How to use this calculator
Every field is pre-populated with Life Sciences IT benchmarks. Change anything that does not reflect your situation. Some sections are toggled off by default, turn them on if they apply.
Or clear everything and start with your own numbers. The total automatically updates as you go.
Role details
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Enter the base salary for this role. If you are hiring more than one person at this level, enter the total number of hires.
Management time:
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Time spent managing a search that is not moving is not free. At a senior level, every hour has a real commercial value.
Team absorption:
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A well-run process typically takes 4 to 6 weeks. Every week beyond that compounds. In a regulated environment, stretched teams do not just slow down, processes lose consistency and audit trails start to show it.
Contractor cover:
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At £400 to £800 per day, a 26-week cover engagement costs between £52,000 and £104,000. That is the direct cost of a delayed or failed process.
Consultancy spend
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Select what applies to your situation.
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Single consultant cost
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You are paying £1,500 per day for a consultant to cover a gap that a £75,000 permanent hire would solve. This spend does not stop here, it compounds and the cost feeds into your total exposure.
Outside recruitment total
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Consultancy team cost
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Sometimes a consultancy engagement is the right call; a defined programme, a one-off transformation, a regulatory deadline. The problem is when consultancy spend is plugging a gap that permanent hires should have filled. If your consultancy bill keeps growing, that is a recruitment problem wearing a different label.
Delivery impact:
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Delayed product releases, pushed validation windows and compliance gaps rarely get traced back to a recruitment problem... but they should. In a GMP-governed environment, a delayed validation or missed regulatory submission can have consequences well beyond the figure entered here. This captures the direct cost only.
Onboarding cost:
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Industry research puts time to full productivity at 3 to 12 months. For senior roles in regulated environments, 6 months is the median. The cost compounds when the wrong hire was made.
Includes employer NI, pension, holiday, healthcare and life insurance. Excludes bonuses and benefits in kind, see the failed hire section for full methodology.
Includes employer NI, pension, holiday, healthcare and life insurance. Excludes bonuses and benefits in kind, see the failed hire section for full methodology.
Failed hire:
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Includes employer NI, 10% pension, 25 days holiday, healthcare and life insurance. Excludes bonuses and benefits in kind.
A 1.5x multiplier covers management fallout, team disruption and rehire costs. CIPD puts the true cost of a failed senior hire at 1x to 4x annual salary.
1.5x is conservative for a Life Sciences IT role. Failed hires almost always trace back to an undefined brief.
A 1.5x multiplier covers management fallout, team disruption and rehire costs. CIPD puts the true cost of a failed senior hire at 1x to 4x annual salary.
1.5x is conservative for a Life Sciences IT role. Failed hires almost always trace back to an undefined brief.
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Defaults to 3 months salary. Under 2 years service, legal exposure is limited. Over 2 years, it increases. Adjust to reflect your actual situation or legal advice received.