The Monthly Workload Calculator compares assigned work hours with usable monthly capacity. It reports utilization, surplus or deficit hours, and average assigned hours per working day.
The calculator helps individuals and teams identify overloaded plans before deadlines slip. It can also support staffing discussions, backlog selection, and workload balancing, especially when available capacity has already been adjusted for meetings, leave, and routine duties.
1. Total assigned effort
Add estimated hours for all work included in the monthly plan.
2. Enter available people
Count contributors and use equivalent full-time capacity when availability differs.
3. Set working days
Use the actual planning month after holidays and leave.
4. Estimate usable daily hours
Exclude recurring non-workload time already accounted for elsewhere.
5. Check utilization and balance
A result above 100% indicates more assigned work than modeled capacity.
The calculation assumes assigned hours and capacity use the same scope and include the same people and month.
Utilization shows how much of modeled capacity is consumed. The balance is positive when capacity remains and negative when the plan is overloaded.
High utilization leaves less room for estimation error and urgent unplanned work.
Given: 180 assigned hours, 2 people, 22 working days, and 6 usable hours per person per day.
Calculation: Capacity = 2 × 22 × 6 = 264 hours. Utilization = 180 ÷ 264 × 100 = 68.18%. Balance = 264 − 180 = 84 hours.
Result: The plan uses 68.2% of capacity and leaves 84 modeled hours.
It means every modeled usable hour is assigned, leaving no room for estimate error or unexpected work.
Include it if usable daily hours have not already been reduced for that support work.
Yes. Adjust usable hours per day or convert headcount to full-time equivalents.
A negative balance is the number of hours by which assigned work exceeds capacity.
Capacity is the time available; workload is the time demanded by assigned work.