Calculating working hours in a year
Figuring out how many working hours in a year to give your employees, is not as straightforward as you think. You cannot simply multiply the number of hours employees work in a day by 365(the number of days in a year), as this would not give you an accurate number.
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The first thing you have to do when calculating working hours in a year for your employees is to check with local authorities about regulations around working hours. In general, employees will work eight hours a day, five days a week. This would give an employee 40 hours of work each week.
These numbers stick within the regulations for most industries, which state that employees should not work more than 48 hours a week. According to the Canada Labour Code, workers are entitled to having at least one 24-hour period of rest per week which is why for most places the maximum hours a week an employee can work is 48.
That being said, there are some exceptions to the rules, so it is good to have a read through the different labour laws and their exceptions.
Assuming your employees work the typical 40 hours a week, your calculations for how many working hours a year will be relatively simple. Before you start your calculations though, you have to account for holidays, vacations and sick days.
Holidays, vacations and sick days when calculating working hours in a year
The next calculation you have to do in order to figure out how many working hours in a year an employee should have is to figure out how many public holidays there are. This will vary from province to province as some places celebrate different holidays or only give certain holidays off.
Here is a list of nationwide statutory holidays that apply to everyone in Canada.
- New Year’s Day- January 1st
- Good Friday- The Friday before Easter Sunday
- Canada Day- July 1st
- Labour Day- First Monday in September
- Christmas Day- Dec. 25
There are also common holidays that most provinces have adopted, these are:
- Family Day, Islander Day, Heritage Day, Louis Riel Day- Third Monday in February
- Victoria Day- Monday preceding May 25th
- Thanksgiving- Second Monday in October
- Remembrance Day- Nov. 11
When trying to figure out holidays and how they relate to how many working hours to give your employees, it is good to check with provincial or territorial governments as they will dictate which holidays you have to provide your workers.
Once you’ve figured out which holidays your employees are entitled to, you next have to factor in their vacation days.
According to the Canadian Labour Code, each employee is entitled to two weeks of paid vacation time for each year of employment at the same company. After five consecutive years with the same company, vacation leave is increased to three weeks and after ten years this increases again to four weeks.
What this means for employers calculating how many working hours in a year to give to an employee is that they need to figure this out first. Assuming that you are trying to calculate the working hours in a year for a new employee, you will have to take off two weeks or ten days of work from the total. This way your calculations will be more accurate for how many working hours in a year in Canada.
Along with this, you need to think about whether you want to include possible sick days that your employees could take off. Though there is no way of knowing how or when an employee might get sick, companies in Canada are required to give up to five days of paid leave for illness. Adding this number into your calculation could give you a more accurate number of working hours in a year your employees will actually work.
That being said, each province has their own rules when it comes to paid sick days, so make sure you pay attention to the rules in the province in which the individual or company resides.
Why working hours in a year is important
The number one reason why working hours in a year is important is that you need to be able to stick to a budget. This is especially important for new businesses that may not have figured out all the different considerations you have to think of when deciding these numbers.
By doing the calculations for how many working hours in a year you should give your employees, you will know what type of salary you can afford. The last thing you want to do is offer someone a salary that you cannot afford to pay, so by calculating the working hours in a year your workers are likely to have, you can predict your needed budget.
This, in turn, will also allow you to decide things such as whether to hire full-time workers or part-time workers. In Canada, a full-time worker is considered anyone who works more than 30 hours a week. This is important to remember as it will also impact your budget.
Working as a full-time employee entitles you to different things than that of a part-time worker. A great example of that is vacation days. When talking about working hours in a year earlier, we were assuming the workers were full-time. This would be when things such as vacation pay would be needed. By having a clear definition of what type of worker your employee will be, it will become easier to set their working hours in a year and calculate an accurate budget.
Another factor to consider when deciding on how many working hours in a year an employee should have is minimum wage. If your company is on a tight budget, minimum wage might be the best way to hire an employee without breaking the bank. Each province has a set minimum wage, so make sure to have this information before deciding on an employee’s hours.
When starting a new business or hiring for a new position, it can be difficult to figure out things such as how many working hours in a year to give your employees. There are a lot of different things you have to consider and once you’ve done that, you also have to look at your budget to make sure you can afford the hours you want to offer. By using this guide we hope that you can easily calculate how many working hours in a year to give your employees while staying on budget.
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