Bad Hire Cost Calculator

Calculate the true cost of your bad hire

Discover how much a hiring mistake really costs you. A bad hire costs on average 45,000€. But this figure varies greatly depending on position, salary and your organization. Calculate your real risk in 2 minutes.

Calculateur du coût d'un mauvais recrutement

Salaire annuel brut

35 000 €

Niveau du poste

Durée avant départ : 12 mois

The 4 categories of bad hire costs

Direct costs

Initial recruitment costs
Paid ads, jobboard subscriptions, HR time spent (~8% of annual salary)
Recruitment agency fees if applicable
15 to 25% of annual salary if outsourced
Unproductive salaries paid
Salary + employer contributions during trial period before problem is detected
Separation costs
Severance, final settlement, administrative and legal costs
New recruitment process
Restart entire cycle (ads + time + replacement training)

0/5 effectué(s)0%

Indirect costs (often underestimated)

Team productivity loss
Colleagues' work overload during position vacancy
Morale and engagement impact
Disengagement, possible cascade departures, degraded workplace climate
Lost business opportunities
Projects delayed, clients lost, missed deadlines on client-facing roles
Management cost
Manager time absorbed by problem management, less available for team

0/4 effectué(s)0%

The most forgotten hidden cost: team impact

When an employee leaves prematurely, the team absorbs the work, sees its workload increase and morale degrade. Studies show that one hiring mistake can trigger 1 to 2 additional departures in the team within 12 months. Each departure costs 30,000€ to 50,000€ in turn.

How to avoid this cost?

Phase 1

Define need precisely

Create a job description with a weighted evaluation scorecard before posting. 80% of casting errors come from poorly defined needs.

Phase 2

Structure interviews

Use identical interview grid for all candidates with STAR method. Reduce bias by 40% with behavioral questions.

Phase 3

Decide objectively

Compare candidates on weighted scorecard. Involve at least 2 evaluators. Document your decision.

Phase 4

Succeed at onboarding

22% of departures occur in the first 45 days. Structured onboarding reduces this risk by 40%.

Why calculate the cost of a bad hire?

Quantifying the risk allows informed decisions about recruitment process investment. If a bad hire costs 45,000€ and structured recruitment tool costs 500€/month (6,000€/year), avoiding just one mistake per year makes the investment 7.5x worthwhile. This calculation also helps convince management to allocate proper recruitment budget.

When is a bad hire typically detected?

Most errors are detected during the trial period (2 to 4 months by status). But some only surface after 6 to 12 months when medium-term objectives aren't met. The later detection occurs, the higher the cost: separation costs (severance, dismissal procedure) increase with tenure.

Are indirect costs really as important as direct costs?

In many cases, indirect costs exceed direct costs. For a customer-facing role, missed opportunities (unsigned contracts, poorly managed clients) can exceed 10% of annual salary. Team productivity loss, with 15% overload per person during replacement period, generates cost often exceeding recruitment and separation costs combined.

Avoid this cost with Aurelia

Aurelia guides you at each recruitment step to reduce casting errors by 40%. One year of subscription pays for itself by avoiding just one mistake.

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