Key Points
What is "Wage Costs" in Bustle?
Wage Costs lets you enter timesheets, track staff wages, and compare them to sales - no more spreadsheets needed.
💡 Why does it matter?
It shows you a close estimate of how much you're spending on wages vs. what you're making. Plus, totals automatically flow into your Did I Make Money Tool reports, giving you the full picture at a glance!How does it work?
Enter timesheet entries for staff.
Choose a shift rate (standard or custom).
Total Value of Orders is automatically pulled to compare wages vs. sales.
Margins (like super, holiday pay, and a safety buffer) can be added in settings.
Export reports as CSV.
Who can use this?
Boss, General manager, Advisor and Accountant roles can access Staff Members and Wage Costs.
Note: Wage information can be sensitive. If privacy matters to you, make sure your account isn’t accessible to your team - for example, avoid logging into the Bustle Hub with your boss account on a shared iPad running Bustle.
Detailed Steps
There are four key areas to get your wage costs up and running:
🛠 Company Settings – Set your wage margins so you know what you’re working with. (1 min job)
👥 Staff Members – Add your team and their wage details. (Easy 5-15 min job).
⏳ Wage Costs – Enter timesheets, calculate wages, export reports, and check how wages stack up against total orders (end of day task).
💰 The Did I Make Money Tool – The big picture! See your takings vs expenses in one place.
Getting Set up
To get set up and ready to enter in your timesheet entries, we make two quick stops at Company Settings and Staff Members.
🛠 Company Settings
There are three options in company settings to configure for Wage Costs. Do this first before adding in your time entries.
On your Bustle hub, select the Settings Cog at the top right of the site and click Company Settings.
On the right of the page under Reporting Settings you will see
the following fields. Here you can add in percentages to calculate your estimated Superannuation contributions, holiday pay and a small safety margin.
Once they are set and saved, head to...
👥 Staff Members
There are a few fields on the Staff Members form directly related to Wage Costs. These are:
Till Access – Turn this off for staff who don’t use the till and don’t need emoji logins. Perfect for tracking back-of-house team members!
Email - Only for your information purposes.
Hourly Rate - How much is their standard rate per hour (this is a required field)?
Role - The job the staff member is employed to do.
Entering Timesheet Entries
To enter your timesheet entries into Wage Costs, head to Reports > Wage Costs
At the top, you'll find the date picker, which defaults to the current week. Need a different range? Just click the calendar to adjust it.
Below that is the Wages vs. Sales Overview widget, giving you a quick snapshot of your wage spend as a percentage of your total Bustle orders.
In the top right, you’ll see the Staff Needing Wage Details widget. This flags any team members missing key info needed for timesheet entries - so you can fill in the gaps fast.
Click on a staff member to open their page for editing, or click View All Staff to go to the main Staff Members page.
Once you have all your staff set up, you're ready to enter your timesheet entries. Locate the correct date then click + Add Time Entry to begin.
Select the staff member's name, their start and end times, their shift rate, the length of any unpaid breaks.
The rest will calculate automatically and total at the bottom of the day.
Press done to save, or add a new entry and the row above will save automatically (as long as it has been completed).
The Shift Rate will be standard rate by default, but if the shift is at a different rate, simply change to percentage in the field e.g. 150% for time and a half, 200% for double time.
At the bottom of each day we display a total, showing the base total of all time entries, along with the margins you have set in the Company Settings. Click the Edit button should you want to make changes.
Please note: Changes will only apply to new entries. To apply any changes to existing entries, locate the entry, select the Edit button at the end of the row, then press Done.
Export your time entries
To export your time entries for use in another system, simply select your time period from the Calendar, and press the export button.
Reports
Wages vs. Sales Overview 📊
Once you've entered your time entries for the selected period, the Wages vs. Sales Overview gives you a quick look at your Wage Cost Percentage—helping you track labour costs early.
⚠️ Heads up:
This percentage compares wages to total order value, not just cash and card takings.
It only includes revenue processed through Bustle. If you have extra income from elsewhere, check out the Did I Make Money? tool for a full breakdown of expenses vs. revenue.
The Did I Make Money Tool 📈
No further manual entry needed! Your wage costs auto-sync into your Did I Make Money Tool, giving you a live breakdown of wages (Front & Back of House, Operations, and Entertainment) along with wage padding insights.
Keep an eye on the numbers, stay in control, and keep that bottom line looking good! 💰🚀
Troubleshooting
Try a refresh of the page for any issues with the timesheets. Note that any unsaved entries will be removed with a refresh.
Get in touch with our friendly support team via the messenger on your Bustle Hub if you need any further assistance.