Utilisation rate
Utilisation rate is the share of a person's or a team's available hours that went into logged work, written as a percentage. The formula is logged hours divided by available hours, times 100. Somebody who logs 32 hours in a 40-hour week runs at 80%. Teams read it to see how much of their capacity is in use.
The formula has two parts, and the bottom one does most of the work. Your top line is the hours logged against real work. Your bottom line is the hours you count as available, and there are three common choices: contracted hours, hours left once leave and holidays come off, or hours a person was assigned work for.
Here's how far apart they land. Take a 40-hour week with one day of approved leave, and a developer who logs 26 hours. Against contracted hours that's 65%. Against the 32 hours they were really free to work, it's 81%. Same person, same week, a 16-point gap.
For scale, Deltek's Clarity study of architecture and engineering firms, published on 12 May 2026, put staff utilisation just under 60%. Before you set your own figure beside it, check that you divide by the same kind of hours. A rate on contracted hours will read lower than one on available hours every single time.
Your top line is only as good as your timesheets. If people log on Friday from memory, or skip a day, the rate drops for reasons that have nothing to do with the work. A daily log, filled in while the day is fresh, keeps it honest.
A high rate isn't automatically good news. A team at 95% for months has no room for the next urgent request. Watch the trend on your own baseline, month on month, and ask why when it moves.
Where this shows up in PeopleMuster
PeopleMuster builds the rate from daily timesheets and shows Utilization % beside total hours and average daily hours, split by project, department and sheet status, with a week-over-week trend you can post to Slack.
Questions people ask
What is the formula for utilisation rate?
Utilisation rate equals logged hours divided by available hours, times 100. Thirty hours logged against 40 available gives 75%. Decide once whether available means contracted hours or hours left after leave, and use that baseline every month.
Is there a published utilisation benchmark?
Yes. Deltek's Clarity study of architecture and engineering firms, published on 12 May 2026, put staff utilisation just under 60%. Treat it as a reference point rather than a target. Your own figure depends on the baseline you divide by and on how much internal work your team carries.
How often should you measure utilisation rate?
Weekly for a team, and monthly for the trend. One week swings with leave, holidays and late timesheets, so read four to six weeks together before you act. A month-on-month view tells you whether a change is real or a busy fortnight.