Utilisation rate
also known as utilization rate · billable utilisation
The share of a team member's available hours spent on billable client work. A core lever for agency profitability and capacity planning.
For example, if a designer has 40 available hours in a week and logs 30 on billable client work, their utilisation rate is 75%. The other 25% goes to internal meetings, admin and pitching - useful, but not directly paid for by a client.
Why it matters to agencies: utilisation is one of the biggest levers on profit. Too low and you are paying for idle time; too high and your team burns out and quality slips. Tracking it tells you when to hire, when to push for more work, and how to price.
Most agencies target 70-85% utilisation for delivery roles - high enough to be profitable, with room left for admin, learning and pitching.
Utilisation rate = billable hours ÷ available hours × 100
Most agencies target roughly 70-85% for delivery roles.
Utilisation rate calculator
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What is utilisation rate?
The share of a team member's available hours spent on billable client work. A core lever for agency profitability and capacity planning.
How do you calculate utilisation rate?
Divide billable hours by available hours and multiply by 100.
What is a good utilisation rate?
Most agencies target roughly 70-85% for delivery roles - high enough to be profitable, with room left for admin, learning and pitching.
What is the difference between utilisation and billability?
Utilisation is the percentage of available time that is billable; billable hours are the raw count. One is the ratio, the other the input.