What a tip pool is for
Pooling puts the shift's tips together and shares them out, so a server on a quiet section is not punished for it and the people who never see a table still get a share. The question is only how to divide the pot.
Method 1: equal split
Total tips ÷ number of people. Simple, and fair when everybody worked the same shift in a similar role. It stops being fair the moment someone came in for three hours and someone else did ten.
Method 2: by hours worked
This is the most common method and the easiest to defend.
share = tips × person's hours ÷ total hours
A $900 pot across a shift where four people worked 8, 8, 6 and 4 hours, 26 hours in total:
- 8 hours: 900 × 8 ÷ 26 = $276.92
- 6 hours: 900 × 6 ÷ 26 = $207.69
- 4 hours: 900 × 4 ÷ 26 = $138.46
Hours have to come from the clock, not from memory, or the method quietly turns into an argument.
Method 3: points by role
Each role gets a weight, and the weight is multiplied by hours. A common pattern is servers and bartenders on 1.0, hosts and bussers on 0.5, and kitchen staff on whatever the house agrees:
share = tips × (points × hours) ÷ total point-hours
With that $900 pot and two servers on 1.0 for 8 hours each, a busser on 0.5 for 6 hours and a host on 0.5 for 4 hours, the point-hours are 8 + 8 + 3 + 2 = 21. A server gets 900 × 8 ÷ 21 = $342.86 and the busser gets 900 × 3 ÷ 21 = $128.57.
Points work, but only if the weights were agreed in advance and written down. Changing them after a good night is what breaks trust.
Card tips, fees and deductions
Decide up front whether the pot is the gross tips or what lands after card processing fees, and whether tips are paid out in cash on the night or added to the next payslip. Both are workable; what causes trouble is when staff find out which one it is afterwards. What an employer is allowed to deduct, and whether owners, managers and supervisors may take any share at all, is set by law and differs by country and state, so check the rules that apply to you.
Keep a record
Write down the total pot, each person's hours, any weights, and the amount paid. It takes a minute, it settles disputes, and tips are taxable income in most places, so somebody will need the figures later.
Tools
The Tip Pool Calculator splits a pot by hours or by weighted points and shows each share. The Tip Calculator works out a tip on a bill and divides it between people, and the Percentage Calculator handles the weights.