Vacancy Cost Calculator

See what open roles cost you in a year, and what you save by filling them faster or keeping people longer. Enter your headcount, turnover, and time to fill, and this Excel workbook returns the annual vacancy cost, the average seats empty at any moment, and the saving from each lever.

A working model, not a blank sheet

Enter headcount, annual turnover rate, average time to fill, the salary and benefits load for the roles that turn over, and the cost-of-vacancy factor. The workbook returns the cost of one open role across a full time to fill, the average seats empty, the annual vacancy cost, and the share of payroll it represents. A Scenarios tab puts a number on filling faster and on lowering turnover, each alone and together; a one-page Summary carries the headline figures for a leadership conversation; a Benchmark tab holds turnover, time-to-fill, and cost-of-vacancy figures from SHRM, BLS, Mercer, and Gallup; and it opens on a worked example so the logic is clear before you change anything.

An open role is a recurring cost, not a saved salary: at a given headcount and time to fill, a share of the workforce is empty all year. The cost-of-vacancy factor is the judgment call that moves the result most, so set it to the role: start at 100% for a typical salaried seat, raise it for revenue-generating or hard-to-cover roles, and lower it for roles the team can absorb.

Built for

• An HR or talent leader building the case for a recruiting or retention investment who wants the yearly cost of open roles, not a saved-salary line.
• A finance or operations partner who wants vacancies costed across the year with the saving from each lever sized.
• An owner or manager carrying open seats who wants to see what they drain and what filling faster would save.

If you are looking for the all-in cost of one person leaving and being replaced, the Cost of Turnover Calculator covers that. To price each open role by its own days open, see the Time-to-Fill Cost Calculator; for recruiting spend, the Cost Per Hire Calculator.

Before you buy

What format is it, and can I edit it?

It is one Excel workbook that also works in Google Sheets. Every input and formula is editable, and the file is yours to keep; duplicate it to rerun the numbers as your workforce changes. Checkout delivers an instant download link, with the same link emailed on your receipt.

How is this different from the free calculator?

The workbook is the file you keep. Your numbers stay saved, every formula is open to audit, and it adds the Scenarios tab that sizes filling faster and lowering turnover, the leadership-ready Summary, and the sourced Benchmark tab. A quick on-screen calculator answers what open roles cost; the workbook sizes what fixing them is worth.

What is the refund policy?

Digital products are covered by a 14-day money-back guarantee. See the refund policy for the full terms. Questions? Email support@truestephr.com.

How the download works

Your files arrive as a single ZIP download, best opened on a computer: save it, extract it (right-click and Extract All on Windows, double-click on a Mac), and open the Start Here file first. PDFs open in any reader, and the editable files work in Microsoft Word and Excel or their free equivalents, including LibreOffice and Google Docs and Sheets. No other software is needed. Step-by-step help for every device is at truestephr.com/pages/download-help.

Scope

These are planning estimates built from your inputs, not legal advice. The figure rests most on the cost-of-vacancy factor, so set it to the role and sense-check the total against the Benchmark tab.