Fully-loaded labor cost is your wage bill plus the payroll taxes the employer pays on top of it — Social Security, Medicare, FUTA, and SUTA — expressed as a percentage of sales. Most scheduling tools show wages only, but wages aren’t what hits your P&L: employer payroll taxes can add several points on top. Managing to the wages-only number is how a labor budget looks fine right up until it isn’t. The loaded figure is the one that actually determines whether a shift made money.

Related: prime cost · wages-only vs. fully-loaded

→ See it live against sales: payroll