A real turnover number isn't just backfill salary. It's the vacancy gap, the recruiting spend, the ramp-up productivity loss, and the hidden hours your team and managers pour into covering and training. This adds it all up, and checks it against industry research.
The role
Often higher due to market pay creep
Vacancy and recruiting
Weeks the seat sits empty, from last day to first day
Agency fee or loaded internal recruiter cost as percent of new salary
How much of the open role gets absorbed by teammates during the vacancy
Ramp up to full productivity
Time until the new hire performs at the level of the person who left
Ramp is modeled as a straight line from this number up to full productivity
Direct costs
Equipment, courses, certifications, admin setup
What this number does not include: this calculator totals direct costs only. Research on turnover also points to indirect costs that are real but hard to price, damaged employer brand, lost institutional knowledge, and strain on the team members who stay. Those often compound the number above.
Benchmark reference: analyst Josh Bersin estimates total replacement cost at 1.5 to 2 times an employee's annual salary. Source: Qualtrics.
Copied to clipboard