Overtime calculator

Overtime pays a premium above a threshold. Forty-six hours at 22 an hour, with time and a half over 40, is 880 regular plus 198 overtime — 1,078 total, an effective rate of 23.43 across all hours.

The effective rate row is the one worth noticing when deciding whether extra hours are worth taking. Six hours of overtime on a 40-hour week raises the average rate by about 6.5%, not by 50% — the premium applies only to the extra hours. Once tax is layered on, and particularly where the extra income crosses a threshold, the marginal value of an overtime hour can be well below what the multiplier suggests. That is a payroll question rather than an arithmetic one, but it is worth asking before agreeing to a rota change.