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Cost of vacancy calculator

See what an open role is costing your business for every day it stays unfilled, then start the clock and watch it climb, day by day.

This vacancy, day by day
$0.00
Day 0 Reset
Chime every $5,000 lost, cash register every $25,000. The clock replays your vacancy day by day.

Your numbers

Median time-to-fill is about 39 days (SHRM 2026)
Below 1 for junior roles, above 1 for senior or revenue roles
Cost of this vacancy
 
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How is the cost of vacancy calculated?

Work out revenue per employee (annual revenue divided by headcount), divide by 261 Australian working days for a daily value, then multiply by the number of days the role is open and a role-level factor. The result estimates the value lost while the seat is empty.

How we calculated this

Cost of vacancy estimates the revenue a role would normally generate while it sits empty. We take your annual revenue divided by employees to get revenue per employee, divide that by 261 Australian working days to get a daily figure, then multiply by the days the position has been open and a role-level factor (senior and revenue-generating roles carry a higher factor). The default of 39 days open reflects the SHRM 2026 median time-to-fill for non-executive roles.

New to the term? Read the plain-English definition of cost of vacancy in the HR Glossary.

Assumptions
  • Revenue per employee treats every seat as producing an equal share of revenue. The role factor is your correction: below 1 for support roles, above 1 for revenue-generating or leadership seats. Left at 1, the number describes an average seat, not this one.
  • 261 working days is a Monday-to-Friday year with no public holidays taken out, so the daily figure is slightly low.
  • The number is lost output only. It leaves out the cost of the people covering the gap, overtime, contractor or agency cover, and the recruitment spend itself, which is a separate figure (see the cost per hire calculator).
  • It assumes the output is lost, not delayed. For some roles the work queues and gets done when the seat is filled, so the number overstates. For revenue roles the pipeline that was never built does not come back, so it understates.
  • The 39-day default is a US median for non-executive roles. Australian senior and specialist roles usually take longer, and the counter does not know which kind of role you are hiring for unless you tell it.
Sources

What to do about it

An open seat costs money every day, and no one signs off on the spend, which is why the same requisition can sit open for a quarter without anyone feeling it. These steps are for whoever runs the hiring, whether or not they approved the role.

1

Set the role factor honestly and write down why

For a revenue role, work back from what that seat's pipeline or billings would be worth in a day. For a support role, ask what stops or slows when it is empty. Put the reasoning next to the number, because that is what a manager will challenge first.

2

Find where the days go

Split time-to-fill into approval to advertise, ad to shortlist, shortlist to offer, and offer to start. Most of the days are internal waiting: an approval sitting in an inbox, a hiring manager who has not opened the shortlist. Those are the days you can cut without touching the process.

3

Cover the gap on purpose

Name who is covering, for how long, and what they have stopped doing to cover. The hidden cost of a vacancy is the coverer's own work not getting done, and it is invisible until someone writes it down.

4
Where a tool helps

Do not buy speed with fit

The fastest way to double the number above is to fill the seat with the wrong person and start the clock again, with a bad-hire cost added. Keep the fit read in the process even under pressure; it is the step that gets skipped when the daily figure is climbing.

5

Put a daily figure on every open requisition

Sort the weekly hiring meeting by cost per day, not by who shouted last. A role that costs the most per day open is the one that gets the manager's calendar and the recruiter's afternoon.

Fill it fast, and
fill it once.

Compono Hire is an applicant tracking system (ATS) that measures fit before you make the offer, alongside the pipeline, scheduling, interviews and offer workflow you already expect. Most ATSs help you move faster. Very few tell you whether the person you are moving faster toward will still be there in a year.

Step 4 is where speed and fit usually get traded off. Hire puts the validated fit read on the same page as the skills screen, so it is not the step that gets skipped when the counter above is climbing. The number prices every day the seat is empty. Hire is how you stop paying it twice.

See how it works
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stores on one standard process

Common questions

What is the average time to fill a role?

The SHRM 2026 median time-to-fill is about 39 days for non-executive roles, which is the default in this calculator. Senior and specialist roles usually take longer, so adjust the days-open input to match your situation.

Why does the role level matter?

A vacant role that directly drives revenue or leads a team costs more per day than a support role. The role-level factor scales the daily cost up or down so the estimate reflects the real impact of that specific seat.

Is cost of vacancy the same as cost per hire?

No. Cost per hire is what you spend to recruit someone. Cost of vacancy is what you lose while the role sits empty before they start. Both belong in a full picture of what hiring slowly really costs.

This page is general information, not legal advice. We check figures annually and update them on a best-efforts basis, but employment rules change and we cannot promise everything here is current or complete. Before you act on it, confirm the detail with the relevant authority in your country or your own adviser. Last reviewed July 2026.

Next step

Business case

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Time to hire calculator

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Run it next →HR Glossary

Cost of vacancy

The plain-English definition, with the calculators and rules that sit around it.

Read the definition →Talk to us

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