How this calculator works
The comparison adds the one-time costs to the monthly wages over the tenure you expect the person to stay. The expert has a higher monthly wage and a hiring cost. The fresher has a lower wage, a hiring cost, a training cost and a period at reduced productivity during which you pay the full wage but receive only part of the output. That lost output is a real cost, so it is included as the wage multiplied by the training months and the share of productivity missing. The difference tells you which option is cheaper for the tenure you entered. The break-even month is the point where the two cumulative costs cross; if the expert earns no more per month than the fresher, the fresher never becomes more expensive.
Formula
expert total = expert hiring cost + expert monthly wage x tenure. fresher total = fresher hiring cost + training cost + (1 - productivity during training) x fresher wage x training months + fresher monthly wage x tenure. break-even tenure = (fresher upfront costs - expert hiring cost) / (expert wage - fresher wage), when the expert wage is higher.
Worked example
Over 24 months, an expert on $9,000 a month with a $15,000 hiring cost totals $231,000. A fresher on $4,500 a month with a $5,000 hiring cost, $8,000 of training, three months at 50 percent productivity and then full output totals $5,000 + $8,000 + $6,750 + $108,000 = $127,750. The fresher is cheaper by $103,250 over that tenure. The crossover is at about 1.1 months: the expert is cheaper only if the fresher stays less than about a month, because the fresher's $19,750 of upfront cost is slightly more than the expert's $15,000 and the expert's $4,500 monthly premium erases that gap quickly.
Advertisement
Frequently asked questions
What productivity should I use during training?
It depends on the role. A junior in a supported role may deliver 30 to 50 percent of a full workload in the first month, while a technical role with a long ramp may be lower. Use your own onboarding data if you have it, and remember that a mentor also loses some time, which this simple model does not capture.
Should I include the cost of a bad hire?
This page does not. A bad hire can cost far more than the wage difference through lost customers, rework and a second recruitment round. If the failure risk differs between the two options, add an expected cost by multiplying the probability of failure by the cost, and compare the adjusted totals.
Why does the crossover come so early?
The expert is slightly cheaper at the very start because the fresher's hiring, training and lost productivity add up to $19,750 against the expert's $15,000 hiring cost. The expert's wage is $4,500 a month higher, so the fresher takes the lead after about 1.1 months and stays ahead for any longer tenure.
Does this account for raises and inflation?
No. It uses constant monthly wages. In practice both people may receive raises, and the fresher may catch up in salary after training. A full model would project each salary path, but the simple version is enough to compare the shape of the two costs.