How this calculator works
Moving a team out of an office rarely removes all the costs and often adds new ones. This calculator compares the non-salary side: the one-time setup spend and the recurring costs that continue while people work. A remote team typically needs a one-time equipment or home-office allowance and a monthly internet or stipend payment. An office-based team needs desk space, which is the largest item, plus one-time fit-out and recurring utilities and supplies. The comparison is per employee so teams of different sizes can be compared, then multiplied back up to the whole team. Salary is deliberately excluded, because it usually does not change with location and including it would swamp the cost differences. Three cautions. First, office leases are often signed for several years, so an office-based cost is not fully avoidable in the short term even after a move to remote. Second, remote work can change the amount of office space needed rather than eliminating it, for example when a smaller head office remains. Third, the comparison ignores productivity, retention and hiring reach, which can be larger than any of these line items. Use the figure as the direct-cost half of a decision, not the whole decision.
Formula
Remote cost per employee = one-time allowance + (internet + other monthly costs) x number of months. On-location cost per employee = one-time setup + (space + other monthly costs) x number of months. Team totals are each per-employee figure multiplied by the number of employees. Savings = on-location total - remote total.
Worked example
A team of 50 for one year. Remote: a $500 setup allowance plus $80 a month for 12 months, giving $1,460 per employee and $73,000 for the team. On-location: $1,500 of setup plus $340 a month for 12 months, giving $5,580 per employee and $279,000 for the team. Remote saves $206,000 over the year, or $4,120 per employee.
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Frequently asked questions
Should I include salary and benefits?
Not in this comparison, because they usually do not change with work location. If you pay location-based salaries, add that difference separately so it is visible rather than buried in the office costs.
What is missing from the comparison?
Productivity, turnover, hiring reach, management overhead and the value of face-to-face collaboration. Remote work also shifts costs to the employee in some arrangements, such as heating a home office, which this calculator does not count unless you enter them as an allowance.
How do I treat an existing office lease?
Enter the cost you will actually incur over the period. A lease that must be paid whether or not people attend the office is a sunk cost for that term, so removing staff does not remove the cost until the lease ends.
Should one-time costs be spread over the years?
For a multi-year comparison, enter them once and set the comparison period to the number of years. The per-employee total already spreads the one-time cost across the period by only counting it once.