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What is billable utilisation and how do I calculate it?
Billable utilisation is billable hours divided by available hours, multiplied by 100, for a person or team. It shows how much of paid capacity is spent on work that can be charged to clients.
Example: 120 billable hours out of 160 available gives 75 percent.
It matters because time is the stock in trade of a professional services firm.
Commonly misread:
- Using different denominators: total hours worked, contracted hours, or hours after leave and holidays. State which you use.
- Treating 100 percent as the target. Staff also need time for training, sales, admin and management.
- Counting hours billed but later written off.
Set separate expectations by role, since partners and juniors spend different shares of time on client work.
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