How to split tips fairly

There is no arrangement that is fair to everyone in every room. There are four common methods, each rewarding something different, and the choice is mostly about which unfairness your team minds least.

Evenly

Same amount each. Simple, fast, and fine when everyone worked the same shift. Falls apart the moment hours differ — the person who stayed for the close subsidises the person who cut early.

By hours

Each hour is worth the same to everyone. The default for most pools, easy to check, and it handles cuts and doubles without an argument. It does treat every hour as equally valuable, which is not obviously true of the 5pm hour and the 10pm hour.

Weighted by role

Hours times a role multiplier. Recognises that roles carry different loads. Requires weights everyone can explain, and needs revisiting when the room changes.

By sales

Each person's share tracks what they sold. Rewards selling, which is genuinely part of the job. It also punishes whoever got the two-top section on a quiet night through no fault of their own, which is why it is more common in tip-out rules than in pools.

The two rules that matter more than the method

1. Everyone can check the math. If a share cannot be explained in one line — your hours times the rate — it will be argued about, whatever the method.
2. The rule does not change on the night. Deciding how to split after seeing the numbers is how good teams turn sour, even when the decision is defensible.

TYPTAPP does the math. Who may be included in a tip arrangement, and who may not, is set by law that varies by location and employer — that part is a question for your employer or a lawyer, not a calculator.