Share the service charge pool for the period by hours worked, with a cap: anyone who worked the cap or more gets a full share, fewer hours earns a pro-rata share, salaried staff get a full share, and a role can be set to a percentage of a share. Payouts are rounded so they add up to the pool exactly.
| Person | Role / dept | Hours | Salaried | Share % | Points | Payout |
|---|
A service charge is added to the bill by the house and shared with staff by a written rule, so unlike a tip pool it is usually split per pay period (semi-monthly or monthly) and usually with a cap: a number of hours that earns a full share. Enter the pool for the period and the hours for a full share (144 is a common semi-monthly figure: 16 days × 9 hours; a weekly pool might use 40 or 44), then a row per person with the hours they actually worked. Someone with the cap hours or more has 1 point; someone with half the hours has 0.5 points; the pool is divided by the total points and each person gets their points’ worth.
Tick salaried for people who do not clock hours and should get a full share regardless. The share % column scales a row’s share for roles that get a part share by policy: 70% for a bar-back, 50% for security, 0 for someone excluded this period. Under Advanced you can take an admin or house fee off the top first (a percentage the business keeps for breakages, card fees or administration, where that is lawful and written down) and split the pool between departments by percentage, so kitchen and front of house each share their own slice by points.
Every payout is rounded to cents and the rounding cents are added to the largest payout, so the column totals the distributable pool exactly; the check line says so and tells you how many cents moved. Rows are remembered in this browser; Copy link puts the whole split in a URL for a colleague, and Copy summary gives a text table for the payroll notes or the staff notice board. For tips shared per shift or per week without a cap, use the tip pool calculator; the tips and service charge guide explains the difference and what the law in each country typically requires.
Background reading: Paying service charge and tips fairly by hours worked
A tip is money a guest chooses to leave; a service charge is a fixed percentage the business adds to the bill. Because the house collects the service charge, the house decides (within the law and the staff agreement) how it is shared, and that is usually a written formula per pay period, often with a cap on hours and fixed shares for some roles. Tip pools are usually shared per shift or per week straight from the hours. In some countries service charge paid through payroll is treated like wages for tax and social security; check your own rules.
The cap turns hours into shares. Without it, someone who worked 200 hours of overtime would take far more of the pool than a full-time colleague on 160 hours, even though both were there for the whole period. With a cap of, say, 144 hours, everyone who worked a full period earns one full share, and part-timers or people who joined mid-period earn a pro-rata share. Set the cap to match your period: a semi-monthly pool might use 144, a monthly one 160 to 176, a weekly one 40 or 44.
Often yes, in hotels and restaurants where salaried supervisors, chefs or front-office staff serve the same guests, and they are usually given a full share (or a fixed fraction) because they do not clock hours. Tick salaried for them and set a share % if your policy gives them part of a share. Whether they are included at all is a matter for the house policy and the staff agreement.
It depends on the house policy and the law where you operate. Many businesses exclude owners and management from any pool because they set the rules, some include working supervisors, and a few countries restrict who may take part in a shared service charge or tip pool. Put the rule in writing before the first payout, apply it the same way every period, and ask your labour department if you are unsure.
They do: every payout is rounded to cents, which usually leaves a few cents over or short, and the calculator adds those cents to the largest payout so the total equals the distributable pool exactly. The check line tells you how many cents moved. If the check reports money unallocated, the department percentages do not add up to 100% or a row’s role/dept does not match any department.
Free to use, works in your browser, nothing is sent to our servers. Figures are for guidance only: pay rules are set by each country's law and by your contract, so check anything that matters with your labour department or payroll.
PunchClock shares the service charge from the hours actually clocked, with the cap, salaried full shares and role percentages set once, and prints each share on the payslip.