Staffing cost calculator
Calculate total FTE cost — daily, monthly, and annual — including employer on-costs. See your cost per contact and whether your current headcount matches your volume demand.
Staffing inputs
Contact volume (optional)
Per-agent cost
Total team cost
Cost efficiency
FTE to meet demand
Cost per contact uses productive hours: headcount × shift hours × (1 − shrinkage). Annual figures assume 230 working days. On-costs are applied as a percentage of the base hourly rate. This calculator does not include overtime, agency premiums, or attrition replacement costs.
On-costs note
Employer on-costs in the UK typically run 25–35% above base pay: employer National Insurance (~15%), pension contribution (~5%), plus holidays and other benefits. Enter your actual employer cost percentage for accurate budget modelling. To model an agency worker, enter the agency bill rate and set on-costs to 0%.
What this calculator computes
True hourly cost
Base hourly rate × (1 + on-costs %). The real cost per agent-hour including all employer contributions — the number finance needs for budget sign-off.
Cost per contact
Total daily cost ÷ contacts your team can handle in a day (productive hours ÷ AHT). The operational efficiency metric — changes when AHT, shrinkage, or headcount change.
FTE vs. demand check
Given your daily volume and AHT, how many agents do you actually need? Turns green if you have enough, red if you're short — with the gap in agents and cost.
Frequently asked questions
What are employer on-costs and why do I add them?
Employer on-costs are costs the employer pays on top of an agent's base salary, which do not appear in the agent's pay packet. In the UK they include employer National Insurance contributions (15% above the secondary threshold), employer pension contributions (minimum 3% auto-enrolment, typically 5%), and may include holiday pay (if not already in hourly rate), private medical, and other benefits. The total is typically 25–35% above base pay. Adding on-costs gives you the true cost of employment per hour — the number you need for accurate budget modelling.
How is cost per contact calculated?
Cost per contact = total daily staffing cost ÷ contacts handled per day. Contacts handled = (headcount × shift hours × (1 − shrinkage)) ÷ (AHT in hours). This gives the cost the organisation pays per contact resolved, including all staff costs. It is used to benchmark against outsourced alternatives, to model the cost impact of AHT changes, and to calculate the ROI of FCR improvement.
What is a typical cost per contact in a UK contact centre?
UK inbound contact centre cost per contact varies widely by AHT, staffing model, and channel. Typical ranges: simple voice (3–4 min AHT) £3–6 per contact; complex voice (8–12 min AHT) £8–16 per contact; live chat £2–5 per contact (lower due to concurrency); email/back-office £5–15 per case depending on complexity. These figures assume a fully-loaded hourly rate including on-costs but exclude technology, real estate, and management overhead.
Does this calculator include overtime or agency costs?
No. The calculator uses the base hourly rate you provide, with an on-cost percentage applied. Overtime premiums, agency mark-ups (typically 30–60% above direct employment cost), and attrition replacement costs are not included. To model agency cost: enter the agency bill rate as your hourly rate and set on-costs to 0% (since agency fees are all-inclusive).
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