Enter wage, payroll taxes, benefits and the hours actually worked to see what an operator costs per year, per paid hour and per productive hour, on the day and night shifts.
Pre-sizing and estimating tool: results do not replace design, calculations or reports signed by a licensed professional, nor verification against the applicable codes and standards.
Each part of the annual cost divided by the productive hours in the year.
Hours in the year for the shift in the main result: paid, worked (with overtime) and productive.
Values per year, per month and per productive hour, for both shifts.
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Quite a bit more than the wage. In the example, an operator at $24.00 an hour with 3 overtime hours a week costs $73,378 a year on the day shift, 1.47 times base pay. The difference is employer FICA, unemployment and workers’ comp, the 401(k) match, health insurance and other benefits, plus overtime.
Because 2,080 paid hours include paid time off, and absences and breaks also eat into the shift. In the example, 2,080 paid hours become 1,898 productive hours. The cost is $35.28 per paid hour but $38.67 per productive hour, which is the number to use when quoting a job.
Employer FICA is 7.65%: Social Security at 6.2% up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, plus Medicare at 1.45% with no cap. On top come FUTA (6.0% on the first $7,000, usually 0.6% after the state credit), state unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation, which vary by state, job class and claims history. The example uses 4% for these.
There is no federal night premium: the shift differential comes from company policy or the union contract. The example uses 10% of the base rate. Under the FLSA the differential goes into the regular rate, so overtime is paid at 1.5 times the higher rate. Night costs $41.82 per productive hour, 8.2% more than days.
Non-exempt employees earn at least 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek (FLSA). Overtime raises payroll taxes too, but not fixed benefits like health insurance, so an overtime hour can cost less than adding a new hire for short peaks. For sustained demand, compare with staffing another shift.
The employer share of health insurance is often the largest benefit; add the retirement match, PPE and uniforms, training, safety exams and any other per-person costs. Use what the company actually spends per head; benchmarks such as the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation can help check the order of magnitude.
It uses annual averages and does not replace payroll. It ignores the Social Security wage-base cap for very high earners, state overtime rules (for example daily overtime in some states), union contract terms and paid sick leave mandates. Defaults are examples; confirm rates with your payroll provider.
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