Overtime vs temp vs hire cost calculator
You have a staffing gap. Should you pay overtime, bring in temps, outsource to a BPO, or start a permanent hire process? Enter your gap size and rates to see which option is cheapest — now and over the next year.
Staffing Gap
Gap Coverage Options
Permanent Hire (ramp)
Weekly Cost Comparison
OT vs hire: Hiring is immediately cheaper than overtime from week 1.
Temps vs hire: Hiring becomes cheaper than temps at week 9 (~2 months).
Cumulative cost over time
| Period | OT | Temp | Hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | £1500 | £1400 | £1429 |
| 1 month | £6000 | £5600 | £5714 |
| 3 months | £19.5k | £18.2k | £16.4k |
| 6 months | £39.0k | £36.4k | £29.4k |
| 1 year | £78.0k | £72.8k | £55.4k |
Bold = cheapest option at each point. Hire cost includes ramp overhead.
Cost only. This model compares direct financial cost and does not model quality, knowledge transfer time, attrition risk, or the long-term value of a permanent employee vs a flexible contractor. BPO and temp rates often exclude management overhead (supplier management, QA, training). Permanent hire total cost includes ramp friction — weeks where the new hire is being paid but delivering below full productivity. All figures are estimates; your HR and finance data will be more accurate.
Choosing how to cover a staffing gap
Short-term gap (1–4 weeks)
Overtime or temps. Overtime is fast and requires no onboarding, but sustained high-OT rates drive burnout and attrition. Temps can start within days but cost more per hour and have limited product knowledge. For a 1–2 week gap (holiday cover, sick absence), overtime and temps are usually the only practical options.
Medium-term gap (1–6 months)
Temps or early hiring. At 3+ months, the cumulative temp cost often exceeds the total cost of a permanent hire (including ramp). Starting the recruitment process at week 4–6 of a temp engagement gives you time to hire before the break-even point. BPO outsourcing is efficient for stable, predictable workloads with clear quality metrics.
What this model does not include
This calculator models direct financial cost only. One-time recruitment fees, the value of institutional knowledge (lost when using temps), management overhead of running a BPO relationship, and attrition risk from sustained overtime are not quantified. In practice, cost is one input to this decision — not the only one.
Ramp and productivity loss
A new hire on a standard contact centre ramp (8 weeks at 70% productivity) effectively costs 43% more per productive hour during ramp than a tenured agent. This pushes the cumulative hire cost higher in the early weeks. After ramp, the permanent hire is almost always the cheapest option — which is why the break-even week matters so much for the medium-term decision.
Know your gap size before you decide
The gap-size input here is a rough number. Turnella calculates the exact interval-level staffing gap from your forecast and shift schedule — so you know precisely how many agent-hours you need to cover and when.