Bill Smith, a shearing contractor, wants to quote on a job shearing 5000 sheep on a property 150 km from Tooleybuc. To do this, he first needs to calculate what it will cost him to pay the wages and wage-related expenses of his shearing team. His shearing team consists of: 4 shearers Jackie Howe, Brian Rule, Norman Bennett and Steve Murphy 2 shed hands Mick McRae (an experienced adult) and Jamie Bennett (an inexperienced junior) 1 wool presser Bob Jones 1 wool classer Nick Stead Calculating the number of runs required A shearing day is divided into runs each run being a period of 2 hours. The timing of these runs is as follows: 7:30 am 9:30 am 1st run 9:30 am 10:00 am Smoko 10:00 am 12:00 noon 2nd run 12:00 noon 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm 3:00 pm 3rd run 3:00 pm 3:30 pm Smoko 3:30 pm 5:30 pm 4th run Shearers are paid according to the number of sheep they shear. Other members of the team are paid according the number of runs, with part of a run being rounded up to a whole run. The average number of sheep shorn per run by each of the shearers is: Jackie Howe 50 sheep/run Brian Rule 40 sheep/run Norman Bennett 35 sheep/run Steve Murphy 30 sheep/run 1) Calculate the expected number of runs required to shear the 5000 sheep. 2) Calculate how many days the shearing is expected to take (if not delayed by wet weather). Round your answer up to the nearest number of days. 1
Calculating the wages of the shearers in the team The average number of sheep shorn per run by each of the shearers is: Jackie Howe 50 sheep/run Brian Rule 40 sheep/run Norman Bennett 35 sheep/run Steve Murphy 30 sheep/run 1) Calculate the percentage of the sheep likely to be shorn by each of the shearers. Jackie Howe: Brian Rule: Norman Bennett: Steve Murphy: Check that the percentages above add up to 100%. 2) There are about 5000 sheep to be shorn. Calculate the number of sheep likely to be shorn by each shearer. Jackie Howe: Brian Rule: Norman Bennett: Steve Murphy: What number should your answers above add to make? 3) The shearers wages are $235.59 per 100 sheep shorn. Calculate the gross wages (i.e. wages before tax) for each shearer. Jackie Howe: Brian Rule: Norman Bennett: Steve Murphy: 2
Calculating the wages of the non-shearers in the team 1) The shed hands and wool presser are paid according to the number of runs worked. Their award wages are: Shed hands Worker Wage per run Adults - with 65 work days or more experience 42.81 Adults - with less than 65 work days experience 40.93 Juniors - 18-20 years with 65 work days or more experience 38.53 Juniors - 18-20 years with less than 65 work days experience 36.83 Juniors - under 18 years with 65 work days or more experience 29.97 Juniors - under 18 yrs with less than 65 work days experience 28.65 Wool pressers By Hand 44.87 By Power 38.83 Mick McRae is an adult with years of experience working in shearing sheds. Jamie Bennett is a 16 year old working in his school holidays. She has been working as a shed hand for 5 weeks. Bob Jones, the wool presser, has a power press to work with for this job. Calculate the gross wages for each of these workers if the job takes 33 runs to complete. Mick McRae: Jamie Bennett: Bob Jones: 2) The wool classer, Nick Stead will be doing grade 1 duties. He is paid $190.19 per day (rounded up to the nearest day). Note: There are 4 runs per day. Calculate the gross wages for Nick Stead. Nick Stead: 3
Calculating superannuation, workers compensation insurance and travel allowances 1) Calculate the total that Bill expects to pay his shearing team in wages. 2) Superannuation is a compulsory payment by employers into a superannuation fund (i.e. a fund that will give their employees income during their retirement). 9% of each worker s gross wage needs to be paid in superannuation. Calculate the superannuation that Bill needs to pay for his shearing team. 3) Worker s compensation insurance is compulsory insurance that protects employers and injured workers from financial costs when a worker sustains a work-related injury or disease. 10.56% of each worker s gross wage needs to be paid for workers compensation insurance. Calculate the worker s compensation insurance that Bill needs to pay for his shearing team. 4) Travel allowance needs be paid to the driver of a vehicle engaged in shearing operations at the rate of 32 cents per km. The allowance is to be paid for travel in both directions between the shed and the nearest reasonable accommodation. The shearing team has accommodation in Tooleybuc, which is 150 km from the shearing shed. They travel out to the shed each day in 2 cars. Calculate their total travel allowance for the job if it takes 9 days to complete. 5) Calculate Bill s total expenditure on all wages plus superannuation, workers compensation insurance and travel allowances. 6) Calculate Bill s wage-related expenses for the job on a per sheep basis. 4
Making a spreadsheet Repeatedly making the same types of calculations soon becomes tedious. If the same types of calculations need to be made with only the numbers changing, these calculations can be done much more efficiently using a spreadsheet than using a scientific calculator. Also, the spreadsheet enables a quick recalculation if a few of the figures need to be changed. Make a spreadsheet that enables you to make all the calculations you made in previous activities. Set out your spreadsheet just like the one shown on the next page. You will be using your spreadsheet to calculate what Bill will need to charge per sheep for contract shearing to cover the wages and wage-related expenses of his shearing team. 1) What formula needs to be put in cell B7 to calculate shearing rate of the team as a whole? 2) What formula needs to be put in cell B10 to calculate the number of runs required? Round up the answer and type it in cell C10. 3) What formula needs to be put in cell B11 to calculate the number of days required? Round up the answer and type it in cell C11. 4) What formula needs to be put in cell F5 to calculate the number of trips (one trip being a trip between town and the property)? 5) What formula needs to be put in cell F7 to calculate the total travel allowance? 6) (i) Bill put the formula =B3/B7*C7 in cell C3 to calculate the expected number of sheep that Jackie Howe will shear. Why can Bill not copy this formula into cell C4 to find out how many Brian Rule is expected to shear? (ii) Put the formula =B3/B$7*C$7 in cell C3 and copy it into cells C4:C6. What formula is now in cell C4? (iii) What does the $ sign do in a spreadsheet formula? 5
Spreadsheet template This spreadsheet can be downloaded as an excel file from www.wmrural.net/activities/shear 6
7) To calculate the expected wage for each of the shearers, what formula do you need to enter into cell F15 that can be copied down the column to F18? 8) To calculate the expected wage for the other people in the team, what formulae do you need to enter into cells F19, F20, F21 and F22? 9) What formula needs to be put in cell F23 to calculate the total to be paid for wages? 10) (i) What formula needs to be put in cell G15 to calculate the superannuation payment for Jackie Howe? (Hint: You will need to write a percentage as a decimal) (ii) Into what other cells can you copy this formula? 11) What formula needs to be put in cell H15 and copied down the column to H23 to calculate the workers compensation insurance payment? 12) What formula needs to be put in cell F27 to calculate Bill s total payments (wages plus superannuation, workers compensation insurance payment and travel allowance)? 13) What formula needs to be put in cell F28 to calculate the cost per sheep? 14) What were Bill s wage and wage-related expenses for the job on a per sheep basis? Check that your answer is the same as the one you found in the previous activity (without the use of a spreadsheet). 15) If Bill charged $5 per sheep shorn, calculate what he would earn for the job. 16) (i) Change values in your spreadsheet to find out the cost per sheep if Steve Murphy was not available and could not be replaced. (Hint: Do not delete row6 just change a value in this row. Remember to change rounded-up values because the spreadsheet will not change these for you) (ii) Calculate what Bill s earnings would be as a result of this change. 7