Free HR calculator
Vacancy Cost Calculator
Every open role costs something, even before you start recruiting. This calculator turns your headcount, turnover rate, and time to fill into a yearly vacancy cost. You see what those empty seats drain from productivity and payroll. You also see how many seats are open at any moment, and what you save by filling them faster.
Before you start
What you will need. Total headcount, Annual turnover rate, Avg. time to fill, Average salary of roles that turn over
Your workforce
Advanced options
Annual vacancy cost
The method
What vacancy cost is and how to use it
A vacancy leaves work and expected value uncovered. Coverage, overtime, delays, and lost output keep accumulating while you recruit. Vacancy cost is the attempt to put a dollar figure on that drain. You can then compare it to what you spend on recruiting and retention.
How this is calculated
How the calculation works
Start with the loaded daily pay for the role: salary plus benefits, divided by working days per year. That is the baseline value of one day of that seat being filled. The vacancy cost rate scales it: at 100%, one empty day costs as much as one filled day. For a revenue-generating role where the seat directly drives output, the rate might be 150% or 200%. For a support role where teammates absorb the work without strain, it might be 50%.
Multiply that daily cost by the time to fill and you have the cost per vacancy. Multiply by vacancies per year (headcount times turnover rate) and you have the annual drag. Average roles open at any moment is vacancies per year times time to fill, divided by working days.
The two levers
The annual vacancy cost depends on exactly two things: how often roles open (turnover) and how long they stay open (time to fill). Cutting time to fill from 44 to 30 days saves 14 days of cost per vacancy. Cutting turnover from 18% to 13% means 2.5 fewer vacancies a year at a company of 50. Both compound, and together they usually represent a much larger opportunity than any single recruiting hire.
How this differs from time-to-fill cost
The Time-to-Fill Cost calculator prices a single open requisition: the cost of that specific seat being empty during recruiting. This calculator takes the portfolio view: all the roles that open in a year, what they collectively cost, and what moving the levers saves. Use Time-to-Fill for a single req business case. Use this one for workforce planning and retention ROI.
Carry this into the decision
Model savings scenarios
The paid Excel workbook adds savings scenarios, the cost of a single open role across a full time to fill, industry benchmarks, and a board-ready summary page.
$24. 30 days. Reply to your receipt or email support@truestephr.com for a full refund. No form or explanation is required, and you keep the files.
Related
More free tools and the notes behind them
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
This tool estimates from the figures you enter. It is general information rather than legal, tax, or accounting advice, so check the result against your own records before you rely on it.