Labor budget overview
Understand the budget for approved positions, the amount assigned to current staffing, and the effect of vacancy.
Updated September 11, 2026
In this article
Labor budget is included in Workforce Planning.
Labor budget shows the annual planned amount associated with approved positions on a selected date. FTE Tree combines approved position structure and FTE with applicable budget rates and adjustments, then separates the amount for full position capacity from the amount associated with current staffing.
Use labor budget for position planning. Employee pay belongs in actual compensation, while assignment FTE, approvals, and structural changes remain in position control.
Before you begin
| Activity | Permission and scope required |
|---|---|
| Review analytics, position results, or work items | View labor budgets for the included departments |
| Add or maintain rates and applied adjustments | Manage labor budgets for every affected department |
| Review the actual compensation comparison | View labor budgets and View actual compensation for the same included departments |
| Run a labor budget report | The report permission and financial access shown in the report workflow |
The department filter cannot expand your access. Results include only departments you are authorized to review.
Choose the date and scope
The Budget date controls all dated inputs used in the result, including:
- the position’s approved lifecycle, department, job code, work schedule, and approved FTE;
- active assignments and their assignment FTE;
- the active position or job code budget rate;
- the organization’s annual hours per FTE when an hourly rate must be annualized; and
- every labor budget adjustment whose dates, scope, and eligibility match.
Use today’s date to review the current plan. Use a future date to check a scheduled rate, position change, or adjustment. Use a past date to understand what the plan showed then.
The optional Department scope control narrows analytics and position results to the selected department and its authorized subdepartments. The summary updates when you choose a department. Choose All departments to return to your full authorized scope.
Example: why the selected date matters
A position has a $72,000 annual rate through June 30 and a $76,000 annual rate beginning July 1.
| Selected date | Rate used before adjustments |
|---|---|
| June 30 | $72,000 |
| July 1 | $76,000 |
The July 1 rate does not rewrite the June result. Each date uses the rate that applies on that date.
Understand the summary
The overview summary covers the positions included by your permission scope, department branch, and selected date.
| Summary value | What it means |
|---|---|
| Budget capacity | Planned annual amount for approved position FTE after labor budget adjustments |
| Budget assigned | Planned annual amount associated with active assignment FTE after labor budget adjustments |
| Budget utilization | Budget assigned as a percentage of budget capacity |
| Vacancy impact | Budget associated with vacant FTE |
The section heading shows how many positions have every required budget input. A partial result identifies the excluded positions and labels the displayed money as an available subtotal rather than a full-scope total.
Budget utilization is budget assigned divided by budget capacity. It shows how much planned capacity is associated with active assignments. Vacancy impact is calculated for each position and does not become negative. Overassigned positions therefore do not reduce the vacancy impact from other positions.
Example: fully assigned position
A position has 1.0000 approved FTE, 1.0000 assigned FTE, and an $80,000 annual budget rate.
| Result | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Budget capacity | $80,000 × 1.0000 | $80,000 |
| Budget assigned | $80,000 × 1.0000 | $80,000 |
| Vacancy impact | $80,000 - $80,000 | $0 |
Example: partially vacant position
The same position has 1.0000 approved FTE but only 0.6000 assigned FTE.
| Result | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Budget capacity | $80,000 × 1.0000 | $80,000 |
| Budget assigned | $80,000 × 0.6000 | $48,000 |
| Vacancy impact | $80,000 - $48,000 | $32,000 |
| Vacant FTE | 1.0000 - 0.6000 | 0.4000 |
Example: overassigned position
The same position has 1.0000 approved FTE and 1.2000 assigned FTE.
| Result | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Budget capacity | $80,000 × 1.0000 | $80,000 |
| Budget assigned | $80,000 × 1.2000 | $96,000 |
| Vacancy impact | Cannot be less than zero | $0 |
| Overassigned FTE | 1.2000 - 1.0000 | 0.2000 |
This result is a signal to review the position’s assignments and approved capacity. Labor budget displays the effect but does not change either source.
Review a position calculation
Open Positions, then select a position when you need to understand how its amount was calculated. The position budget calculation identifies:
- the position name, department, job code, and work schedule;
- approved, assigned, vacant, and overassigned FTE;
- whether the base rate came from the position or its job code, the rate amount, and the rate period;
- the rate basis and annual hours used for an hourly rate;
- how the annualized rate and FTE produce the starting budget capacity, budget assigned, and vacancy impact;
- each applied adjustment’s rule and its separate effect on all three amounts; and
- the final budget capacity, budget assigned, and vacancy impact.
The result heading shows the budget date used for every amount on the page. Select Change budget date to return to Positions, choose another date, and open that position’s calculation for the newly selected result.
If the calculation uses a job code rate or has no rate, users who can manage that position’s labor budget can use Actions > Add position rate. The new rate form fills in the position and budget date. After you save, FTE Tree returns to the calculation so you can confirm the new source and result. The rate is a labor budget planning assumption. It does not change employee or assignment compensation and does not create a position approval request.
