---
title: Calculate bench time in temporary staffing — alluvo
description: What does bench time cost? Calculate wage costs, lost contribution margin and the value of higher utilisation. Free for staffing agencies.
url: https://alluvo.ai/en/tools/bench-cost
---

1. [Free tools](https://alluvo.ai/en/tools)
2. Bench cost calculator

# What does the bench cost?

Forty employees, 88% utilisation: that sounds good until you work out what the missing twelve percent means over a year. Heads in, utilisation in, and then the number that ends every scheduling conversation: what one percentage point is worth. No sign-up. The link is the calculation.

## Your bench per month

Bench days are paid days. Wages, on-costs and overhead keep running, only the revenue is missing. Two numbers are enough, everything else is below under "Adjust assumptions".

**Your workforce**

**40** Employees available for placement heads

Everyone you can place with clients.

**88** Utilisation today %

Share of working days with an assignment.[1]

**20** Avg. gross wage per hour €/h

**42** Avg. billing rate €/h

This gives **870.0** working days a month, of which **104.4** on the bench and **765.6** on assignment. A bench day costs **€211.29**, an assignment day brings in **€336**.

Calculation sheet · per month 104.4 bench days[1]

**Bench days**

104.4 days

**Wages incl. on-costs for the bench days**

€20,378.88

**+ Overhead for the same days**

€1,680

**Cost of the bench**

€22,058.88

Lost revenue · month €35,078.40

Of which contribution margin[2] €14,699.52

Cost of the bench · year €264,706.56

Lost revenue · year €420,940.80

## What a point of utilisation is worth

Lost annual revenue falls in a straight line with utilisation. That is why every point costs the same, and why it pays to name the goal in points instead of "more assignments".[3]

**93** Target utilisation %

Where you want to be in twelve months.

- Heute 88. %
- Ziel 93. %
- remaining levels

Lost revenue per year by utilisation

At **88. %** utilisation you lose **€420,940.80** revenue a year compared with today: **+ €0**

Every point of utilisation is worth €35,078.40 a year to you. From 88. % to 93. %: €175,392. [3]

104.4 bench days a month cost you €22,058.88 in wages and overhead, plus €35,078.40 revenue that does not happen.

**One point of utilisation**

**€35,078.40** a year, **€2,923.20** a month, regardless of where you stand today.

**Your target**

**5.** points more bring you **€175,392** a year; the bench then still costs €245,548.80 revenue.

**Level by level**

| Utilisation | Lost revenue per year | Compared with today | Marker |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 80. % | €701,568 | − €280,627.20 |  |
| 82. % | €631,411.20 | − €210,470.40 |  |
| 84. % | €561,254.40 | − €140,313.60 |  |
| 86. % | €491,097.60 | − €70,156.80 |  |
| 88. % | €420,940.80 | + €0 | today |
| 90. % | €350,784 | + €70,156.80 |  |
| 92. % | €280,627.20 | + €140,313.60 |  |
| 94. % | €210,470.40 | + €210,470.40 | Target |
| 96. % | €140,313.60 | + €280,627.20 |  |
| 98. % | €70,156.80 | + €350,784 |  |
| 100. % | €0 | + €420,940.80 |  |

**Adjust assumptions**

**Shared assumptions**

The same keys and presets as in the assignment calculator, so a link can be passed from one tool to the next. The presets are approximations common in the industry, not collective-agreement values.[4]

**40** Weekly hours h

**22** Payroll on-costs %

**350** Overhead per month €

This gives **1,252.8** bench days a year, for which you carry **€244,546.56** in wages and **€20,160** in overhead.

alluvo shows you the bench before it arises, from the assignment contracts that end in four weeks, not from a utilisation rate from last month.

[See the product](https://alluvo.ai/en/product) [Get to know alluvo](https://alluvo.ai/demo)

More tools

- [Payment term cash-flow calculator How much cash does a client tie up with 45 days to pay?](https://alluvo.ai/en/tools/cash-flow)
- [Cost per hire calculator What does a hire really cost?](https://alluvo.ai/en/tools/cost-per-hire)
- [Assignment calculator A long assignment at a low rate or short ones at a higher rate?](https://alluvo.ai/en/tools/assignment-calculator)

[See all tools](https://alluvo.ai/en/tools)

## Footnotes

1. How it is calculated: it works in working days, 21.75 a month, 261 a year. Bench days per month = employees × 21.75 × (1 − utilisation). A bench day costs **weekly hours ÷ 5 × gross wage × (1 + on-costs)** plus its share of overhead. Vacation, sickness and public holidays deliberately play no role here: bench days are days on which the employee *could* work but has no assignment. A vacation day is already in the utilisation your business reports. ↩
2. Two numbers that are not the same: **lost revenue** is what is missing from the client invoice. **Lost contribution margin** deducts the wage costs an assignment would have caused. Economically the first number counts: the wage costs arise either way, the employee is on payroll. The second sits next to it because many reports show it that way; the two must never be added. ↩
3. The utilisation point: employees × 21.75 × 0.01 × daily revenue × 12. The figure does not depend on where you stand today: the curve is a straight line, and the jump from 88 to 89% is worth exactly as much as the one from 95 to 96%. The second is still harder to get. ↩
4. What this calculator cannot do: part-time models side by side, different rates per client, short-time work, surcharges for night, Sunday and holiday work, VAT and the question of whether an additional assignment would even cover its costs. For that there is the [assignment calculator](https://alluvo.ai/en/tools/assignment-calculator). A back-of-the-envelope calculation for a conversation, not tax or legal advice. ↩