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Hiring cost calculator

Gross salary is about two thirds of what a hire costs. This adds employer contributions, equipment and software, and the one-off cost of finding them — then says how much revenue has to come in to pay for it.

Gross salary per monthWhat the contract says, before employer contributions.€Employer contributionsSocial security and levies on top of gross. Around 21% in Germany.%Equipment & software per monthLaptop written down monthly, licences, desk, phone.€One-off recruiting costAgency fee or job ads, plus the hours you spend interviewing.€Gross margin on revenueWhat is left of a euro of revenue after the direct cost of delivering it.%

First-year cost

€74,340

Employer contributions: €945 / month
Total cost per month: €5,695
Cost per year, from year two: €68,340
Revenue needed in year one: €135,164
Cost per working hour: €37.47

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The number

Why gross salary is the smaller half

A €4,500 gross salary costs about €5,700 a month before anyone has a laptop. Add equipment, software and the cost of finding the person, and the first year is roughly fifteen months of salary — which is the number the decision should be made on.

First-year cost = (gross + employer contributions + monthly extras) × 12 + recruiting

Getting it right

The revenue figure assumes the hire has to pay for itself out of gross margin — for a role that does not sell, read it as the margin it has to free up.
Add the ramp: almost nobody is fully productive in month one, and three months is a common assumption.
Holiday, sick leave and public holidays are already in the hourly figure at 152 productive hours a month.

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Templates that go further

Afford a hire

See the hire in the curve rather than in a cell: what it does to cash, to runway and to the month you would notice it.

Profit & loss planRevenue down to net profit, month by month, in the order your accountant reads it.Business plan financialsRevenue, costs, investment, funding and liquidity in one sheet — the annex a bank asks for.12-month cash-flow planEvery euro in and out, month by month, with the running balance already wired up.

Afford a hire All Excel templates

Questions

Hiring cost calculator — What people ask about it

What percentage should I use for employer contributions?

In Germany, roughly 21% of gross covers pension, health, unemployment and care insurance plus the statutory levies. Above the contribution ceilings the effective rate falls, so senior salaries carry a slightly lower percentage.

Should I include the recruiting fee in the monthly cost?

Not in the monthly one — it is a one-off. But it belongs in the first-year decision, because an agency fee of 20% of annual salary is close to two months of the hire's total cost.

One number is an average. Your cash moves day by day.

Connect your accounting data and Foreqast keeps this calculation live — with every committed cost on the date it actually lands.

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