How weighted tip pools work

A weighted pool is an hours pool where some roles earn more per hour from the pot than others. Each role gets a multiplier — often called points or a share — and an hour worked by a 1.25 counts as much as an hour and a quarter worked by a 1.0.

The arithmetic

1. Multiply each person's hours by their role's weight. That gives their weighted hours.
2. Add up everyone's weighted hours.
3. Divide the pool by that total to get a rate per weighted hour.
4. Multiply each person's weighted hours by the rate.

Choosing the weights

There is no standard set. A common shape is server 1.0, bartender 1.25, barback and busser and runner 0.75, host 0.5 — and plenty of houses use something quite different, because a bar-driven room and a fine-dining room are not the same business. The weights should reflect what the roles actually do in your building.

The two arguments to have out loud before you set them: whether a role that never touches a table should share in the pool at all, and whether the weights track responsibility or track how directly the role drives the tip. Both are legitimate positions. What causes trouble is weights nobody can explain.

Keeping it honest

• Publish the weights. A pool people cannot verify is a pool people will not trust.
• Review them when the room changes — a new bar programme changes who is doing the work.
• Show the weighted hours, not just the payout. It is the line that makes a split explicable.

TYPTAPP does the math. Whether a given pool is permitted — who can be in it, and who cannot — is governed by law that varies by location and by employer arrangement, and is a question for your employer or a lawyer.