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Staff Hire ROI Calculator

Hiring is the biggest commitment a small business makes. Enter the true cost of the hire and the extra monthly profit they’ll unlock — get payback and annualised return in seconds.
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Quick ROI Calculator

Rough baseline. The full modeler factors in running costs, tax & depreciation.

Horizon

Net gain (12 mo)

+£20,000

Payback

4.0 mo

Total ROI (indicative)

+200.0%

Annualised

+200.0%

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How to think about hire ROI

A new hire is two cashflows: a big upfront drag (recruitment + ramp-up months) and an ongoing margin contribution. ROI tells you whether the second outweighs the first within an acceptable window.

Worked example — a £40k account manager

Fully-loaded cost ~£52k/year (salary + 13.8% NI + 5% pension + tooling). They take 3 months to ramp. After that, they hold £18k of monthly client revenue at 35% margin → £6.3k gross profit, minus their £4.3k monthly cost = £2.0k net per month. Upfront cost: recruitment £4k + 3 months at full cost £13k = £17k.

  • Payback: ~8.5 months from start
  • Total ROI (24 mo): +147%
  • Annualised: ~57% per year

Red flags

  • Payback beyond 12 months without a clear leverage story
  • Monthly net contribution under 25% of fully-loaded cost
  • Revenue assumptions that depend on the hire selling themselves

Frequently asked questions

What counts as the ‘initial spend’ for a hire?⌄

Recruitment fees, onboarding cost and the salary + employer NI + pension for the period before the hire becomes net-positive — typically the first 1–3 months.

What’s the monthly return for a new hire?⌄

The extra gross profit the role generates each month, minus their fully-loaded monthly cost (salary, employer NI ~13.8%, pension, software, desk).

How do I value a hire that doesn’t generate revenue directly?⌄

Estimate the hours of senior time freed up × that person’s effective hourly cost, plus any error/rework reduction. Be conservative — the quick calculator rewards realistic numbers.

What’s a reasonable payback for a new hire?⌄

Sales and delivery hires should pay back in 3–6 months. Back-office/ops hires 6–12 months. Beyond 12 months, you’re betting on long-run leverage — model it in the full industry modeler.

Go deeperOpen the full industry modeler