Understanding Burden Rates

This article explains what burden rates are and how Bullhorn calculates them for your placements.

About Burden Rates

Burden rates are the extra costs, per hour, involved in paying a candidate. They typically don't apply to permanent positions. Burden rates include, but aren't limited to:

  • Payroll taxes

  • Healthcare

  • Retirement/pension costs

  • Workers' comp costs

  • Life/AD&D insurance

You can set custom burden rate percentages for each employee type in your database (for example, W2, W4, or Temp to Hire). Custom burden rates are set up and maintained by Bullhorn Support. If you haven't set up custom burden rates, the system uses the default rates below. Rates associated with a placement appear on the Commissions tab of the placement record. For more on the Commissions tab, see Understanding the Placement Commissions Tab.

Default Burden Rate Calculations

If you have custom burden rates set up, the system doesn't use the default calculations below.

  • W4 or W2: burden = Pay Rate x 0.14 + Worker's Comp. A placement with an employee type of W4 or W2 has a 14% burden rate, plus any additional fees from Worker's Comp, applied to the pay rate.

  • Employee: burden = Pay Rate x 0.14 + 7 + Worker's Comp. A placement with an employee type of Employee has a 14% burden rate, plus $7, plus any additional fees from Worker's Comp, applied to the pay rate.

Requesting Custom Burden Rates

Contact Bullhorn Support if you want to set up custom burden rates. Support will need the following information:

  • Employee Type: The name of the employee type, for example, W4. This must exist in your employeeType field within Field Mappings.

  • Custom Burden Rate %: The burden percentage you want to apply, for example, 15%.

  • Additional Amounts: Any additional flat amounts associated with the burden rate, for example, $8.