Cost of Vacancy Calculator

The main figure is revenue-based. We value the vacancy at the revenue an average employee represents, then discount it by however much of the work your remaining team absorbs. What the team does not cover is what the vacancy genuinely costs you.

The salary figure is a benchmark, not a loss. No salary is paid while a seat is empty, so the salary-equivalent value is a proxy for the economic value attached to the role — useful for context, never to be added to the revenue figure. Adding them would count the same lost output twice, which is the most common error in cost of vacancy models.

Absorption is the share covered, not the share lost. A 50% team absorption rate means colleagues pick up half the work, so half the role’s value is still being lost. The loss factor is always one minus the absorption rate.

What this is not. Revenue per employee is an average, so it understates revenue-generating roles and overstates support functions. It uses revenue rather than profit margin. It also excludes recruitment costs, overtime paid to cover the gap, and the attrition risk carried by the team absorbing the work. Treat the output as an order of magnitude for a business case, not an audited figure.