Boneyard Tools

Cost of an Employee Calculator

See what an employee really costs beyond their salary. Add the percentage you spend on benefits and payroll taxes plus any flat extra costs, and the calculator returns the fully loaded annual cost and a salary multiplier.

How to estimate the cost of an employee

  1. Enter the base annual salary.
  2. Add benefits and payroll taxes as a percentage of salary.
  3. Add any flat extra costs like equipment, then read the total cost and multiplier.

Examples

60,000 salary with benefits, tax and extras

baseSalary: 60000, benefitsPercent: 20, payrollTaxPercent: 10, additionalAnnualCosts: 5000
Benefits 12,000, payroll tax 6,000, total cost 83,000, multiplier about 1.38

Frequently asked questions

What is the true cost of an employee?

It is the base salary plus everything else the employer pays: benefits, employer payroll taxes, equipment, software and overhead. A common rule of thumb is that the real cost is roughly 1.25 to 1.4 times the salary, which this calculator makes exact for your numbers.

What is the cost multiplier?

The multiplier is the total cost divided by the base salary. A multiplier of 1.4 means the employee costs 40 percent more than their salary once benefits, taxes and extras are added.

What counts as payroll tax for the employer?

Employer payroll taxes vary by country but often include social security, unemployment and similar contributions paid on top of wages. Enter your effective rate as a percent of salary.

What goes in additional annual costs?

Any flat yearly cost that is not a percentage of salary, such as a laptop, software licenses, training, a desk or a share of office and recruiting costs. Estimate a yearly figure.

Is my data private?

Yes. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. Salary and cost figures are never sent to a server or stored.

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