What Did That Bad Hire Actually Cost You?
Add up wasted salary, recruiting spend, severance and vacancy cost, then see it against sourced industry benchmarks.
Showing example numbers — replace them with your own.
Ads, interview hours, agency fee, setup
Output lost while the seat is empty
Direct, line-item cost of this bad hire
₹13,50,000
Salary paid before the exit
5 months × monthly salary
₹7,50,000
Recruiting & onboarding spend
Job ads, interview time, agency fee if used, onboarding setup
₹1,50,000
Severance / notice buyout
1 month of salary
₹1,50,000
Vacancy & re-hire cost
2 months of lost output while you refill the role
₹3,00,000
That's before indirect costs. Widely cited industry estimates put a bad hire's fully loaded cost — including team disruption, manager time, and lost momentum on their projects — at ₹5.40L–₹36.00L (30%–200% of annual salary). Your ₹13,50,000 direct cost above is the floor, not the full picture.
Direct costs are your own inputs added up. The 30%–200% range is a widely cited industry estimate (U.S. Department of Labor and SHRM-reported studies), not an India-specific benchmark — used here as an order-of-magnitude check, not a precise figure.
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Most hiring managers can feel that a bad hire was expensive, but rarely put a number on it. The number matters: it's what justifies spending more time on the shortlist next time, instead of repeating the same rushed process. This calculator adds up the direct costs from your own numbers, then checks that figure against what independent research says the fully loaded cost usually runs to.
Know the number before the next req
Your real numbers, not an estimate
Salary, months worked, recruiting spend, severance and vacancy cost — add up exactly what this hire cost you.
Sourced industry context
See your direct cost alongside the widely cited DOL (30%) and SHRM (50–200%) benchmarks for the fully loaded cost.
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Post a Role FreeFrequently asked questions
How much does a bad hire actually cost a company?
The U.S. Department of Labor's widely cited baseline puts the direct cost at a minimum of 30% of the person's first-year salary. SHRM's broader estimate, which includes recruiting, onboarding, lost productivity and the cost of restarting the search, runs 50%–200% of annual salary. On a ₹20 LPA hire, that's a direct cost floor of roughly ₹6L, with a fully loaded cost that can run ₹10L–₹40L once indirect costs are included.
What's included in the direct cost of a bad hire?
The salary paid before you let them go, whatever you spent on recruiting and onboarding them (job ads, interview hours, any agency fee, setup costs), severance or notice-period buyout, and the cost of the role sitting vacant or under-covered while you refill it. This calculator adds up exactly those four line items from your own numbers.
What indirect costs aren't captured in a simple calculation?
Team disruption (other people covering the gap, redone work, lost context), manager time spent managing out a bad fit instead of other priorities, damaged team morale, and lost momentum on whatever that person was supposed to be building. These are real costs but harder to put a number on precisely, which is why industry estimates (SHRM's 50%–200% range) exist as a broader check on top of the direct, line-item cost.
How do I avoid a bad hire in the first place?
Most bad hires trace back to a rushed or poorly screened shortlist rather than bad luck at the interview stage. A clear, specific job description, a shortlist that's actually been scored against it (not just scanned for keywords), and a structured interview process all reduce the odds significantly. See our JD-writing guide and hiring-plan template for the upstream fixes.
Is a bad hire more expensive to fix quickly or let run longer?
Generally, the cost compounds the longer it runs — more salary paid, more disrupted work to unwind, and a harder conversation the longer it's delayed. Most hiring guidance recommends addressing a clear mis-hire within the first 90 days rather than hoping it improves, both for cost reasons and because the earlier conversation is usually the less damaging one for the team.