True Cost of an Employee Calculator

This calculator works out the true cost of an employee in New Zealand, not just their salary but the full amount it takes to employ them for a year, and the real cost of every hour they actually work. For an employer, the advertised salary is only the starting point. On top of it you pay compulsory employer KiwiSaver, at least 3 percent of gross pay, and the ACC work levy, which is set by your industry classification and can range from a few cents to several dollars per $100 of payroll. Then there are the costs that rarely make the job ad: recruitment and onboarding, equipment and a phone or laptop, software licences, a desk or vehicle, training, and general overheads. Paid time off matters too. Four weeks of annual leave, eleven public holidays and sick leave mean a full-time employee is paid for around 2,080 hours a year but is actually at work for far fewer, so the cost of each productive hour is higher than the headline hourly rate. You enter the salary, the employer KiwiSaver rate, your ACC work levy, leave and holidays, and any other annual costs and overheads, and the calculator returns the total annual cost, the on-cost loading as a percentage of salary, the cost per hour worked and the true cost per productive hour. It is built for small business owners, contractors weighing up their first hire, and managers building a budget or a charge-out rate. Treat the figures as a planning estimate; your actual ACC levy and overheads will depend on your business.

Your ACC work levy depends on your industry classification (CU code). Productive hours exclude paid leave, public holidays and sick days. An estimate for budgeting only.