scheduled vs. budgeted gap
- Returned as a whole number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Labor dollar budget
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Projected labor % if scheduled as planned
- Returned as a percentage. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
How do I forecast sales for a specific shift?
Use a trailing average of the same day-of-week and daypart over the last 4-8 weeks, adjusted for known factors like weather, local events, or holidays. POS systems with forecasting built in do this automatically and generally beat manual guessing once you have a few months of data.
What if the hours gap shows I'm understaffed?
A negative gap (fewer hours scheduled than budget allows) isn't automatically bad — it might mean you're running lean and profitable, or it might mean service quality is suffering. Cross-check against wait times, table turn speed, and guest complaints before adding hours just because the budget allows it.
Should every daypart use the same target labor %?
No — slow dayparts often need a minimum staffing floor (at least one cook, one server) regardless of what the percentage formula suggests, which can push labor % higher than target during those windows. Budget dayparts individually rather than applying one blanket target across the whole day.
How often should schedules be built against this kind of budget?
Weekly, built from the sales forecast for that specific week, with a same-day adjustment window for extreme weather or unexpected events. Building the schedule two weeks out from stale sales data is a common source of labor percentage misses.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
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Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Staff Scheduling Hours Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/staff-scheduling-hours
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/staff-scheduling-hours" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Staff Scheduling Hours Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Staff Scheduling Hours Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/staff-scheduling-hours) (2026).