The short answer: the fairest and most widely used way to calculate your house help's monthly salary from attendance — whether that's a maid, housekeeper, cook, nanny, or driver — is:
Earned Salary = (Days Present + Half Days × 0.5) ÷ Working Days in the Month × Monthly Salary
If the agreed salary is ₹8,000 per month, the working-days base is 26, and your housekeeper worked 22 full days — she has earned ₹8,000 × 22 ÷ 26 = ₹6,769. That one line settles most month-end arguments before they start. The rest of this guide explains how to pick the right working-days base, how to handle half days and advances, and the mistakes that quietly create disputes.
Why month-end salary maths usually goes wrong
Most households don't disagree about the salary — they disagree about the attendance. By the 30th, nobody remembers whether the absences were three days or four. One person remembers a half day that the other counted as full. There is no written record, so the number becomes a negotiation.
The fix has two parts: a daily attendance record everyone trusts, and a single formula applied the same way every month. If you're still tracking attendance from memory or on a wall calendar, read our guide to the 5 ways to track house help attendance first — the formula is only as good as the attendance data behind it.
The standard formula, step by step
- Agree the monthly salary. Say ₹8,000/month for daily cleaning work.
- Agree the working-days base. This is the number of days in a full month of work — typically 26 for a Mon–Sat schedule (see below).
- Count attendance. Full days count as 1, half days as 0.5, absences as 0.
- Apply the formula. (Present + Half Days × 0.5) ÷ Working Days × Monthly Salary.
- Deduct any advances. Subtract outstanding cash advances to get the final Net Payable. (Advances deserve their own system — see how to track cash advances.)
Choosing the working-days base: 22, 26, 30, or actual?
This is the single most common source of confusion, so agree on it explicitly when you hire:
| Base | When it fits | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 22 days | Mon–Fri schedules — common for nannies and drivers in working-parent households | Weekends are neither paid nor deducted |
| 26 days | Mon–Sat schedules — the most common arrangement in India and the Gulf | Sundays are neither paid nor deducted; a fair default |
| 30 days | Staff who work all 7 days, or live-in staff | Per-day rate is slightly lower; every calendar day counts |
| Actual scheduled days | Part-time staff on custom schedules (e.g. twice a week — see the part-time pay guide) | Most precise — the base changes month to month |
Whichever you pick, the per-day rate is simply Monthly Salary ÷ Working-Days Base. On ₹8,000 with a 26-day base, one absence costs ₹307.69 — not a round ₹300, and definitely not "we'll adjust it somehow".
Three worked examples
Example 1 — a clean month
Salary ₹8,000, base 26, worked all 26 scheduled days. Earned = 26 ÷ 26 × 8,000 = ₹8,000. Nothing to discuss.
Example 2 — absences and half days
Salary ₹8,000, base 26, worked 21 full days and 2 half days. Attendance = 21 + (2 × 0.5) = 22. Earned = 22 ÷ 26 × 8,000 = ₹6,769.
Example 3 — with an advance
Same month as Example 2, but you gave a ₹2,000 advance on the 12th. Net Payable = ₹6,769 − ₹2,000 = ₹4,769. The payslip should show the earned amount and the deduction as separate lines, so nothing looks arbitrary.
How to handle half days fairly
A half day is any day the staff member worked a materially shorter shift — came late by hours, left early for an emergency, or did only part of the agreed tasks. Counting it as 0.5 is fairer than the two extremes (full pay or zero pay), and because it's a standing rule rather than a case-by-case judgement, it doesn't feel personal. Define it once, apply it consistently.
Five mistakes that create disputes
- Rounding the per-day rate. ₹300 instead of ₹307.69 seems harmless until it compounds across absences and months.
- Changing the working-days base mid-year. Pick 26 or 30 and keep it.
- Deducting paid leave. If you've agreed 2 paid leaves a month, those days count as present. See how many paid leaves to give your maid.
- Forgetting advances until payday. An advance remembered differently by two people is a dispute with interest.
- Not showing the working. A number without a breakdown invites suspicion. A payslip with the formula visible ends the conversation — here's what a good house help salary slip looks like.
Or let the app do all of this
StaffAround exists because this calculation is easy to describe and tedious to do twelve times a year for every staff member. You set the salary and schedule once, mark attendance with one tap each day (it works offline), and at month end the app applies exactly the formula above — half days, custom schedules, and advance deductions included — and generates a payslip you can share on WhatsApp or as a PDF. It also handles the edge cases people forget: the working-days base is counted from the actual calendar dates your schedule covers that month, attendance accidentally marked on a non-working day is excluded (with a note explaining it), and the earned amount is capped at the agreed monthly salary. The free plan covers 2 staff members, no card required.