# How do I set and work out the labour cost?

> What a person's full cost is, how to work it out, how the owner's time counts and who sees the amounts.

Last updated: 2026-10-29

The **full cost** is what the office pays for one day of one person: salary and employer contributions. It is taken off each project's income so that the real profit shows. With the salary alone, projects look more profitable than they are.

### Where is the cost set?

In **Team › Members & roles**, tab **Labour cost**: everyone in one table, in the office's unit. A new cost applies from then on; days already written keep the cost they were written with. Every change is recorded (who, when, from what to what). A person without a cost = their time counts as free, and the reports say so.

### How do I work it out?

gross monthly salary × salaries a year × (1 + employer contributions %) ÷ working days a year. Example: 1,600 × 14 × 1.22 ÷ 220 = 124.22 € a day. **Employer contributions** are what the office pays on top of the gross salary; your accountant gives the rate. The numbers are an example; the **Calculator**, under the same page's **Help**, saves nothing.

### Does the owner's time count?

The owner alone decides, in **Team › Team settings › Time recording**, whether their time counts in the cost of projects; in the cost table their row is shown without being changed there. **Yes**: they set the value of one of their days (for example their yearly target ÷ the working days, or what they would pay an engineer). **No**: their days are written but not costed: the cost table says «not counted» and the project's time «no cost — the office's choice».

### What about non-working days?

A multiplier in **Team › Team settings › Time recording** (for example 1.5) multiplies the cost of a day that is not a working day. It affects only the cost, never the time.

### What does the team cost?

Under **Finances › Labour cost** the costs are added up: for each member the period's cost (a day's cost × working days), how much went to projects and how much stayed off projects. The office's own expenses (rent, power, software) are not part of a person's cost — they are recorded separately, as real amounts, under Finances.

### Why does «check the rates» show?

A person's cost used to be able to hold an «overhead %» — rent, power, software spread over the days. The office's expenses are counted separately in Finances now; if they stay inside the cost as well, they are counted twice. So in an office with costs already written, **Team › Time & cost** shows a message once: check the rates and press **Checked**. No rate changes by itself; «Checked» closes the message for the whole office and is written in the History. It is seen and closed by:

| Permission | Office Owner | Office administrator | Project manager | Technical staff | Secretariat | Accounting | Website manager |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Change the labour cost rates | ✓yes | ✓yes | —no | —no | —no | —no | —no |

### Who sees the amounts?

Only whoever has the labour cost permission — in your office:

| Permission | Office Owner | Office administrator | Project manager | Technical staff | Secretariat | Accounting | Website manager |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Labour cost — view and enter | ✓yes | —no | —no | —no | —no | ✓yes | —no |

The monthly **Project contribution** and the profit after labour by customer — under **Team › Time & cost** — are without VAT and do not take off the office's expenses ([The office's finances](https://ergothiki.gr/help/finances)). They also contain the office's agreed amounts; it needs the permission to see amounts as well:

| Permission | Office Owner | Office administrator | Project manager | Technical staff | Secretariat | Accounting | Website manager |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| See the amounts of money on projects and work items | ✓yes | ✓yes | ✓yes | —no | —no | ✓yes | —no |

Everyone else sees days and hours, and instead of profit the «Gross contribution» — without labour, so that no amount reveals one person's cost.