Employee cost calculator: what an hour of work really costs.

What the true cost includes

The fully loaded cost of an employee adds everything the employer pays on top of the salary: social charges and payroll taxes, health insurance and pension contributions, paid leave and sick days, then the overhead that comes with a desk: equipment, software licences, workspace and training. Divided by the hours that actually produce work, it gives the number to use when deciding what a task costs and whether to automate it.

Typical employer charges

Employer charges differ a lot by country: they are often around 8% to 12% in the United States before benefits, 15% to 25% in the United Kingdom and Canada, and 30% to 45% in much of continental Europe where social security is largely employer-funded. Add health insurance, pension and paid leave where they are not already included, and check your own payroll for the exact figure.

Using the hourly cost

• Price repetitive work: ten hours a week of copy-paste at $35 an hour is $18,000 a year.
• Compare with an agent: an AI receptionist that answers calls around the clock runs at $200 to $500 a month, against $3,000 to $5,000 for a person on the desk.
• Budget a hire honestly: the salary is often only two thirds of the real cost.
• Feed the result into the ROI calculator to compare an automation project with the hours it would save.

Our AI automation service starts exactly there: the tasks that cost the most hours, priced with your numbers, and a fixed quote for the agents that take them over.