PayJar
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Tip pool calculator: what’s everyone’s share?

Splitting tonight’s pool by hours, and nobody wants to do it on a napkin? Enter the pool and how long each person worked. You get what each hour is worth and every share, to the cent.

The pool

Cash and card, everything that gets split.
Who worked, and how long If someone’s not in the pool, leave their hours empty.

Result

The pool pays

$37.96/h

$1,186.40 over 31.25 h worked.

Ana8 h$303.72
Marcus6.5 h$246.77
Luis7.25 h$275.25
Kim5 h$189.82
Jess4.5 h$170.84
Total, 31.25 h$1,186.40

Every share is rounded down to the cent, and the cents left over go one by one to whoever was closest to the next cent. That way the shares add up to the pool exactly.

How the pool is split by hours

Each person gets the pool times their hours, divided by everyone’s hours, so every hour worked earns the same and only the hours change the share. $1,186.40 over 31.25 hours is about $37.96 an hour, so 8 hours comes to $303.72.

Questions

How do you split tips by hours worked?
Add up everyone’s hours, then give each person the pool times their hours, divided by that total. With $1,186.40 and 31.25 hours, someone who worked 5 hours gets $1,186.40 × 5 ÷ 31.25 = $189.82.
Who can be in a tip pool?
Under federal law, if your employer takes a tip credit, only workers who usually get tips, like servers, bartenders and bussers. If it pays at least the full minimum wage before tips, cooks and dishwashers can be in it too. Managers, supervisors and the employer can’t take from it. Some states have stricter rules.
Can a manager take from the tip pool?
No. Under federal law, managers and supervisors can’t keep workers’ tips, from a pool or any other way. They can only keep tips a customer gives them directly for service they alone provided.
When does the pool have to be paid out?
If your employer collects the tips for a required pool, federal rules say it generally has to pay them all out by the regular payday for that pay period.
Is splitting by hours the only way?
No. Some pools split evenly, others by points for each role. This calculator splits by hours. If everyone worked the same hours, that’s an even split.
Why does one share get an extra cent?
Cents don’t always divide evenly. Every share is rounded down, and the leftover cents go one by one to whoever was closest to the next cent, so the shares add up to the pool.

More free calculators

General information, not legal advice. Your restaurant sets how its pool is split, and your state labor department has the final word on what’s allowed.

Sources

Your share of the pool, shift by shift.

Log the pool and the hours, and PayJar keeps your share with each shift, next to your wages and your other tips.

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