Read the calculation table from top to bottom. Budget capacity, Budget assigned, and Vacancy impact appear side by side. The base row applies approved and assigned FTE to the annualized rate. Each adjustment row shows the change and new total in all three columns, so you can see whether the adjustment changes vacancy impact or affects capacity and assigned budget equally. Vacancy impact is the positive annualized difference between capacity and assigned budget. If assigned budget equals or exceeds capacity, vacancy impact is $0.00 rather than a negative amount. If the base amount is wrong, review the rate, annual hours, budget date, and FTE. If only an adjusted amount is wrong, note the adjustment name and review it under Labor budget > Applied adjustments.
Use Manage labor budget rates for rate priority and hourly conversion, or Apply labor budget adjustments for adjustment order, coverage, and overlap.
What happens when budget data is missing
A missing position wage in labor budget means no position-specific or job code budget rate applies on the selected date. The calculation and report can still finish, but the position is marked Needs budget setup and its money cells are blank. The missing amount is not recorded as zero.
The labor budget overview distinguishes three conditions that should not be treated as zero.
| Condition | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not available | The selected result is updating or a current result could not be prepared | Wait for the update to finish, then retry if the page offers that action |
| Needs setup | A current position is missing required position, employee, rate, annual-hours, or adjustment information | Follow the specific status to the page where it can be fixed |
| Provisional | Some positions are calculated and others need setup | Use any configured subtotal only as labeled reference and do not present it as the complete organization total |
While an update is in progress, FTE Tree can continue showing the last successful result for context. Setup-sensitive summary values remain Not available until the selected result is current.
When the result is current but one or more positions need setup, the full total is unavailable. A subtotal for positions with complete setup can appear for reference, but it is labeled Provisional and must not be presented as the total for every included position. Check Budget input coverage and each position’s readiness.
The Labor Budget Snapshot report requires the current successful result. It shows the specific setup reason for each affected position and leaves budget capacity, budget staffed, and vacancy impact blank. If the page says an update is still in progress or failed, wait or use the offered retry before running the report.
Missing position FTE, department, or lifecycle produces Needs Position setup. Missing employee availability or status on an assignment produces Needs employee setup. Missing or conflicting adjustment-rule setup produces Needs adjustment setup or Conflicting adjustments. These conditions withhold only the affected position’s money and keep unaffected positions available.
Example: partial coverage
The selected scope includes 12 positions. Ten have complete inputs and produce $900,000 of budget capacity. Two need setup.
The full amount remains unavailable. A Provisional $900,000 subtotal can describe the ten calculated positions, but it is not the budget total for all 12 positions, and the two incomplete positions must not be counted as zero.
Use Resolve labor budget items that need attention to complete the missing inputs.
Choose the detailed task guide
| What you need to do | Guide to use |
|---|---|
| Add or change a position or job code budget rate | Manage labor budget rates |
| Apply a reusable planned premium, reduction, FTE change, or annual amount | Apply labor budget adjustments |
| Resolve a missing rate or annual-hours value | Resolve labor budget items that need attention |
| Correct approved position FTE or an employee assignment | Manage positions or Manage assignments |
| Change protected employee compensation | Manage employee pay |
| Download a dated financial result | Labor budget and actual compensation reports |
Correct the area that owns the information. For example, do not change a budget rate merely to hide an overassigned position, and do not change actual compensation merely to make it equal a plan.
Compare budget with actual compensation
When you can view both financial areas for the same included departments and both results are current, the labor budget overview shows Compared budget assigned, Actual annual compensation, Budget variance, and Positions compared. Every amount uses only the positions with both budget and compensation values. Positions compared shows the included count, the total comparison scope, the percentage included, and any excluded positions. Treat a partial comparison as provisional, not as the result for every selected position.
Variance = Budget assigned - Actual annual compensation
A positive variance means planned assigned budget is greater than actual annual compensation. A negative variance means actual annual compensation is greater than planned assigned budget. The displayed variance percentage uses compared budget assigned as its denominator.
Example: positive variance
Budget assigned is $1,250,000 and actual annual compensation is $1,210,000.
$1,250,000 - $1,210,000 = $40,000
The result is a positive $40,000 variance.
Example: negative variance
Budget assigned is $1,250,000 and actual annual compensation is $1,280,000.
$1,250,000 - $1,280,000 = -$30,000
The result is a negative $30,000 variance. Review both calculation breakdowns before concluding why they differ. Budget rates, compensation records, adjustments, hourly conversion, budget dates, and incomplete setup can all affect the comparison.
The comparison remains unavailable while either financial result is updating or when no shared department access exists. When current inputs are incomplete, the KPIs include only positions with both values and identify whether budget, compensation, or both need setup. If you have permission to manage the missing inputs, select the linked action to open the relevant Issues page.
Run and verify a report
Open Actions and select Run labor budget report when you need a dated output.
Before sharing the report:
- Confirm the budget date and department scope.
- Confirm that the result is current.
- Check Budget input coverage for incomplete positions.
- Open at least one representative position and check its calculation details.
- Run a new report after the information it uses changes. A completed report retains the information prepared for that run.