Hire or pay overtime? The maths for a restaurant

When the schedule doesn't add up, the usual answer is "someone will do overtime". Sometimes that is right. Often it is the most expensive option, and when the gap is permanent, it isn't legal either.

Three paths

When hours are missing to cover the service, there are three ways to get them:

1. Overtime from the people who already work at the restaurant.
2. Hiring, full-time or part-time.
3. Redesigning shifts, so the hours already paid for fall where the demand is.

The third is often forgotten, and it is the only one that costs nothing extra. It is worth checking first.

The cost per hour

With the Labour Directorate's official formula, an overtime hour costs exactly 50% more than the same hour under contract. For a $700,000 salary on a 42-hour week:

The limit that decides for you

Beyond cost, overtime has three legal limits that make it unsuitable for a permanent gap:

• Two hours a day per person, at most (article 31).
• Only for temporary needs (article 32). A shift that is missing every week is not temporary.
• A written agreement of up to three months, renewable while the need that justified it lasts.

Covering 42 weekly hours with overtime takes four people working the legal maximum of two hours, six days a week, every week. That is no longer a temporary need, and it is exactly what an inspection looks at.

When to hire, and which contract

If the gap is structural, the question isn't whether to hire but which contract:

• Full-time if the gap repeats across the whole week.
• Part-time if it concentrates on certain days or the peaks. A 20- or 30-hour contract can cover weekends without paying for unused hours.
• Hourly if demand is irregular: it is the most direct variable cost, best used only where coverage demands it.

Before either: check the shifts

It is common for a restaurant with gaps to have, at the same time, full-time contracts that never get filled. It happens when shifts are cut into short blocks: each person works one five-hour shift a day and never reaches their 42 hours, while the evening peak stays short. Those unused contracted hours are already paid.

Redesigning the catalogue to use them, for example with long shifts that span lunch and dinner, can close the gap without hiring and without paying a surcharge. See the shift catalogue.

With the 40-hour law

In April 2028 every full-time contract loses two weekly hours. In a team of 20, that is 40 hours: nearly one full-time contract. Doing this maths now, with time to spare, is what lets you choose the cheapest path instead of the most urgent one. See the 40-hour law.

How Batuta handles it

When a schedule falls short, Batuta shows where and by how much, and compares the paths from cheapest to most expensive: first the contracted hours that currently go unused, then overtime and hiring by contract type, each with its monthly cost in pesos.