We treat employees as assets. A mis-hire represents a write-off of the investment made in that person plus the opportunity loss of not having the right person in the role. We aggregate five components:

Acquisition Cost: Ads, recruiter time, interviews, signing.
Learning & Development Cost: Training hours × rate + materials + manager coaching.
Productivity Gap Labor: (1 − productivity%) × expected value/mo × months under-performance.
Opportunity Cost: % of annual salary for delayed projects & missed opportunities.
Separation & Replacement Cost: Severance + admin + vacancy delay + new hiring cost.

Inputs

Monthly Salary ($) Acquisition Cost — lump sum ($) Training Hours Training Cost per Hour ($) Onboarding Materials ($) Manager Coaching Hours Manager Cost per Hour ($) Expected Value per Month ($) Actual Productivity vs Expected (0–1) Months Under-performance Opportunity Cost (% of Annual Salary, 0–1) Severance ($) Admin/HR Processing ($) Vacancy Delay Loss ($) New Hiring Cost ($)

Your Estimate

Estimated Total Mis-Hire Cost

Annual salary reference: $0

Acquisition0%

Learning & Development0%

Productivity Gap0%

Opportunity Cost0%

Separation & Replacement0%

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About Author

Carlos C. Abiera

Carlos Abiera currently leads operations at Montani International Inc., a growing team of designers and developers supporting U.S. tech partners. He holds a Master of Science in Information Technology and is completing his dissertation for a Doctor in Management, majoring in Human Resource. Carlos has a strong passion for data science and a keen interest in understanding intent across domains like search, social media, and workplace behavior.

Estimate the Cost of a Mis-Hire

Your Estimate

About Author

Carlos C. Abiera