What is burden cost? 

In Protiv, burden is treated as the extra cost added outside of the base wage, and it commonly includes things like payroll taxes, workers’ comp, benefits, unemployment, and similar labor-related expenses.

Why burden matters

Using burden helps you measure labor more accurately.

If you only track base wages, your labor costs will usually look lower than they really are. That can create problems when:

• estimating jobs
• comparing actual cost vs. budget
• measuring profitability
• calculating savings for incentive pay

In Protiv, labor costs are used throughout the platform, and burden can also be included in ProPay cost calculations when the budget includes burden. Protiv’s cost logic adds burden into total costs used for bonus and progress calculations when burden is enabled for the applicable budget type.

Base wage vs. burden percentage vs. burden wage

These three numbers work together:

Base wage

This is the employee’s standard hourly pay rate before any additional labor burden is applied.

Example:
Base wage = $25.00/hour

Burden percentage

This is the percentage added on top of the base wage to account for labor burden.

Example:
Burden percentage = 30%

Burden wage

This is the fully loaded labor rate after burden is added.

Formula:

Burden Wage = Base Wage x (1 + Burden %)

Example:

$25.00 x (1 + 0.30) = $32.50/hour

So in this example:

• Base wage = $25.00/hour
• Burden percentage = 30%
• Burden wage = $32.50/hour

Protiv uses this same structure in the product: base hourly wage, burden %, and burden rate, with the burden rate calculated from the wage and percentage.

What costs can be included in burden?

Burden usually includes indirect labor costs such as:

• payroll taxes
• workers’ compensation insurance
• unemployment insurance
• health or other employee benefits
• employer-paid payroll expenses
• other labor-related overhead tied to wages

Protiv’s current product language specifically references payroll taxes, workers’ comp, benefits, insurance, and unemployment as common examples of burden.

Because every company is different, the exact burden percentage may vary depending on your workforce, insurance rates, benefits, and local tax requirements.

How to calculate burden

There are two common ways to think about burden:

1. Burden as a percentage

If you already know your burden percentage, use:

Burden Cost per Hour = Base Wage x Burden %

Example:

• Base wage = $25.00
• Burden % = 30%

$25.00 x 30% = $7.50/hour burden

2. Fully loaded burden wage

Then add that burden amount to the base wage:

Burden Wage = Base Wage + Burden Cost per Hour

Example:

• Base wage = $25.00
• Burden cost = $7.50
• Burden wage = $32.50/hour

Why burden helps with estimating

If your estimates or budgets are built using fully loaded labor cost, burden should be included so the labor side of the budget matches reality.

For example, if you estimate a technician at $32.50/hour but only track $25.00/hour in actual labor cost, your reporting will show misleading savings. That can make a job appear more profitable than it really was.

Including burden helps create better alignment between:

• estimated labor cost
• budgeted labor cost
• actual labor cost

Why burden helps with job cost tracking

Burden gives you a more complete view of what labor is actually costing on a job.

That matters when reviewing:

• whether a job is over or under budget
• whether labor performance is improving
• whether the job has real savings available

In Protiv, total costs can include labor cost, overtime cost, warranty reserve, and burden cost for bonus calculations, depending on settings.

Why burden matters for incentives

This is especially important if you pay incentives based on savings.

If a labor budget includes burden, then the actual labor cost side also needs to include burden. Otherwise, the system would be comparing a fully loaded budget against an underloaded actual cost, which can overstate savings and inflate bonuses.

In Protiv, burden can be included in cost calculations for applicable labor-budget and contract-price style budget types, and those burden costs flow into total cost and progress calculations used for incentive logic.

Important note

Burden should be handled consistently:

• If your budget includes burden, your tracked labor cost should also include burden.
• If your budget does not include burden, then your labor tracking should follow that same approach.

Consistency is what makes the reporting and incentive calculations accurate.