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Staff turnover cost calculator: what does it cost when someone leaves?
Every resignation has a cost that rarely shows up in one budget line. This calculator adds up the four biggest parts so you can see what keeping people is worth.
What it includes
- Hiring: adverts, agency or recruiter fees, as a share of salary.
- The empty role: lost output while nobody is in the job (counted at half of normal output, because colleagues cover some of it).
- Learning time: new people take months to reach full speed (counted at half output during that time).
- Manager time: interviews, onboarding and handover, at the manager’s hourly cost.
What it leaves out
Lower team morale, lost customer relationships and knowledge that walks out of the door. These are real, and usually make the true cost higher.
A worked example with the default numbers
Take an average salary of 60,000, a hiring cost of 15% of salary, a role that stays empty for 6 weeks, 4 months for the new person to reach full speed, and 25 manager hours spent hiring.
Hiring costs 9,000 (15% of 60,000). The empty role costs about 3,462: 60,000 ÷ 52 weeks × 6 weeks × 50% of output. Learning time costs 10,000: 60,000 ÷ 12 months × 4 months × 50%. Manager time costs about 1,193: 25 hours at an hourly cost of about 47.73, which is salary × 1.4 ÷ 1,760 working hours.
That adds up to roughly 23,655 for one person who leaves, close to 39% of their yearly salary. If three people leave in a year, the cost is about 70,964. Your own figures will differ, which is the point of changing the inputs.
Why the empty role and learning time count at half
Nobody stops working when a colleague leaves, and a new hire is not useless on day one. The calculator therefore counts the empty role and the learning period at half of normal output. If your team simply stops delivering while a role is empty, raise the cost by treating it as full output. If a contractor or a colleague covers most of the work, lower it.
How to use the number
- Compare it with a raise. Run the same person through the pay rise cost calculator. A 5% rise is usually a small fraction of the cost of replacing someone.
- Take it to your budget conversation. A cost per leaver and a cost per year are easier to discuss than a general feeling that turnover is high.
- Look at who leaves, not only how many. Losing a quiet high performer costs more than the formula shows.
- Re-run it after changes. If stay interviews or a better onboarding plan cut the learning time by a month, the saving shows up straight away.
How to bring the number down
- Hold stay interviews with the people you most want to keep.
- Fix the top reason people leave, which is often their manager or their growth.
- Run an anonymous team pulse every few months.
- Shorten the empty period by starting the search as soon as notice is given, and shorten the learning period with a written 30-60-90 day plan.
Frequently asked questions
How much does staff turnover cost on average?
Estimates vary widely by role and source. That is why this calculator uses your own numbers rather than a single average.
What hiring cost percentage should I use?
Use your real agency fee or advertising spend if you know it. Agency fees are often a percentage of first-year salary; if you hire directly, the figure is lower.
Does the calculator include notice-period pay, severance or leave payouts?
No. Those depend on the contract and local rules, and they are not a cost of replacing someone. Add them separately if you want a full picture of one departure.
How long does it take a new hire to reach full speed?
It depends on the role. Simple roles can take a few weeks, specialist or senior roles often take several months. Ask the people who were hired into similar roles in your team, and use their answer rather than a general average.
Why does it use half of normal output?
Because colleagues usually cover part of the work while a role is empty, and a new hire does some useful work while learning. You can change the way you read the result if your team is more or less affected than that.
Can I use this for a single role or a whole team?
Both. Use the average salary for the group and the number of people expected to leave in a year. For one person, set the number of leavers to 1.