COST 01 / OUTPUT
Work that does not ship
The role's output stops the day the seat opens. Roadmaps slip and revenue-linked work sits in the queue.
Free tool · No sign-up
The true cost of a slow hire.
Every week a role sits open has a real price in shipped work, team load, and lost momentum. Put in your numbers and see what the delay is costing you, per day and over time.
- Per-role estimate
- Daily + total cost
- No sign-up
Why it adds up
An empty seat is never free.
The cost of a slow hire is rarely a single number. It shows up across output, team load, and momentum, and it compounds every week the role stays open.
COST 02 / TEAM
An overloaded team
Someone absorbs the gap. Stretched too long, that is how one open role quietly turns into two.
COST 03 / MOMENTUM
Lost momentum
Projects stall, decisions wait, and the strongest candidates take another offer while the seat stays empty.
Cost of delay
What is the empty seat costing you?
Every week a role stays open has a price in shipped work, momentum, and overloaded teammates. Estimate it.
- Software & Engineering
- Cloud, QA & DevOps
- Data, Analytics & AI
- Product & Delivery
- IT Support & Infrastructure
- Cybersecurity & Information Security
Choose a role to see what the empty seat costs each day and over time.
$0
Estimated loss per day
$0
Lost over 6 weeks
Every week the seat stays open adds to that total. STACK IT shortlists qualified candidates fast, so the gap does not have to stay open.
Estimate only, based on typical Canadian base salaries and a productivity multiplier. Your actual cost varies by role and team.
How the math works
What goes into the number.
The estimate is deliberately simple and transparent. Here is exactly what it uses, and what it leaves out.
01 The inputs
What you tell it
- Role category, which sets a typical base salary
- Weeks the seat has been unfilled
02 The calculation
How the cost is built
- Base salary spread across working days
- A productivity multiplier for the role
- Daily loss times the weeks unfilled
03 What it leaves out
Where the real cost runs higher
- Recruiting and onboarding spend
- Ramp-up time to full productivity
- Attrition risk from an overloaded team
FAQ
Questions about the calculator, answered.
It takes a typical base salary for the role, spreads it across working days to get a daily figure, applies a productivity multiplier, and multiplies by the weeks the seat has been open. It is a directional estimate, not exact accounting.
They are typical Canadian base salaries by role category. Your real numbers will differ, so treat the result as a directional estimate of the cost of delay rather than a precise figure.
No. The calculator focuses on the cost of the seat sitting empty. Recruiting spend, onboarding, and the ramp-up time to full productivity all push the real cost higher.
Because it compounds. Every week the role stays open adds another full week of lost output on top of the last, which is why slow hiring gets expensive fast.
No. The calculator is free and runs right on this page, with no sign-up.
Still have a question? Talk to a recruiter
Keep reading
The real cost of a slow hire
Why unfilled roles and bad hires cost more than they first appear.