Also known as: billable ratio
Chargeability is the proportion of a team member's time that is billable, expressed as a percentage of available working hours. Functionally similar to utilization rate, with slight nuance: chargeability often refers to an individual's capacity allocation in capacity-planning contexts, while utilization is more commonly reported as a backward-looking operational metric.
Where you'll see chargeability in day-to-day work inside Helm.
Helm surfaces chargeability in capacity-planning views within Analytics. Per-person chargeability targets can be configured, and the Operations Manager agent flags people trending below target (indicating underutilization or overallocation to non-billable work). Because every time entry is marked billable or internal at entry, chargeability is visible in real time, not reconstructed monthly.
Concepts that show up in the same workflows and reports.
Common questions and honest answers.
In practice they're often used interchangeably. When people distinguish: chargeability = capacity-planning metric (what percentage of this role's time should be billable); utilization = operational metric (what percentage of this person's time was billable last month).
Varies by role and seniority. Delivery staff: 65-80%. Senior roles: 55-70%. Partners and principals: 30-50%. Sustained performance below target signals underallocation; sustained above target signals burnout risk.
By absorbing non-billable operational work (standups, status reports, dunning, client check-ins) that would otherwise eat delivery staff time. Freeing a consultant from 4 hours of admin per week can lift chargeability by 10 points.
Helm is the AI work platform where these concepts stop being theory and start being your Monday morning.