Utilization rate

For the percentage of various classes of milk in federal milk marketing orders, see Utilization rates (milk).

In business, the utilization rate is an important number for firms that charge their time to clients. It shows the billing efficiency of an individual or a firm. There are two methods to calculate the utilization rate.

The first method calculates the number of billable hours divided by the number of hours recorded in a particular time period. For example if 40 hours of time is recorded in a week but only 30 hours of that was billable, the utilization rate would then be 30 / 40 = 75%.

With this method, however, it's easy to see how this utilization rate can be gamed: if a business stops recording non-billable time, its utilization rate will always be 100%.

The second way to calculate the utilization rate is to take the number of billable hours and divide by a fixed number of hours per week. For example, if 32 hours of billable time are recorded in a fixed 40-hour week, the utilization rate would then be 32 / 40 = 80%.

Note that with this second method it is possible to have a utilization rate that exceeds 100%. If 50 hours of billable time are recorded in a fixed 40-hour week, then the utilization rate would be 50 / 40 = 125%.

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